Institutional clients banking with Citi can now allow customers to pay in stablecoins without holding the digital tokens themselves, following an expanded partnership between Citi and Coinbase.
Announced on Monday, the collaboration integrates Coinbase's payments infrastructure into Spring by Citi, the bank's merchant payment platform. Through this setup, Citi's institutional clients can accept stablecoins at checkout, while Coinbase converts the tokens into fiat and Citi settles the funds as the bank of record.
In the reverse direction, Coinbase is utilizing Citi's Virtual Account Wallet—part of the bank's banking-as-a-service offerings—to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts. These accounts allow businesses building on Coinbase to accept, hold, and send money like a traditional bank account, automatically converting incoming fiat currency, such as U.S. dollars, into stablecoins.
Both new features are launching first in the United States, with additional capabilities planned for future release. The companies estimate the potential global audience for stablecoin holders at more than 150 million.
This development expands upon an initial partnership announced by the two firms last October, which focused on fiat pay-ins and payouts to facilitate crypto on- and off-ramps for Citi's institutional clients. Citi has since explored other digital asset initiatives, including plans announced in August to incorporate Bitcoin custody into its Custody+ suite.
