Citi Leverages Solana Blockchain to Tokenize Traditional Finance Instruments

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  • A report from Citi revealed that the bank has partnered with Solana and PwC to explore how bills of exchange could be tokenized and moved entirely onchain.
  • Solana claims that the bank has already represented the first bill of exchange as an onchain token and executed the entire lifecycle on its blockchain.

A report from Citigroup has revealed that the Wall Street giant has been exploring how it can tap blockchain technology to improve global trade at a time when tariffs, AI and global instability are having a significant impact on global supply chains.

The 2026 Citi Supply Chain Financing report revealed that global trade had been disrupted by Donald Trump’s tariffs, geopolitical tensions and other macro shocks. However, supply chains have adapted, with emerging technology keeping them competitive by lowering costs and improving speed. The report cited blockchain and AI as two technologies that have “had a profound impact on trade and supply chains.”

In particular, Citi mentioned Solana, citing a joint project with the blockchain network and Big Four audit firm PwC exploring how to use tokenization to make the process of issuing bills of exchange easier, faster and cheaper.

The project falls under Citi Trade, the bank’s trade financing arm. The report stated:

Working with PwC and Solana, Citi has completed an internal proof of concept (PoC) that represented a bill of exchange as a token on a blockchain and executed the entire lifecycle – issuance, financing, distribution, and settlement – in a simulated environment to study how Citi could translate a concept to reality.

While Citi says the project is still under a proof-of-concept stage, Solana says the product is live. The project claimed on X that Citi has represented a bill of exchange on its network and executed its entire lifecycle, from issuance to settlement, onchain.

Global Trade on Solana

Citi joins other global giants exploring Solana for their projects. One of Asia’s largest corporations, Alibaba, is among them. As CNF reported this week, Alibaba launched new infrastructure that speeds up Solana RPC nodes, which drastically reduces latency for high-frequency traders.

Solana has also become one of the main networks that Wall Street firms are building on. Traditional finance companies like WisdomTree have expanded access to the network in recent months. As a CNF report from earlier this year revealed, the network started the year by setting a new record on tokenized real-world assets at $873 million.

Solana Foundation president, Lily Liu, captured the network’s rise in a recent interview on Bloomberg, stating that while Bitcoin has become the main crypto asset, Solana focuses on the infrastructure aspect.

SOL has been hit by the market’s bearish pressure, dipping over 10% in the past week to trade at $81.3. Since mid-January, the token has shed over 40%, wiping out over $35 billion.

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