Major financial-services group Citigroup has partnered with crypto-exchange Coinbase to explore using stablecoins for cross-border and crypto-fiat conversions for its institutional clients. The initiative aims to leverage on-chain stablecoin flows and 24-hour settlement capability to meet growing corporate demand.
Key facts
- Citigroup and Coinbase are teaming up to provide enhanced digital-asset payment capability to the bank’s corporate clients.
- The collaboration initially focuses on making crypto-to-fiat and fiat-to-crypto conversions easier — especially in cross-border use cases.
- In the coming months, Citigroup plans to explore on-chain stablecoin payments for its clients, enabling programmable payments and quicker, always-on settlement.
- Earlier in 2025, Citigroup disclosed it is examining issuing its own stablecoin and expanding crypto-asset services such as custody and tokenised deposits.
Why it matters
The partnership signals a deeper move by traditional banks into blockchain-based payments and stablecoin rails. For Citigroup, shifting toward on-chain stablecoin solutions could:
- Enable 24/7 settlement instead of traditional banking hours.
- Reduce the friction in cross-border payments by cutting intermediaries and delays.
- Offer programmable/flexible payments, using stablecoins for conditional logistics, instant payouts or tokenised flows.
- Strengthen Citigroup’s positioning in the evolving digital-asset ecosystem as regulatory clarity grows.
For Coinbase, the collaboration highlights its growing role beyond retail crypto, as a key infrastructure provider for institutional payments and bank-partnered services.
Institutional context
The collaboration comes at a time when major banks are rethinking payments infrastructure amid stablecoin growth and regulatory shifts. Citigroup previously indicated interest in issuing its own stablecoin, and the broader banking sector is evaluating custody, tokenised deposits and digital-asset payment rails.
Stablecoins are increasingly seen as infrastructure for efficient cross-border settlement. For example, Visa Inc. recently announced pilots using stablecoins for international business payments.
Challenges & considerations
- Regulatory uncertainty: While stablecoin regulation is advancing, banks must still navigate AML/KYC rules, custody regimes and cross-border compliance.
- Operational execution: Transitioning from pilot to production requires integration with legacy systems, risk management, and institutional client adoption.
- Counterparty and credit risk: Using stablecoins in payments introduces new risks around asset backing, convertibility and blockchain-operational security.
- Client adoption: Corporate clients will need to update treasury, FX and payment workflows to adopt new rails — change may be gradual.
What to watch next
- Official announcement details from Citigroup/Coinbase: specifics on timeline, pilot participants, stablecoin types and geographies.
- Stablecoin-rails adoption metrics: how many corporate clients move from fiat rails to stablecoin-enabled flows.
- Regulatory statements: whether regulators in major markets approve or clarify bank use of stablecoins for payments.
- Bank-issued stablecoin updates: whether Citigroup proceeds with issuing its own token and how that fits this collaboration.
- Competitive moves: how other large banks or payment-networks respond to this initiative.
Bottom line
Citigroup’s move to partner with Coinbase to explore stablecoin-based payments marks a significant step in the banking sector’s adoption of blockchain-enabled rails. By focusing on crypto-fiat conversion, on-chain payment solutions and 24/7 settlement, the bank is positioning itself ahead of peers in the transition to digital-asset enabled corporate payments. However, success will depend on regulatory clarity, client uptake and operational execution.
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