Citi and Coinbase Announce Stablecoin Payment Services

Citigroup and Coinbase have announced two payment services linking traditional bank accounts with stablecoins, including a route for Citi institutional clients to accept stablecoin payments and receive settlement in fiat currency. The companies said the services will launch first in the United States, but did not give a start date or identify initial clients. One service, Coinbase Virtual Accounts, will use Citi’s Virtual Account Wallet infrastructure. It is designed to let Coinbase payments customers receive, hold and send funds, with incoming fiat automatically converted into stablecoins. Citi will provide the regulated banking infrastructure connecting the accounts to the financial system, according to the companies. The second service will let Citi institutional clients accept stablecoin payments through Spring by Citi, the bank’s payment acceptance platform. Coinbase’s payment infrastructure will convert the digital currency into fiat, and Citi will settle the proceeds for merchants. The companies said merchants will not need to hold or manage stablecoins themselves.