Citi and Coinbase Team Up to Enable Payments Without Holding Stablecoins

Citi and Coinbase are initially rolling out services in the U.S. that will let businesses receive stablecoin payments in traditional currency without holding digital assets.

According to an announcement reported by The Block, banking giant Citi and U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase are expanding the partnership they launched in October 2025 with two new payment services. The new setup will enable both incoming payments in bank money to be converted into stablecoins and payments made in stablecoins to reach businesses as traditional currency.

Businesses can accept stablecoins and receive traditional currency in their accounts

Citi’s corporate clients will be able to accept stablecoin payments through the Spring by Citi platform. Coinbase will provide the digital asset infrastructure for these payments, and the stablecoins received will be automatically converted into traditional currency to complete the payment.

This means businesses will not have to directly hold or manage these assets when accepting stablecoin payments from their customers.

Citi infrastructure for Coinbase’s virtual accounts

In the other part of the partnership, Coinbase will use Citi’s Virtual Account Wallet infrastructure for its Virtual Accounts service. Customers will be able to accept, hold, and make payments in traditional currency through this setup; automatic conversion of incoming funds into stablecoins will also be supported.

Initially launching in the U.S., the services aim to bring bank-account-like functions together with stablecoin payments on the same infrastructure.

Citi Head of Payments Debopama Sen said the goal is to build a next-generation payments infrastructure that enables interoperability between traditional and digital payment instruments and networks. The partnership the two companies announced last year to develop infrastructure is now being translated into concrete payment services for corporate clients.