Citibank is Creating Their Own Digital Currency

If bitcoin is outside your comfort zone (or your bank account), there may soon be a new option available to you: Citibank recently announced plans to create its own digital currency.

The bank has used the idea of bitcoin along with blockchain technology to run some tests on how well the currency, tentatively called Citicoin, would work. According to Bitcoin Magazine, Citi sees the move to digital currency as inevitable. The company isn't so sure about bitcoin specifically, though, so they're working to make their own improved version.

There isn't any real money passing through the systems yet, so there's no way to know for sure how well it would do. Citibank's new system also isn't patented because most of the work is open-source, according to International Business Times UK. In the future, this could lead to money easily transferred between organizations and banks in seconds instead of the days it currently takes.

While Citi is looking forward to the potential for innovation, others are less sure. Bitcoin has traditionally been associated with dark dealings because the anonymity of the currency and its use in computer scams and other fraud. Others are concerned that it could to lead to regulation of the bitcoin market.

[h/t TechCrunch]