Citi and Coinbase team up on stablecoin infrastructure

Citi and Coinbase said in a joint statement Monday that they are teaming up to help Citi clients move between traditional money and stablecoins without building or managing separate banking and crypto systems. Coinbase Virtual Accounts will run on Citi's banking-as-a-service platform and give Coinbase payments customers bank-account-like features to accept, hold, and send funds. Citi will provide the regulated banking infrastructure so incoming fiat can be automatically converted into stablecoins. Spring by Citi will use Coinbase infrastructure to let Citi enterprise clients accept stablecoin payments at checkout. Coinbase will convert the stablecoins to fiat. Citi will settle the funds, so merchants will not need to hold or manage crypto directly. Debopama Sen, Head of Payments, Services at Citi, said Citi aims to build seamless, interoperable payments infrastructure that works across traditional and digital payment instruments and networks. Alec Lovett, Coinbase's Head of Infrastructure Product, said fintechs building on Coinbase have needed a fast, compliant bridge between fiat and stablecoins. Lovett said Citi provides that bridge at scale. Citi and Coinbase first announced last year that they would partner to enhance digital asset payment capabilities for institutional clients.