Citi, Coinbase Unify Corporate Bank Accounts with Stablecoin Payments
Citi and Coinbase have expanded their partnership to bring stablecoin payments into corporate banking. The two companies have connected corporate bank accounts with stablecoin payments in both directions, allowing Citi's institutional clients to accept stablecoin payments while giving Coinbase business customers access to bank-style virtual accounts powered by Citi.
The idea is to remove the need for companies to build separate systems for conventional money and blockchain money. Merchants can now accept stablecoin payments from customers without needing to manage wallets, custody tokens, or hold crypto on their balance sheet. Coinbase provides the blockchain infrastructure behind the transaction, converting digital assets into traditional currency.
Citi clients using the bank's merchant-processing services will be able to receive a stablecoin payment without needing to manage these aspects. The end result can still be ordinary fiat. On the other side of the partnership, Coinbase is using Citi's Virtual Account Wallet infrastructure to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts, giving businesses bank-account-like functionality while automatically converting incoming fiat into stablecoins where appropriate.