Coinbase and Thunes, a Singapore-based cross-border payments company, said on 19 October that Coinbase will plug into Thunes’ payout network so that Coinbase customers can send money to bank accounts and mobile wallets in more countries and currencies. The joint release, sent at 11:00 New York time (15:00 UTC) from Money20/20 USA in Las Vegas, adds that Coinbase will power Thunes’ stablecoin infrastructure. Neither side disclosed financial terms.
What the Coinbase Thunes deal leaves out matters as much as what it contains. The release names no stablecoin, no blockchain, no country list, no launch date and no price. Every commitment is in the future tense. For now this is a stated direction between two payment companies, not a product anyone can use.
How the Coinbase Thunes deal is meant to work
The arrangement runs both ways. Coinbase will build Thunes’ Direct Global Network into its platform; Thunes describes that network as direct access to local clearing systems and alternative payment methods. Thunes then handles the last step, delivering the money in real time to a recipient’s bank account or mobile wallet, including in hard-to-reach regions where banking infrastructure is thin.
The other half goes from Coinbase to Thunes. According to the release, Coinbase will power Thunes’ stablecoin infrastructure “through its broad suite of stablecoin solutions”, while Thunes gives Coinbase global reach in ordinary currencies. Which Coinbase products, on what terms and for which of Thunes’ clients is not stated.
The companies named three uses: supplier payments by companies, payouts to gig workers and instant international remittances. The subheading of the release speaks of corporate, gig economy and consumer cases. Yet the one spokesperson who described the customer, Kyle Rosen, head of North America at Thunes, talked about firms: “Together, we’re delivering the speed, scale, and reliability US businesses need to power global growth.”
Whether those firms are clients of Coinbase Business, of Coinbase’s developer payment tools or of something else is not said. Coin Edition noted that it is unconfirmed whether individual Coinbase users will get access at all.
Thunes’ network, in the company’s own figures
Thunes is the less familiar name of the two. The figures below come from the company: the boilerplate of the release, plus the licence count reported by Crypto Briefing and Coin Edition on 19 October. None has been audited by an outside party.
| Item (company-reported) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Countries reached by the Direct Global Network | 140+ |
| Currencies | 90+ |
| Mobile wallets, stablecoin wallets and bank accounts reachable | 12 billion+ |
| Cards reachable | 15 billion |
| Payment methods | 220+ |
| Payment licences (per Crypto Briefing and Coin Edition) | 50+ |
| Offices | 14, headquarters in Singapore |
The 12 billion figure is easy to misread. It counts accounts and wallets the network can pay into, not people and not Thunes customers. One person can hold several of them. ETHNews made the same point about geography: 140 countries is advertised reach, not a list of corridors confirmed for the Coinbase link.
Chloé Mayenobe, Thunes’ deputy chief executive, called the company in the release “the crucial bridge connecting traditional finance, mobile wallets, and digital assets.” Alec Lovett, head of infrastructure products at Coinbase, said stablecoins are “transforming how value moves worldwide”, then put the case more narrowly: “Last-mile connectivity is a key part of this.”
No stablecoin, no chain, no date: what the release leaves out
Coindaro read the release on PR Newswire and on Thunes’ site on 20 October. It mentions neither USDC nor USDT, and it does not mention Base, Coinbase’s own blockchain. Crypto Briefing, Coin Edition and ETHNews came to the same reading; ETHNews wrote that the announcement does not establish that transactions will settle on Base.
There is no corridor either, meaning no named pair of sending and receiving countries. No rollout order, no fee schedule, no word on exclusivity, and no sign of which Coinbase product goes first.
So any headline promising “USDC payouts on Base to 140 countries” goes beyond the record. Base is Coinbase’s network and Thunes already handles USDC, which makes both likely candidates. Likely is not announced.
Thunes already pays out in stablecoins, separately
Thunes was moving stablecoins well before this deal. On 28 October 2025 it launched payouts to stablecoin wallets in USDC and USDT, covering more than 130 countries, according to its release at the time. Circle, the issuer of USDC, has published a case study on Thunes settling across its network in USDC around the clock instead of relying on slower prefunding, and Crypto Briefing reports that Thunes joined Circle’s payments network earlier in 2026.
On 17 March 2026 Thunes also said banks could pay into stablecoin wallets through their existing Swift connection. The 11,500 figure it quoted is the number of institutions on Swift, not the number using the service.
That history is background, not part of the Coinbase agreement. It shows Thunes can already move both main dollar stablecoins. It does not tell us which one, if any, the Coinbase link will use.
A second Coinbase payments deal in three days
On 17 October Coindaro reported that Coinbase will run the stablecoin side of Marqeta’s card platform, with Base handling settlement. That deal covers card spending; the Thunes one covers payouts into bank accounts and mobile wallets. They are different pipes, and only the Marqeta deal named a chain.
Money20/20 has become Coinbase’s stage for this kind of news. At the same Las Vegas conference a year earlier, Citi and Coinbase said they would build stablecoin payment tools for Citi’s institutional clients, starting with conversions between dollars and crypto, Banking Dive reported on 29 October 2025.
Rivals are working the same ground. Circle wants USDC in about 40 more emerging markets, and Visa Direct took USDC prefunding live with Inyo Global. Western Union has had its own stablecoin-backed Visa card, Stablecard, since August, issued with Rain and tied to its USDPT stablecoin; Rain now says it is live in 37 markets, The Defiant reported. ETHNews set the Coinbase Thunes pairing against Wise, Swift gpi and Ripple Payments, which it says already combines fiat and stablecoin settlement with local payouts in more than 60 markets.
Why the stablecoin is not where most of the cost sits
A stablecoin moves dollars between two parties quickly and cheaply. The expensive part of an international payment is usually elsewhere: converting into the recipient’s currency and paying out locally. That is the part Thunes sells.
ETHNews worked through an example of a $1,000 transfer. It put the blockchain leg at $0.50, currency conversion at $6 (an assumed 0.60% rate) and the local payout at $1.50: $8 in all, or 0.80%. Conversion is three quarters of the bill, and removing the chain fee entirely would save fifty cents.
Those numbers are ETHNews’s assumptions, not prices from either company. Its point holds without them: until fees are published, nobody can say whether a Coinbase payout through Thunes would cost less than a bank wire or a remittance app.
For readers new to the subject, our beginner’s guide to stablecoins explains how dollar tokens hold their peg and what backs them.
Nothing announced yet for Europe
The release does not mention Europe, the euro or SEPA transfers, so nothing in it changes how money moves to or from the EU today. Any stablecoin used there would have to fit MiCA, the EU’s crypto rules. USDC is about to come under closer watch: from 12 November the European Banking Authority supervises its reserves as a significant e-money token.
What to watch next
Four answers would turn this announcement into something measurable: the stablecoin, the chain, the first corridors and the price. A Coinbase product page or an update to its developer documentation is where they would show up first. Neither company has given a date for either.
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