Virtual accounts

A virtual account gives an end customer their own local bank details. Each account comes with local account and routing numbers, so anyone can send them fiat the same way they would pay a standard bank account. Incoming fiat is converted to stablecoins and sent to a stablecoin wallet owned by the same end customer.

Virtual accounts do not hold funds. Received payments are automatically routed to the specified wallet.

Common use cases for virtual accounts include local collection accounts for exporters, consolidated treasury for multinationals, and USD accounts for long-tail businesses.

To open one, see POST /customers/:id/accounts/fiat/virtual.

Currencies

Every virtual account is named for pay-ins, and accepts both same-entity and different-entity payments. They also accept payments from both businesses and individuals.

Definitions

• Named pay-ins. Payments into the account are made in the name of the account holder. The sender sees the holder's name rather than a generic pooled name.
• Same-entity payments. The sender and the account holder are the same person or business.
• Different-entity payments. The sender and the account holder are different people or businesses.

Virtual accounts compared with on-ramps

On-ramping through a virtual account is not the same as an on-ramp transfer:

• On-ramp transfer. The sender makes a local transfer to a pooled account, with a memo that attributes the payment to the recipient.
• Virtual account. The sender makes a local transfer to routing details unique to the recipient, so the experience is closer to a standard bank account.

Because of this, availability is listed separately for each. For example, some regions support on-ramp transfers but not virtual accounts.