PNC Bank Pilots Program Converting USDC Stablecoin Payments to Traditional Dollar Deposits
Through this experimental program, qualifying business and institutional customers can receive USDC payments on the Ethereum network, with automatic one-to-one conversion to US dollars prior to account deposit.
In a limited experimental initiative, PNC Bank—currently ranked as the nation's eighth-largest financial institution measured by total assets—has introduced a program allowing select corporate and institutional customers to receive USDC cryptocurrency payments via the Coinbase platform.
The experimental program processes USDC, which is a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar and created by Circle, on the Ethereum blockchain utilizing Coinbase Payments infrastructure. Incoming payments undergo automatic conversion to traditional US dollars before being credited to specified PNC bank accounts, providing businesses with the capability to receive stablecoin-based payments without the need to maintain cryptocurrency holdings themselves.
According to PNC, the service is designed to accelerate fund availability and enhance the efficiency of international payment transfers. The financial institution has not made public information regarding transaction fees, settlement timeframe standards, or the total count of clients participating in the program, and had not provided a response to Cointelegraph's inquiry seeking further information before this article's publication.
This pilot program represents an expansion of a collaborative relationship initiated in July 2025, during which PNC entered into an agreement to deliver cryptocurrency-related services utilizing Coinbase's technological infrastructure while simultaneously providing traditional banking services to the cryptocurrency exchange. This partnership resulted in the introduction of Bitcoin (BTC) trading capabilities for qualified PNC Private Bank customers in December.
The initiative from PNC mirrors a comparable program introduced by Citi, which broadened its collaboration with Coinbase in September to allow its institutional customer base to receive stablecoin-based payments via its Spring by Citi digital platform, with Coinbase handling the conversion of payments to traditional fiat currency.
USDC holds the position of second-largest stablecoin based on market capitalization, currently valued at $70.5 billion, trailing Tether's USDT which stands at $176.8 billion, as reported by DefiLlama data. The aggregate stablecoin market reached approximately $290.8 billion as of Monday.