Citi Clients Can Now Take Stablecoin Payments Through Coinbase—Without Touching Crypto

In brief

• Citi's institutional clients can now accept stablecoin payments through Spring by Citi, with Coinbase converting the tokens to fiat and Citi settling the funds.
• Coinbase is using Citi's Virtual Account Wallet to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts, which automatically convert incoming fiat into stablecoins.
• Both features launch first in the U.S. The deal builds on a partnership the firms announced in October 2025.

Big businesses banking with Citi can now let customers pay in stablecoins without ever holding the tokens themselves.

Coinbase said Monday it has deepened its previously announced deal with the Wall Street bank on two fronts. First, Coinbase's payments infrastructure now plugs into Spring by Citi, the bank's merchant payment platform, so Citi's institutional clients can accept stablecoins at checkout. Coinbase converts the tokens into fiat, and Citi settles the funds as the bank of record.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to a traditional currency, usually the U.S. dollar, and they can settle around the clock.

Going the other direction, Coinbase tapped Citi's Virtual Account Wallet, part of the bank's banking-as-a-service business, to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts. Those accounts let businesses building on Coinbase accept, hold, and send money much like a bank account, with incoming fiat, such as U.S. dollars, automatically converted into stablecoins.