Citi Adds Stablecoin Acceptance for Institutional Clients Through Coinbase
- Citi institutional clients can now accept stablecoin payments through Coinbase infrastructure and receive fiat settlement via Spring by Citi without holding digital assets.
- Coinbase selected Citi’s Virtual Account Wallet to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts for payments customers to receive, hold and send fiat funds.
- Initial capabilities for the virtual accounts will launch in the U.S., with additional features planned in the coming months.
Citi institutional clients can now accept stablecoin payments through Coinbase infrastructure without directly holding or managing the digital assets. The service connects Coinbase’s payment rails with Spring by Citi, allowing merchants to receive fiat settlement from stablecoin payments. The companies are also expanding their existing partnership with new virtual-account infrastructure for Coinbase business customers.
Citi Merchants Can Receive Fiat From Stablecoin Payments
Spring by Citi provides merchant acquiring, payment gateway and settlement services to institutional customers. Under the expanded arrangement, customers can pay participating merchants with stablecoins.
Coinbase provides the stablecoin payment infrastructure and conversion into fiat, while Citi provides the banking and settlement infrastructure. The structure means participating Citi institutional clients do not need to custody or manage stablecoins themselves.
Coinbase Virtual Accounts Will Use Citi Infrastructure
The partnership also works in the opposite direction. Coinbase selected Citi’s Virtual Account Wallet to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts for payments customers.
The virtual accounts are designed to let businesses receive, hold and send fiat funds through Citi-backed banking infrastructure. Coinbase said incoming fiat can also be converted into stablecoins through its payments infrastructure. The initial capabilities will launch in the U.S., with additional features planned in the coming months.
Partnership Expands Earlier Payments Agreement
Citi and Coinbase first announced their digital-asset payments collaboration in October 2025. The initial work focused on fiat pay-ins and payouts, Coinbase on- and off-ramps and payment orchestration.
The companies said at the time that they would also explore ways to connect traditional payment systems with stablecoin infrastructure. Debopama Sen, Citi’s head of payments, said the latest expansion is aimed at supporting both traditional and digital payment methods.
“Our goal is to build the next generation of payments infrastructure.”