PNC now lets its corporate and institutional clients receive USDC, a dollar-backed digital token, which could speed up payments from customers abroad.
PNC Bank has started letting its corporate and institutional clients receive payments in USDC, a digital token backed by dollars. The bank announced it on Monday, Nov. 9. The payments arrive on the Ethereum network, and Coinbase's payments products power the service.
USDC is a stablecoin, a kind of digital money built to stay tied to the value of a dollar. Ethereum is a public network that records these transfers. Until now, a business that wanted to be paid this way had to look beyond its traditional bank. PNC says the new option adds to its faster payments tools and offers what Tom Lang, its head of treasury management product and operations, called the risk management and expertise clients expect from the bank.
For now, this is for large clients, not everyday customers or small shops. The likeliest benefit is in cross-border business payments. PYMNTS research cited in the story says business-to-business transfers across borders are already one of the largest uses of stablecoins. Mastercard's CEO has also called cross-border payments the strongest use case.
The announcement covers incoming payments only. The material does not say what it costs, how quickly money becomes usable, or when smaller clients might get access. PYMNTS also noted that receiving money is not the same as having spendable working capital. Stablecoins still depend on traditional banking.
If overseas customers pay your business, ask your bank whether it accepts stablecoins, but expect PNC's offer to reach large clients first.
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