Shobhit Maini, co-head of digital assets for global markets at Citigroup, discussed the bank’s latest launch of a foreign exchange (FX) trading application that leverages blockchain for real-time price streaming and execution of spot FX trades, specifically for the USD-SGD pair. 

Historically, blockchain’s role in the financial services industry, according to Maini, has been primarily focused on post-trade processing, optimising, streamlining, and driving efficiency. However, Citigroup’s recent innovation marks a leap, using blockchain technology for pre-trade and execution stages, including communication of pricing and trading terms. This application allows institutional counterparts to request streaming prices that are updated in real-time, and execute trades based on these quotes. 

A key feature of this system is the recording of trade confirmations and streamed quotes on the blockchain, enabling counterparties to conduct post-trade analyses such as “best execution” assessments. While this technology has been tested, it has yet to be made available to clients commercially. Maini emphasised that the platform signifies a significant step in bringing the entire trading lifecycle—from pre-trade to settlement—onto the blockchain. 

Maini highlighted the importance of maintaining essential market attributes of a traditional trade transaction such as trust between counterparties, capital efficiency, pricing efficiency, and data privacy in this blockchain-based system. The innovation retains the benefits of traditional trading while enhancing it with the efficiency and transparency of blockchain technology. 

This, said Maini, is a milestone in the financial industry’s journey towards integrating blockchain technology into more complex and critical aspects of trading and transaction processing, setting a new standard for the future of digital finance.