Unified payments architecture: a single API for FX and pay-ins/outs

At the Stablecoin Conference 2025, hosted by Bitso Business, the conversation focused on how this technology is redefining financial infrastructure across Latin America. As the region’s first large-scale forum dedicated entirely to stable digital assets, the event brought together more than 1,000 attendees and 100 speakers from leading networks, fintechs, and infrastructure providers—including Visa, Circle, Solana, Arbitrum, Fireblocks, and Remitly. Discussions explored how liquidity, compliance, and education are converging to shape a new era of cross-border payments and enterprise-level crypto adoption.

In the panel we’re using as today’s starting point, the speakers were Cush (Founder & Editor, Odisea), Betsabé Botaitis (CFO, Hedera), Keith Vander Leest (US General Manager, BVNK), Adams Conrad (Principal, QED Investors), and Olivia Vande Woude (Business Development – Institutional & Capital Markets, Ava Labs). The message was clear: scale doesn’t come from “having a wallet,” but from a single integration that orchestrates collections, payouts, and FX over local rails with embedded compliance.

What a “unified payments architecture” really means

Operationally, it’s one API that enables pay-ins and pay-outs across multiple countries, executes on-demand FX based on treasury rules, and governs risk/compliance from the same integration layer. In the standard flow, the merchant or PSP creates a payment order, the payer uses a local rail (e.g., SPEI in Mexico or Pix in Brazil), the platform runs KYC/AML checks and sends status updates via webhooks; if conversion is needed, it prices and executes FX using predefined routing; with funds in place, it triggers the local payout in the destination country and completes accounting/settlement with audit-ready evidence. This is essentially the pattern Bitso Business documents in its pay-ins API and its multi-country local payouts offering.

Why it matters now: hard data from local rails and the market

Instant payments are gaining measurable traction across the region. Pix in Brazil processed more than BRL 26 trillion in 2024 and overtook cards as a payment method, with new use cases like Pix Automático targeting tens of billions of dollars in e-commerce during its first two years. On peak days such as Black Friday, Pix set daily records with 239.9 million transactions and BRL 130 billion settled. These numbers support the thesis of 24/7 windows and accelerated reconciliation behind a unified API.

In Mexico, SPEI logged in 2024 approximately 5.42 billion transfers totaling MXN 579 trillion (annual figure; reported in “millions of pesos” in the SIE). The ability to operate as a local on these rails—through a single endpoint—is what reduces trapped capital and shortens the cash conversion cycle without multiplying country-by-country integrations.

Globally, the cross-border payments market was estimated at USD 212.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 320.7 billion by 2030 (CAGR ~7.1%). Combining on-demand FX with local pay-ins/outs in a single architecture places you where the growth is, with less technical friction and tighter unit-cost control per corridor.

The stablecoin vector is accelerating as well. Recent analyst projections estimate adoption could add up to USD 1.4 trillion in incremental dollar demand by 2027, while banks and consortia explore fiat-backed, multi-currency issuance. The takeaway for CFOs and Treasury isn’t ideological: wherever there’s cost and capital savings with equal or better controls, adoption follows

What the panel left us with

The conference highlighted three technical requirements that now separate pilots from operations at scale. First, real integration with banks and processors—not just wallets—to enable straight-through processing from order to reconciliation. Second, liquidity built for peaks: routing between fiat and stablecoins, 24/7 windows, and intra-day stress testing—lessons aligned with the international payments-resilience agenda, where the G20 cross-border payments goals have increased pressure (and still face challenges) on cost, speed, and transparency. Third, embedded compliance as a platform service: lists, travel rule where applicable, alerts, and case management integrated directly in the API rather than country-level patches.

What “one API” looks like in regional operations

*NVIO Mexico enables direct access to SPEI and provides payment services in full compliance with Mexican regulations. NVIO Pagos México, S.A.P.I. de C.V., IFPE (“NVIO Mexico”), is an entity authorized and regulated by Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV). Learn more at nvio.mx/terms.