Banks Bet on Stablecoins Over Bitcoin as Payment Rails
Banks are surprising everyone by adopting stablecoin payment rails over Bitcoin, and Coinbase is leading the charge. The shift makes sense, as banks want faster cross-border payments, reduced foreign exchange costs, and lower chargeback expenses.
Stablecoins like USDC deliver on all three fronts, operating around the clock on a global scale. Coinbase has built its Stablecoin Payments platform to let merchants and payment service providers accept tokens while settling in fiat through existing banking rails.
A major boost for this strategy came when Coinbase partnered with Checkout.com in June 2026, enabling USDC and USDT acceptance for over 1,000 enterprise merchants who settle in USD.
The regulatory tailwinds are real: Coinbase received approval for a conditional OCC trust bank charter in April 2026, giving its stablecoin operations a stamp of legitimacy from one of the most important US banking regulators. Citi has projected the stablecoin market could reach $4 trillion by 2030, while Coinbase's own estimates suggest $1.2 trillion by 2028.