Klarna Joins Forces with Coinbase to Tap USDC Capital from Institutional Investors
Klarna just cut a deal with Coinbase—and it's not about letting you buy sneakers with crypto. The buy-now-pay-later giant is plugging directly into the institutional stablecoin pipeline, sourcing USDC capital to fuel its lending engine.
Why This Isn't Your Average Crypto Partnership
Forget flashy consumer integrations. This move bypasses traditional banking corridors entirely. Klarna isn't courting retail crypto bros; it's tapping a deep, liquid pool of institutional digital dollars held on Coinbase's platform. Think of it as a private, on-chain credit line—funding that settles in minutes, not days, without the usual Wall Street intermediaries taking their slice.
The Real Play: Efficiency Over Hype
The partnership reveals a cold, calculated strategy. By leveraging USDC, Klarna likely slashes its cost of capital and gains operational agility. Need to deploy funds for a seasonal shopping spike? Draw down USDC instantly. It's a masterclass in using crypto infrastructure for plain old financial efficiency—while the legacy system still argues about SWIFT vs. SEPA.
A Cynical Take on Finance's New Plumbing
Let's be real: the big banks have spent decades building fortresses around moving money. Now, a fintech and a crypto exchange just laid a bypass tunnel using internet money. It's almost poetic—the future of corporate finance is being built by the same companies that helped you finance a PlayStation, all while the traditional gatekeepers are left auditing their own compliance paperwork.
This isn't a bet on Bitcoin's price. It's a wholesale adoption of crypto's rails. When mainstream fintechs start treating stablecoins as a core treasury tool, the revolution isn't coming—it's already funded.
Klarna onboards USDC as a source of capital
In 2025, stablecoin holders were seeking various sources of yield, putting their assets in DeFi vaults with differing levels of risk. Klarna may offer a much lower risk for USDC holders. The available pool of stablecoins may become a part of Klarna’s usual pool of available capital.
Klarna uses capital acquired through its banking arm, accepting direct deposits or issuing bonds.
‘Stablecoin connects us to an entirely new class of institutional investors,’ said Niclas Neglén, Klarna’s CFO, in a statement.
USDC deposits are as close as possible to direct fiat liquidity, as the stablecoin is fully regulated for the US market. Klarna and many other fintech apps for now avoid crypto-collateralized stablecoins.
Coinbase holds assets on behalf of third parties through Coinbase Custody. As of December 2025, the platform carries around $50M in USDC. The USDC stablecoin is widely distributed and not concentrated in top addresses. The stablecoin is widely used by both crypto insiders and institutions.
The inclusion of Klarna may take some of the liquidity from existing platforms. The partnership is one of the recent cross-overs between traditional and mainstream finance. Circle is also bridging the gap between fintech and crypto-insider activity, with significant growth in payment usage in 2025.
Klarna meets financing headwinds
One of the key challenges of Klarna is the cost of funding. The company also aims to increase the share of longer-term loans in 2026.
The company achieved 32% revenue growth in Q3, but had a net loss of $14M due to bad loan write-offs.
KLAR shares also trade NEAR their lowest range at $30.79. KLAR is one of the new tokens for 2025 that is trading under its ICO price. The company suffers pressure as trust in consumer credit remains low, noting the potential risk of bad loans.
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