PNC Bank (PNC) is partnering with Coinbase (COIN) to offer its institutional and banking clients access to cryptocurrency services, the companies said Tuesday.
The collaboration will use Coinbase’s “Crypto-as-a-Service” infrastructure to let PNC clients buy, hold and sell digital assets securely. PNC will also provide banking services to Coinbase, deepening the operational ties between the two firms.
“Partnering with Coinbase accelerates our ability to bring innovative, crypto financial solutions to our clients,” PNC CEO William Demchak said in a statement. “This collaboration enables us to meet growing demand for secure and streamlined access to digital assets on PNC’s trusted platform.”
Coinbase has been expanding its enterprise services to banks and financial institutions as interest in crypto rebounds. Its Crypto-as-a-Service platform offers backend tools for compliance, custody and trading — components that would otherwise be costly and time-consuming for a traditional bank to build in-house.
The partnership, which seems to have been in the making since 2021, offers PNC a ready-made path into crypto without needing to directly custody assets or register as a crypto broker, potentially sidestepping regulatory complexity. Coinbase, in turn, gains access to one of the largest banks in the U.S. and its vast network of institutional customers.
“PNC is a market leader in delivering best-in-class products for their clients,” said Brett Tejpaul, head of Coinbase Institutional. “We’re thrilled to support their entry into the digital asset market with a platform built on uncompromising security.”
The deal comes amid growing demand for regulated crypto services among large financial players, as lawmakers edge closer to passing clearer rules for digital assets. While several banks have offered crypto custody or tokenization pilots, few have enabled full trading functionality for clients through a major partner.
PNC, which serves corporate, government and retail clients across the country, becomes one of the largest U.S. banks to adopt crypto services at scale. The timeline for rollout has not yet been disclosed, but both companies framed the initiative as a long-term effort to build resilient, compliant infrastructure for the digital asset economy.