Citi and Coinbase Put Stablecoin Checkout Behind Bank-Grade Rails

By Isaac • September 28, 2026 7:10 pm •

Citi and Coinbase are taking a meaningful piece of stablecoin infrastructure out of the crypto back room and putting it directly behind ordinary business payments.

The companies announced an expanded partnership Monday that works in both directions. Citi’s regulated banking rails will power virtual accounts for businesses building on Coinbase, while Coinbase’s payments technology will let Citi’s institutional clients accept stablecoins at checkout without holding or managing the tokens themselves.

That second piece may be the more important one for adoption. A merchant using Spring by Citi can let a customer pay in a supported digital currency.

Coinbase handles the crypto side, automatically converts the payment into fiat, and Citi settles the money as the bank