Coinbase turns brands into stablecoin issuers with USDC-backed ‘Custom Stablecoins’

Coinbase’s new Custom Stablecoins lets brands mint compliant, USDC-backed digital dollars on Coinbase Business, tapping 100M+ wallets and new revenue streams.
Summary

• Coinbase’s Custom Stablecoins lets businesses issue branded, USDC-backed tokens with issuance, custody, and compliance handled by Coinbase Business.
• Brands can plug into 100M+ Coinbase wallets and use tokens for rewards, payments, DeFi access, and cross-chain transfers across supported networks.
• The launch lands alongside stock trading, prediction markets, Base App, and institutional partnerships that position Coinbase as full-stack financial infrastructure.

Coinbase has launched a Custom Stablecoins service that enables businesses to create branded digital currencies backed by USDC, the company announced through its platform updates.

USDC and Coinbase

The service allows companies to issue digital dollars with full compliance and custody support managed by Coinbase, according to Marc Baumann, Founder and CEO of 51 Group, who shared details of the offering on LinkedIn.

The Custom Stablecoins product operates within Coinbase’s Business platform and handles issuance, custody, and regulatory compliance for participating brands. Companies can create liquid, tradable tokens that function across multiple wallets and blockchains, according to Baumann’s post.

Potential applications cited by Baumann include branded currencies for major corporations such as DeltaDollars, StarbucksUSD, AmazonCoin, and NBA Bucks, all backed by Coinbase’s regulatory infrastructure.

Baumann outlined a hypothetical scenario involving Klarna, where KlarnaCredits could reward customers after purchases, function across merchant networks, generate cashback returns, and integrate with decentralized exchanges and bridges.

Companies using the service gain access to over 100 million existing Coinbase wallets, according to Baumann. The revenue model includes Coinbase earning spread on redemptions plus transaction and custody fees.

The Custom Stablecoins launch coincided with broader platform updates announced in a system update titled “The future of finance is on Coinbase.” Additional features include stock trading on the main application, prediction markets, a simplified interface for futures and perpetual contracts, and enhanced functionality for Solana traders to access newly created assets immediately.

Other releases include primary token sales, the global launch of the Base App described as an onchain application, general availability of Coinbase Business, and expansion of the fiat-to-crypto onramp.

Coinbase also announced partnerships with Solflare, Flipcash R2, and ETHA, along with BlackRock tokenization agreements aimed at institutional adoption. The company separately partnered with Apollo to explore stablecoin credit strategies and integrated the x402 payment protocol for transactions.

The platform updates position Coinbase as comprehensive financial infrastructure spanning branded stablecoins, stock trading, and institutional services through its Business platform, according to the company’s announcement.