Citigroup taps Coinbase for stablecoin payment infrastructure
Citigroup will use Coinbase's infrastructure to accept stablecoin payments, deepening a digital-asset partnership the two firms announced in October 2025.
Key points
- Citigroup will use Coinbase's infrastructure to accept stablecoin payments from customers, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
- The two companies first announced a broader digital-asset payments collaboration in October 2025.
- That earlier work covered institutional movement between traditional currencies and digital assets, plus possible fiat-to-stablecoin conversion.
- Neither the report nor Citi has said which stablecoins or blockchain networks will be supported.
- Citi has set four digital-asset pillars and plans native digital asset custody before the end of 2026, starting with Bitcoin.
Citigroup has deepened its collaboration with Coinbase and will use the crypto exchange's infrastructure to accept stablecoin payments from customers, U.Today reports, citing a Wall Street Journal report. The move extends a relationship the two firms have been building since October 2025, when they first announced a broader digital-asset payments collaboration.
That earlier partnership focused on infrastructure allowing institutional users to move between traditional currencies and digital assets. The companies also said at the time that they would explore alternative fiat-to-stablecoin conversion. The new arrangement builds on that base rather than starting from scratch.
Details remain limited. Neither the Wall Street Journal report nor Citigroup has specified which stablecoins or blockchain networks will be supported under the expanded collaboration. U.Today notes that the scope of the Coinbase work has not been publicly defined beyond stablecoin payment acceptance.
Coinbase stablecoin payments
The Coinbase tie-up sits inside a much wider digital-asset push at Citigroup. The bank recently set out four pillars for the business: expanding Citi Token Services, improving interoperability, developing crypto custody and tokenisation services, and providing banking infrastructure to virtual-asset service providers. Citi has said its aim is to act as a bridge between fiat currencies, stablecoins and other tokens.
On custody, Citigroup unveiled its Custody+ platform in August and confirmed plans to launch custody for native digital assets before the end of 2026, beginning with Bitcoin. The bank said the crypto service would sit alongside its conventional custody products.
Citigroup has also moved further into tokenised securities. In June it launched Digital Depositary Receipts representing shares in private companies. Those tokens use regulated blockchain infrastructure operated by SIX, with Citigroup acting as both issuer and custodian.
Four digital asset pillars
More recently, Citigroup became the first US bank to process live native transactions on Swift's blockchain-based ledger. Taken together, the steps show a large traditional bank assembling payments, custody and tokenisation capabilities, while relying on crypto-native partners such as Coinbase for parts of the stack.