Original report published Nov. 10, 2026, at 01:48:35 UTC+8.
PNC Bank, the eighth-largest US bank by assets, launched a limited pilot allowing eligible corporate and institutional clients to receive USDC payments through Coinbase and have the proceeds deposited in dollars into designated PNC accounts.
Stablecoins in, bank deposits out
The pilot accepts Circle-issued USDC, a US dollar-backed stablecoin, on Ethereum using Coinbase Payments products. Payments are automatically converted into dollars, so participating businesses can accept stablecoin payments without holding the tokens themselves.
The described payment chain connects USDC receipts on Ethereum, Coinbase’s payment and conversion infrastructure, and dollar deposits at PNC. The report does not detail custody arrangements during processing or the contractual allocation of obligations between the parties.
PNC said the service aims to accelerate access to funds and improve cross-border payment efficiency. However, it disclosed neither fees nor settlement-time benchmarks, leaving those claimed benefits unquantified. The bank also did not disclose the number of participating clients and had not responded to Cointelegraph’s request for further details by publication time.
An extension of the Coinbase relationship
The pilot builds on a partnership established in July 2025. Under that arrangement, PNC agreed to offer cryptocurrency services through Coinbase’s infrastructure while providing banking services to the exchange. The partnership subsequently led to Bitcoin trading for eligible PNC Private Bank clients in December.
PNC’s initiative follows a similar move by Citi. In September, Citi expanded its Coinbase partnership to let institutional clients accept stablecoin payments through Spring by Citi, with Coinbase converting receipts into fiat currency.
At the time of the report, DefiLlama data placed USDC’s market capitalization at $70.5 billion, second to Tether’s USDT at $176.8 billion. The total stablecoin market stood at approximately $290.8 billion on Monday.