Citi taps Coinbase to convert stablecoin payments into cash
Citigroup will let corporate clients accept stablecoin payments while Coinbase supplies the blockchain plumbing and Citi handles conversion and settlement, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Key points
- Coinbase provides the public blockchain infrastructure; Citi handles merchant acquisition, fiat conversion and bank settlement, per the Wall Street Journal.
- The arrangement builds on a partnership the two firms first announced in October 2025 covering fiat on-ramps, off-ramps and stablecoin payouts.
- Citi's Token Services platform, live since 2024, moves roughly $1 billion a day in tokenized deposits, against about $6 trillion across its wider payments business.
- Citi operates in 94 markets and over 300 payment networks, and is extending tokenized transfers toward Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
- No launch date, participating clients or supported stablecoins have been disclosed; Citi Research's base case sees $1.9 trillion in stablecoin issuance by 2030.
Citigroup has tapped Coinbase to convert stablecoin payments into cash for corporate clients, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Under the arrangement, Coinbase supplies the public blockchain infrastructure while Citi handles merchant acquisition, conversion into traditional currency and bank settlement. Corporate customers can therefore accept stablecoin payments without running their own crypto wallets, because incoming tokens are turned into fiat automatically.
The deal extends a partnership the two companies first announced in October 2025, when they set out plans for fiat on-ramps, off-ramps and alternative stablecoin payout methods. The Wall Street Journal report adds detail to those earlier intentions. It places America's largest cryptocurrency exchange inside one of the world's biggest banking operations, which Citi says moves roughly $6 trillion across its networks.
The arrangement also runs in the other direction. Coinbase Payments customers can use bank-style account services to receive, hold and distribute funds, with the option of converting cash into stablecoins held at Coinbase. Citi keeps the banking side of the relationship, including settlement and conventional currency conversion, while Coinbase carries the blockchain work.
Coinbase handles the blockchain
Citi is not starting from scratch on digital assets. Its Token Services platform has been operational since 2024 and lets corporate customers move tokenized bank deposits between Citi branches around the clock, handling about $1 billion a day. Those deposits sit on a private, permissioned ledger, so they do not automatically accept USDC arriving from a public blockchain wallet, which is where Coinbase's public chain connection comes in.
Citi is also pushing tokenized bank transfers toward Japan and the United Arab Emirates, and its digital-asset plans include native cryptocurrency custody starting with bitcoin through its Custody+ offering. The bank operates across 94 markets and more than 300 payment networks, according to the report.
The tie-up carries a political contradiction. Coinbase and banking interests spent much of 2026 on opposite sides of Washington's stablecoin rewards fight, particularly during negotiations over the stalled Clarity Act. Banks have argued that crypto rewards resemble deposit interest without equivalent banking requirements, while Coinbase has opposed restrictions it calls anticompetitive. Citi is proceeding regardless.
Citi's tokenized deposit base
The commercial incentive is sizeable. Citi Research's Stablecoins 2030 forecast puts base-case stablecoin issuance at $1.9 trillion by 2030, with a bull case of $4 trillion, and roughly $100 trillion in annual stablecoin turnover under higher transaction velocities. Several details remain undisclosed, including the launch date, participating corporate clients and supported stablecoins. Coinbase currently advertises USDC rewards of about 3.75% annually, which is not a Citi deposit rate.