Payment orchestration & APIs
Accept, store, convert, pay out stablecoins via API. “Stripe for stablecoins.”
What this layer does
The orchestration layer gives a business one API to accept, hold, convert, and pay out stablecoins — abstracting away wallets, chains, compliance, and banking partners. Some also let you issue your own stablecoin or issue cards.
Where it sits
The middle of the stack — between the ramps at the edge and the end-user products on top. The 'plumbing' most fintechs build on.
What they compete on
Breadth of the API (accept/store/convert/payout/issue), licenses held, banking + chain coverage, reliability/SLAs, and pricing on volume.
How to tell them apart
Bridge optimizes for developer simplicity + issuance (and Stripe distribution); BVNK for enterprise SLAs and virtual accounts; Rain for card issuing specifically.
The players
Bridge
Stripe for stablecoins.
Owned by Stripe ($1.1B acquisition). Issuance + T-bill yield share, USDB, Visa card rails, and an OCC-chartered trust bank in flight.
Deep dive →BVNK
Enterprise-grade stablecoin payment infrastructure — now Mastercard's on-chain rail.
Mastercard-acquired (~$1.8B, Mar 2026). ~$30B annualized volume, Visa Direct partnership, 25+ licenses (US MTLs, EU/UK EMI, MiCA CASP).
Deep dive →Sphere
An operating system for cross-border money movement.
Solana-VM permissioned ledger (SphereNet, built with Anza); compliance-first rail. Deep emerging-market (LatAm) corridor + last-mile push.
Deep dive →Rain
On-chain card issuing that settles to Visa in stablecoins.
Visa Principal Member with all authorization + settlement on-chain; settles to Visa natively in USDC 365 days/year. Tokenized receivables + omni-chain stack.
Deep dive →Mural Pay
Global accounts. Real-time payments. One API.
Stablecoin ⇄ local-currency last-mile across LatAm + global, with built-in KYB/KYC and one-API Global Stablecoin Accounts.
Deep dive →Conduit
Cross-border B2B payments on stablecoin rails — an alternative to SWIFT.
Deepest emerging-market last-mile (40+ countries in Africa via Onafriq; LatAm + Asia), 8 US banking partners, USDC issuer Circle as an investor.
Deep dive →