Key points

• Citi's institutional clients can accept stablecoin payments through Spring by Citi, with Coinbase converting tokens to fiat and Citi settling as bank of record.
• Coinbase used Citi's Virtual Account Wallet, part of its banking-as-a-service arm, to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts that convert incoming fiat into stablecoins.
• Both features launch first in the United States, with more capabilities planned in the coming months.
• Coinbase put the potential audience at more than 150 million stablecoin holders worldwide.
• The move expands a partnership the two firms announced in October 2025 covering fiat pay-ins and payouts.

Citi's institutional clients can now accept stablecoin payments through the bank's merchant platform, with Coinbase handling the conversion into traditional money, Decrypt reports. The arrangement means businesses banking with Citi can let customers pay in stablecoins without ever holding the tokens themselves. Coinbase converts the tokens into fiat, and Citi settles the funds as the bank of record.

The feature runs through Spring by Citi, the bank's merchant payment platform, which Coinbase's payments infrastructure now plugs into. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to a traditional currency, usually the US dollar, and they can settle around the clock. That round-the-clock settlement is a large part of their appeal for merchants and payment firms.

In the other direction, Coinbase has tapped Citi's Virtual Account Wallet, part of the bank's banking-as-a-service business, to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts. According to the companies, those accounts let businesses building on Coinbase accept, hold and send money much like a bank account. Incoming fiat, such as US dollars, is automatically converted into stablecoins.

Stablecoin checkout for Citi clients

Both features launch first in the United States, with more capabilities planned in the coming months, the companies said. Coinbase put the potential audience at more than 150 million stablecoin holders worldwide. Brett Tejpaul, head of Coinbase Institutional, said Citi is the kind of regulated banking partner the digital asset economy needs to move from experimentation to everyday commerce.

The expansion builds on a tie-up the two firms first announced last October. At the time, they said they would work on fiat pay-ins and payouts to smooth crypto on- and off-ramps for Citi's institutional clients. Citi has since pushed further into digital assets, announcing plans in August to add Bitcoin custody to its Custody+ suite.

Coinbase has been widening its menu beyond trading. Last week it rolled out fixed-rate USDC loans against Bitcoin, powered by Morpho. In August it launched tokenized stocks on Base, its Ethereum layer-2 network, for non-US users.

Virtual accounts convert fiat

The deal matters because it links a major regulated bank's payment rails with a large crypto exchange's conversion and settlement infrastructure. It lets corporate clients offer stablecoin checkout without taking on the tokens directly, while keeping Citi in the settlement role.

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