PNC, one of the largest banks in the United States, is partnering with crypto exchange Coinbase to pilot a stablecoin payment service for corporate and institutional clients. With $627 billion in assets, PNC's trial of the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC as a payment method is seen as a case of traditional finance taking digital asset adoption a step further.
According to crypto-focused media outlet Cointelegraph on the 9th (local time), PNC plans to test a USDC payment service for select corporate and institutional clients in partnership with Coinbase. The payments will use USDC, a U.S. dollar stablecoin issued by Circle. The pilot is limited to select corporate and institutional clients, and a specific launch schedule and future expansion plans have not yet been disclosed.
The partnership effectively extends the Bitcoin (BTC) trading alliance PNC has already built with Coinbase into the stablecoin payments space. PNC plans to use Coinbase's infrastructure to give clients the ability to make stablecoin-based payments.
Market analysis account Unfolded assessed that the partnership could work favorably for Coinbase's expansion of its institutional business. It noted, however, that a structure in which a bank's stablecoin payment infrastructure relies heavily on a single crypto operator could become a risk factor as regulation expands in the future.