Xalts, a Hong Kong-based digital asset management company, has raised $6 million in an equity funding round co-led by Citi Ventures and California-based venture capital firm Accel.

While this is the first seed investment in digital assets by CITIGROUP’s venture capital investment group, Accel has previously funded technology companies including Facebook and Spotify.

Luis Valdich, CEO of Citi Ventures, spoke about the development: “The world has changed a lot, you know, with the macro environments and obviously the markets have been suffering as a result of that. We are obviously very cautious in terms of where and how to deploy capital, but we are absolutely active with a lot of opportunities not only outside of digital assets but also within the digital asset space, which we think is here to stay.”

Other investors who also participated in the funding round include Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and other hedge fund managers.

With the new funding, Xalts wants to take advantage of what it claims is greater institutional involvement in the crypto ecosystem despite falling digital asset prices this year. The firm said it will use the capital to launch multiple digital asset-linked fund products, including mutual funds and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) that are listed on global exchanges.

Ashutosh Goel, co-founder and chief investment officer of Xalts, said his company is expanding its presence to multiple locations, including Dubai, Singapore and New Delhi. The other co-founder is former Meta Asia executive Supreet Kaur.

Citi’s investment in the digital assets firm signals a continued push by banks to grab a piece of the burgeoning $2 trillion crypto market. In June, UK-based Barclays invested an undisclosed sum somewhere in the “millions of dollars” in crypto custody firm Copper’s latest fundraising.

Banks (such as London-based Standard Chartered, BNY Mellon, Citibank, UBS, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Nomura) lead in terms of the size of funding rounds as investment indicator. in the crypto space.

Given increased customer demand, banks seek to increase their exposure to block chain and cryptographic services. This has led them to make investments in crypto trading, custody, and asset management.

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