Citigroup Digital-Assets Driver Itay Tuchman to Depart

Citigroup's (C) head of foreign exchange, Itay Tuchman, who was central to the bank's exploration of digital assets in recent years, is leaving, according to a person familiar with the decision.

He may be moving to take digital assets role, The Block reported, citing someone with close knowledge of the matter.

His departure ends a tenure of about two decades at the bank. For the past 5 1/2 years he has been the bank's global head of foreign exchange. He will be replaced by Stuart Staley, an 18-year Citi veteran, the person said.

Tuchman said in May 2021 that Citi, one of the world's 20 largest banks by market cap, had been seeing a surge in interest around cryptocurrencies. The following month the bank unveiled a digital assets group within its wealth-management division.

If Tuchman does move into a digital assets role, he would join a sizable stream of banking executives moving into crypto. In early July, Galaxy Digital (GLXY.TO) appointed a former Credit Suisse (CS) managing director, Danielle Johnson, as its global head of distribution to oversee sales and product strategy for institutional investors. A month earlier, a trio of JPMorgan (JPM) executives departed to join crypto firms.

Neither Tuchman nor Citi immediately responded to CoinDesk's request for comment.

Read more: Citigroup Furthers Crypto Push With Two Digital-Asset Hires

UPDATE (Aug. 23, 12:03 UTC): Replaces sourcing with a person familiar with the matter; removes Reuters.