Citigroup Furthers Crypto Push With Two Digital-Asset Hires

Citigroup (C) added two people to its digital-assets team, the latest example of a Wall Street giant deepening its ties to cryptocurrencies.

Ryan Rugg and David Cunningham were hired for Citigroup's Treasury and Trade Solutions unit.

Rugg will be global head of digital assets for the TTS group. She had been partner and head of the IBM Americas Blockchain team, according to an external spokesperson. She’ll be based in New York, reporting to Carol Grunberg, Citi’s global head of partnerships & innovation within the TTS unit.

"As Global Head of Digital Assets for Treasury and Trade Solutions, Ryan will be tasked with advancing TTS to the next phase of our Digital Assets journey -- a critical step in making Citi a leader in the digital assets space as we work to enable our clients to thrive in today's digital world," a Citi TTS spokesperson told CoinDesk.

Meanwhile, Cunningham has been named director and strategic partner development for digital assets for the TTS division. Cunningham most recently was chief commercial officer at regtech firm LexTego, along with chair of crypto exchange Coinmama. He’ll be based in Dublin, reporting to Kunal Bist, global head of TTS strategic partnerships.

Wall Street continues to grow its digital asset base despite the bear market. Bulge-bracket banks along with smaller firms are growing their crypto offerings for institutional clients.

The world's largest asset manager, BlackRock (BLK), recently formed a pact with publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) to make crypto directly available to institutional investors. In the spring, investment bank Cowen (COWN) unveiled its digital-asset division to offer full-service trade execution and custody solutions for institutional clients.

Bloomberg first reported the news.

Read more: Investment Bank Cowen Launches Digital Unit, Aims to Compete With Bulge-Bracket Firms