- Citi teams up with Coinbase to pilot institutional stablecoin payments and smoother fiat on/off-ramps.
- Early phase focuses on deposits and withdrawals in traditional currencies through Coinbase services.
- Both firms are exploring programmable, on-chain payouts to enable 24/7 settlement and faster cross-border flows.
- More feature details and rollout plans will be shared over the coming months.
In a move aimed at modernizing corporate money movement, Citigroup is partnering with Coinbase to develop digital-asset payment capabilities for institutional clients. The collaboration zeroes in on stablecoin-enabled flows to reduce frictions that have long separated banking rails from crypto networks, especially for cross-border activity.
The initiative will start by letting eligible clients deposit and withdraw fiat via Coinbase’s services, creating a cleaner path between traditional accounts and digital assets. According to a joint communication, the companies are also working on features that could enable 24/7 settlement and faster reconciliations than legacy ACH and wire transfers typically allow.
What the partnership includes today
From day one, the focus is on institutional-grade on/off-ramps that minimize operational friction and keep compliance front and center. The firms indicated that additional feature specifics—including options to convert between fiat and digital assets—will be disclosed as pilots advance and client feedback is incorporated.
Brian Foster, who leads Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service effort, noted that pairing Citi’s global reach with Coinbase’s infrastructure can open the door to simpler access to digital-asset payments. Coinbase brings tooling it has refined for institutions—from trading and custody to payments rails—and works with hundreds of financial firms worldwide.
On Citi’s side, Debopama Sen, head of Payments at Citi Services, underscored that clients are asking for programmability, conditional payouts, and always-on operations. She said the bank is evaluating ways to support on-chain disbursements for specific use cases, subject to controls and governance.
Why stablecoins matter for corporate payments
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to hold a steady value, often linked to established assets like the U.S. dollar and central to stablecoin finance. For treasurers, they can offer speed, cost efficiency, and transparency across borders, shrinking settlement cycles and enabling near-real-time movement that traditional rails can’t consistently match.
Citi has already piloted blockchain-based functionality internally, allowing clients to move tokenized deposits continuously within its network. This new work with Coinbase aims to extend that progress by bridging bank-grade infrastructure with on-chain payout methods, improving interoperability between conventional accounts and digital assets.
Controls, risk and compliance
Because the target users are institutions, the build-out emphasizes robust KYC/AML standards, custody protections, and auditability. Expect granular entitlements, workflow approvals, and enterprise reporting to accompany any on-chain features, with liquidity management tools that map to existing treasury processes and adapt to recent regulatory changes impacting money transfers worldwide.
Potential applications include supplier settlements, marketplace disbursements, treasury sweeps, and other programmable flows that benefit from round-the-clock availability. The ability to time or condition payments could help reduce working-capital friction and streamline reconciliation across global subsidiaries.
What to watch next
Over the coming months, the companies plan to share more details on conversion flows and rollout plans. The approach is likely to be iterative, with early pilots informing geographic coverage and the sequence of features released to clients.
For many in traditional finance, this collaboration signals a practical step toward real-world payments on blockchain rails. While regulatory expectations will continue to guide scope and timing, the direction of travel is clear: institutional clients want faster, programmable, and interoperable payment options that connect fiat and digital assets without added complexity.
Citi’s payments footprint and Coinbase’s digital-asset stack set the stage for stablecoin-enabled services designed for institutions, starting with cleaner fiat access and expanding into programmable, on-chain payouts as guardrails, demand, and infrastructure mature.
