Citi partners with Coinbase to pilot stablecoin payments as the bank forecasts a $4 trillion market by 2030, signaling Wall Street’s growing crypto embrace.
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Citigroup could become one of Wall Street’s first major banks to offer stablecoin payment services, marking a potential milestone in the broader adoption of tokenized dollars following the passage of the GENIUS Act earlier this year.
According to , Citi has partnered with crypto exchange Coinbase to expand its digital asset capabilities, initially focusing on making it easier for clients to move funds between fiat and crypto.
Debopama Sen, Citi’s head of payments, said the bank’s clients are increasingly seeking programmability, conditional payments and greater speed and efficiency, alongside round-the-cock payment access.
Sen added that Citi is “exploring solutions to enable onchain stablecoin payments for our clients” in the near future.
“Stablecoins will be another enabler in the digital payment ecosystem and it’ll help grow the space, it’ll help grow functionality for our clients,” Sen said.
Citi’s emphasis on stablecoins is hardly surprising. The latest developments come just a month after the bank sharply raised its forecast for the digital dollar market. By 2030, the stablecoin market could reach $4 trillion, up from roughly $315 billion today.
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The passage of the , which establishes a regulatory framework for stablecoins and takes effect in early 2027, has created a sense of urgency among major banks to explore their own stablecoin initiatives.
Citigroup is among a growing group of Wall Street institutions, including JPMorgan and Bank of America, in the . Even longtime crypto skeptic Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s CEO, recently told shareholders that the bank “plans to be involved” in stablecoin development.
Investor enthusiasm is rising alongside institutional interest. Circle, the issuer of USDC () — the world’s second-largest dollar-pegged stablecoin — went public earlier this year in a blockbuster debut, with on the first day of trading.
Circle currently boasts a market capitalization of around $35 billion.
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