Citigroup and Coinbase partner to expand digital-asset payment capabilities

• Citigroup teams up with Coinbase to simplify crypto-to-fiat payments for corporate clients.
• Citi plans to integrate stablecoin payments, boosting speed and 24/7 transaction access.
• Coinbase expands institutional reach as Wall Street embraces blockchain innovation.

Citigroup Inc. and Coinbase Global Inc. are partnering to enhance digital-asset payment solutions for the bank’s corporate clients, marking another major step by a traditional financial institution toward embracing blockchain technology.

The collaboration reflects Wall Street’s growing interest in digital assets after years of regulatory caution and market volatility.

The initiative aims to make it easier for Citi’s institutional clients to move funds between cryptocurrencies and traditional fiat currencies — a long-standing challenge in the digital economy.

The move comes as banks and payment providers increasingly explore blockchain to enable faster, cheaper, and more efficient transactions across global financial networks.

Citi eyes faster, programmable payments

The initial phase of the Citi-Coinbase partnership will focus on simplifying the process of converting crypto to fiat and vice versa, particularly for cross-border transactions.

Debopama Sen, head of payments for Citi Services, said the bank’s clients are increasingly seeking innovations that go beyond traditional transaction models.

Citi’s clients want “programmability and conditional payments and other cost and speed and efficiency aspects,” Sen said, emphasizing the growing demand for payment systems that can operate continuously and offer greater flexibility than conventional financial rails.

Sen added that Citi is also “exploring solutions to really enable on-chain stablecoin payments for our clients” in the coming months, noting that stablecoins could play a key role in the evolution of corporate payment infrastructure.

“Stablecoins will be another enabler in the digital payment ecosystem,” she said.

“It’ll help grow the space, it’ll help grow functionality for our clients.”

Stablecoins — cryptocurrencies typically pegged to fiat currencies such as the US dollar — have become one of the most promising use cases for blockchain technology.

They combine the efficiency of digital payments with the relative stability of traditional money, making them increasingly attractive for corporate transactions and settlements.

Stablecoins seen as cornerstone of digital finance growth

Citi’s “Future of Finance” team, led by Ronit Ghose, has projected that the global stablecoin market could surpass $1 trillion within five years, up from about $300 billion today.

This growth outlook underscores how blockchain-based assets are rapidly evolving from speculative investments to tools for practical financial operations.

The collaboration with Coinbase follows Citi’s earlier introduction of a blockchain platform that enables institutional clients to move tokenized deposits around the clock within the bank’s internal network.

This system offers clients real-time settlement capabilities, reducing the delays and costs associated with traditional payment systems such as ACH and wire transfers.

Coinbase’s institutional infrastructure expands

Coinbase, one of the world’s leading digital-asset exchanges, brings extensive infrastructure and experience to the partnership.

The company works with more than 250 banks and financial institutions globally, according to Brian Foster, Coinbase’s global head of crypto-as-a-service.

“Coinbase has spent years developing very specialized infrastructure,” Foster told Bloomberg News, adding that traditional financial institutions are increasingly seeking partnerships across various crypto-related services — from spot and derivatives trading to custody, staking, and payments.

Foster said that growing interest in stablecoins, crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and tokenized assets is prompting more financial institutions to engage with blockchain-based systems.

As Citigroup and Coinbase explore new ways to bridge traditional banking and digital assets, their collaboration signals how mainstream finance is steadily integrating blockchain into its infrastructure — moving beyond experimentation toward real-world adoption.

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