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.