Citi Ventures Makes First Crypto Seed Investment in Startup Firm

Citigroup Inc.’s venture capital investing group made its first digital asset seed investment in a Hong Kong-based digital-asset management firm.

<-bsp-bb-link state="{"bbHref":"bbg://securities/8683242Z%20US%20Equity","_id":"00000183-add5-dab8-ad8b-edfda1470000","_type":"0000016b-944a-dc2b-ab6b-d57ba1cc0000"}">Citi Ventures co-led a $6 million initial capital financing round for xalts, which was co-founded by a former trader at HSBC Holdings and a former executive at Meta Platforms Inc. Accel, the Palo Alto, California-based venture-capital firm that has funded technology companies that include Facebook and Spotify, was the other firm that co-led the funding round. Citi Ventures didn’t disclose the amount it invested. Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and other hedge fund managers were also investors.

Xalts is seeking to ...