Coinbase looks to stablecoins to broaden its institutional customer base

Brett Tejpaul points to seven major banks

In an interview published by Bitcoin Magazine on October 26, Brett Tejpaul, co-CEO of Coinbase Institutional, says seven of the world’s largest banks use the group’s infrastructure. He presents stablecoin payments as an adoption driver taking over from the initial interest in Bitcoin ETFs. The show’s public summary does not name those seven institutions. The figure therefore remains a statement by the executive, rather than a list of banking partnerships independently established in this interview.

Tejpaul also describes a gap between what he considers a favorable macroeconomic environment and Bitcoin performance he finds disappointing. In his view, institutions still largely approach BTC as technology exposure. This assessment does not show that all banks adopt the same strategy or that they are giving up holding Bitcoin. The new phase he describes also concerns businesses using Coinbase’s technical services, rather than only the amounts invested in the token.

Citi sets out two separate payment routes

One documented example appears in Citi’s September 28, 2026, announcement. Coinbase selected Citi’s Virtual Account Wallet solution for its virtual accounts, with automatic conversion of incoming traditional currency into stablecoins. A second route concerns Spring by Citi: Coinbase Payments infrastructure is to enable institutional clients to accept stablecoin payments, which are then converted into bank money and settled by Citi. The initiatives start in the United States. Their announcement specifies functions without providing a measure of the institutions’ BTC purchases.

Coinbase’s Prime offering illustrates this range of uses. Its official presentation brings together order execution, financing, custody, futures and staking. It also describes conversions between dollars and USDC, and movements across Prime, Exchange and networks for trading or settlement. Using one of these functions does not mean using all the others. The commercial product catalog alone cannot establish which specific service each of the seven banks mentioned by Tejpaul uses.

USDC reserves and redemption remain separate

USDC is a stablecoin issued by Circle, designed to be exchanged for one dollar. On its transparency page, the issuer describes liquid reserves separated from its operating funds, including bank deposits, short-term U.S. Treasury securities and overnight reverse repurchase agreements. Circle publishes weekly information on reserves and issuance or burn flows, alongside monthly independent assurance. These publications concern the stablecoin’s backing, not Bitcoin purchases.

Redemption with the issuer is nevertheless subject to its own conditions. For holders outside the European Economic Area, the USDC terms restrict direct conversion with Circle to holders of a Circle Mint account in good standing; they refer European holders to a separate framework. Holding a token in a wallet and having direct access to redemption are therefore different situations. The speed of a blockchain transfer does not establish that every conversion into bank money will be instantaneous for every user.