[VanEck Executive: Citigroup's Planned Institutional Bitcoin Custody Service Launch Last Week May Be Delayed Due to Binance Hack] Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Asset Research at VanEck, stated that Citigroup Wealth released a report, "Expanding Investable Scope: Introduction to Crypto ETFs," recommending spot BTC and ETH ETFs to suitable clients as a way to allocate digital assets beyond stocks and bonds through regulated brokerage accounts. Furthermore, Citigroup announced on August 18th that its new Custody+ platform will begin allowing institutional clients to hold Bitcoin this year. Sigel noted that this would make Citigroup the sixth of 29 globally systemically important banks to launch or announce institutional Bitcoin custody, following BNY, Standard Chartered, Société Générale, State Street, and Deutsche Bank. BNY, Standard Chartered, and SG-Forge have already obtained licenses and are serving institutions, Deutsche Bank stated it will launch within weeks, and JPMorgan Chase indicated it will not offer custody at this time.