Citi and Coinbase Working Together To Build Stablecoin Infrastructure for Businesses

KUALA LUMPUR, 29 SEPTEMBER 2026 —

Citigroup and Coinbase said on Monday they will jointly build a stable‑coin infrastructure that lets Citi’s corporate clients move between fiat money and stablecoins without having to run separate banking and crypto systems.

In the joint statement the two firms outlined a two‑part solution. The first component, called Coinbase Virtual Accounts, will sit on Citi’s banking‑as‑a‑service platform and provide Coinbase’s payments customers with bank‑account‑like features, allowing them to accept, hold and send funds. Citi will supply the regulated banking backbone that automatically converts incoming fiat into stablecoins.

The second component will see Citi’s merchant platform, Spring by Citi, use Coinbase’s infrastructure so that Citi’s enterprise clients can accept stablecoin payments at checkout. Under the arrangement Coinbase will convert the stablecoins back into fiat and Citi will settle the funds, meaning merchants will never have to hold or manage crypto directly.

“Our clients operate in an increasingly fast‑paced and complex global economy, and we’re focused on delivering the solutions they need,” said Debopama Sen, head of payments, services at Citi. “Our goal is to build the next generation of payments infrastructure — one that is seamless, interoperable, and operates across both traditional and digital payments instruments and networks.”

Alec Lovett, head of infrastructure product at Coinbase, added: “Fintechs building on Coinbase have always needed a fast, compliant bridge between fiat and stablecoins, and Citi gives us that at scale.” The two companies first announced a partnership last year to enhance digital‑asset payment capabilities for institutional clients, and the new arrangement expands that collaboration to cover both fiat‑to‑stablecoin conversion and merchant checkout services.

The deal comes after Citi disclosed in August that it will allow institutional investors to custody both traditional assets and bitcoin within a single framework later this year, eliminating the need for separate custodial systems.

Citi’s broader blockchain portfolio includes Citi Token Services, which enables real‑time cross‑border payments using tokenised deposits, and the bank has been working with other major financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America to explore issuing a stablecoin product.

By providing a regulated banking layer for stablecoin transactions, Citi aims to address compliance concerns while offering the speed and low‑cost benefits of blockchain‑based payments. For Coinbase, the partnership gives access to Citi’s extensive corporate client base and its banking infrastructure, potentially expanding the exchange’s reach in the enterprise payments market.

The collaboration is expected to facilitate larger volumes of stablecoin usage among multinational corporations that require reliable, compliant conversion between fiat and digital assets. As the service rolls out, Citi will settle converted fiat with merchants, while Coinbase handles the on‑chain conversion, creating a closed loop that removes the need for merchants to manage crypto wallets or exposure.

The announcement was reported by Bitcoin Magazine and echoed in a Yahoo Finance release that noted Coinbase will supply the blockchain infrastructure that converts stablecoin payments into dollars for Citi’s large multinational clients. No further timeline for the launch was provided.