For many years, TradFi refused to acknowledge crypto. Today, one of the biggest banks in the world is making room for it.
What’s happening?
The ultimate TradFi and DeFi bridge?
Citi and Coinbase are coming together for digital asset payments. The idea is to include more global clients later.
Step one is moving money in and out.
Coinbase already has a system to convert fiat money into crypto and back again. Citi will connect its clients to it. The point is to make paying in or cashing out just the same as moving money between two bank accounts.
Unlike most bank transfers, this one won’t wait for Monday morning.
The stablecoin part is still being worked out. Both companies are looking at ways for a client to send regular money from one end and have it show up as stablecoins on the other.
They haven’t shared much beyond that yet. More details have been promised in the next few months.
Citi already moves dollars 24/7, and has its own token service for big players. They also reportedly bank 90% of the world’s top eCommerce companies, so a lot of money already flows through.
Coinbase is simply giving it all a way into crypto.
Is Citi playing catch up?
Per data from DeFiLlama, there’s over $306 billion worth of stablecoins out there. Turns out, that money isn’t idle.
BlackRock recently revealed that stablecoins handled $11.2 trillion in transactions last year. That’s just a bit more than Mastercard’s $10.6 trillion. The first half of 2026 alone added another $8.5 trillion.
It’s not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison; stablecoin volume also counts aspects like trading and DeFi activity. However, the direction is hard to argue with.
Final Summary
- Citi and Coinbase are teaming up on 24/7 crypto payments for institutions.
- Stablecoins handled $11.2 trillion in transactions in 2025.