PNC Expands Coinbase Partnership to Pilot USDC Payments for Corporate, Institutional Clients
Summary
- PNC Bank said it is expanding its partnership with Coinbase to pilot a USDC stablecoin payment service for corporate and institutional clients.
- Corporate clients will be able to have payments received in USDC automatically converted at a rate of $1 per USDC and deposited into their existing PNC accounts.
- The expanded partnership shows that U.S. financial firms are continuing to use stablecoins for business-to-business payments and cash management.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
PNC Bank is expanding its partnership with Coinbase to introduce a stablecoin payment service for corporate clients.
The Block reported on November 9 that PNC will pilot a service with Coinbase allowing corporate and institutional clients to receive payments in the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC. The offering will initially be available to customers that meet certain eligibility requirements.
Under the service, payments received in USDC will be automatically converted into U.S. dollars and deposited into a designated PNC bank account. The conversion rate will be fixed at $1 per USDC, allowing clients to receive funds in their existing bank accounts without separately managing digital assets.
Coinbase’s payments application programming interface, or API, will be used in the payment process alongside PNC’s corporate banking and treasury management systems. PNC expects stablecoin payments to expand the options available through the fast-settlement services it already offers business clients.
The two companies first formed a partnership in July last year. At the time, PNC agreed to use Coinbase’s crypto platform-as-a-service offering and provide some banking services to Coinbase. In December last year, it also introduced a service allowing eligible private banking clients to buy and sell Bitcoin directly through their existing investment accounts.
Coinbase has also been expanding stablecoin payment partnerships with other financial institutions. In September last year, it strengthened its partnership with Citibank to build a service linking existing fiat payment systems with stablecoins. That service supports corporate clients receiving payments in stablecoins and converting them into fiat currency.
Coinbase is also working with payments technology company Moov to provide stablecoin payment infrastructure to U.S. regional banks and credit unions. The service uses Coinbase’s payments API and custodial wallets and targets systems used by more than 1,000 local financial institutions.
The expanded partnership with PNC underscores continued efforts across the U.S. financial industry to use stablecoins for business-to-business payments and cash management. The service remains in a pilot phase, and no timeline has been disclosed for a broader rollout.
