Ivy 101: A Simple Guide to Ivy’s Financial Infrastructure for Payments and Banking
The way money moves is changing. Customers expect instant payments. Businesses operate across borders. And stablecoins are reshaping how value is stored and transferred. Yet many companies still rely on fragmented legacy systems that weren’t built for the digital age.
That’s why we built Ivy, a financial infrastructure designed to move money at internet speed. With payments and banking unified in a single platform and stablecoins embedded at its core, Ivy enables every transaction to be instant by nature and borderless by design.
Whether you're scaling a fintech product, operating a crypto exchange, or building the next-generation marketplace, this guide aims to help you understand exactly how Ivy works, how you can leverage our ready-made solutions, and why modern businesses are choosing Ivy to power their financial stack.
Our financial infrastructure enables businesses to hold, convert, and move both fiat and stablecoins through a single API. The platform is designed to power four core use cases that can be mixed and matched to suit your specific business needs:
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RECEIVE
Receive funds in fiat or stablecoins from your own bank account or your customers.
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HOLD
Hold a balance in fiat or stablecoins with built-in access to modern payment rails and leading blockchains.
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SEND
Send funds in fiat or stablecoins to your own bank account or your customers.
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Convert
Move between currencies and
on- and off-ramp all in one platform.
To serve these use cases, funds can arrive in the Ivy platform in two ways:
Payments: Funds are moved into the Ivy platform directly from your customers’ bank accounts, whether it’s individuals or businesses, via Ivy's Open Banking or Manual Bank Transfer flows.
Deposits: Funds are moved into the Ivy platform from your own business bank account as transfers to your Ivy IBAN or Ivy Wallet address.
The flow of funds powered by Ivy’s financial infrastructure.
Read on to discover what market leaders use our plug-and-play API for and explore real-world applications.
These four use cases can be combined to support a wide variety of financial workflows. We've bundled them into three ready-to-use solutions that solve key challenges for global businesses:
Receive instant payments
send instant payouts
get stablecoin access
Whether you are a crypto exchange, onramp, broker, fintech, or payments service provider, these solutions give you a fast track to launch, help you streamline operations, reduce costs, and unlock instant access to modern financial rails. Let’s break down how each solution works and how you can benefit from it.
1. RECEIVE instant payments
IN A NUTSHELL
Enable your customers to instantly pay by bank via Open Banking, with manual bank transfer as a reliable fallback option. To learn more, download our Instant Payments One Pager.
To learn more, download our
Instant Payments One Pager.
Who its’s for
Ideal for crypto exchanges, onramps, PSPs, retail brokers, and global marketplaces that want to collect customer funds in real time, cutting transaction costs.
Why it matters
Real-Time Access: Funds settle instantly into your Ivy account by leveraging real-time payment rails like SEPA Instant or Faster Payments - boosting cash flow and improving operational agility.
Lower Transaction Costs: Payments are sent directly from the customer’s bank account, bypassing cards, wallets, and intermediaries - reducing fees and eliminating chargebacks.
Enhanced Security & Compliance: Transactions are authenticated directly by the customer’s bank using PSD2-compliant flows - reducing fraud and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Seamless User Experience: Customers pay directly from their bank with just a few taps, no need to enter card details or create new accounts - increasing conversion and user satisfaction.
HOW IT WORKS
1. Receive
Receive funds instantly via Open Banking or manual bank transfer.
2. HOLD
Hold funds in your Ivy Account in 5+ different fiat currencies.
3. Send
Send funds to your customers or settle funds in your own bank account.
The flow of funds for an instant payment.
CUSTOMER STORY
Guardarian Teams up With Ivy to Power Instant Payments
That Are as Fast and Borderless as Crypto Itself
The Challenge
As Guardarian expanded its global crypto platform, legacy payment methods became a bottleneck for crypto users. Customers who selected traditional bank payment methods often encountered a more fragmented checkout experience, manually entering bank details and dealing with slow SEPA settlement times.
In a fast-moving environment like crypto, which is borderless and instant by nature, that kind of friction doesn’t work. Guardarian needed a payment partner that not only offered better infrastructure than legacy players, but also understood the unique needs of crypto companies.
The Solution
After evaluating several providers, Ivy stood out as the de facto payment and banking infrastructure for crypto companies in Europe. Unlike traditional providers, Ivy is crypto-native at its core, already trusted by leading players in the space.
“Being crypto-native themselves, they understood our users and our business from day one. Beyond offering a product tailored to crypto companies like ours, their team brought deep industry expertise, a high level of professionalism, and hands-on support in both strategic decisions and day-to-day operations.
Among all the providers we considered, Ivy stood out with the best coverage, frictionless flows, and high conversion rates.”
Petr Sergeev
CEO of Guardarian
The Result
Faster checkout: Users can now pay instantly via Open Banking directly from their bank account, without manual data entry or settlement delays.
Higher success rates: Guardarian benefits from uninterrupted payment flows thanks to Ivy’s smart routing through a resilient API network connected to 5,000+ banks.
Lower costs: By removing unnecessary intermediaries and card schemes, Ivy’s infrastructure significantly reduces processing fees and eliminates chargeback costs.
2. Send Instant Payouts
IN A NUTSHELL
Enable your customers to receive instant payouts via real-time payment rails.
To learn more, download our
Instant Payouts One Pager.
Who its’s for
Ideal for crypto exchanges, PSPs, retail brokers, and global marketplaces that want to increase customer loyalty with instant payouts.
Why it matters
Real-Time Withdrawals: Funds are delivered instantly to your customers' bank accounts via real-time payment rails - increasing user trust and enabling 24/7 access to funds.
Increased Customer Loyalty: Users receive their funds within seconds - removing wait times and boosting satisfaction and retention.
Improved Operational Efficiency: Payout setup and reconciliation are fully automated - reducing manual errors, failed transactions, and operational overhead.
Lower Liability: Accounts are verified in real-time - minimizing the risk and cost of failed, lost, or misdirected transactions.
Flexible Payout Options: Funds can be sent to external accounts (open-loop) or internal wallets (closed-loop) - supporting your individual business needs.
How it works
1. Receive
Receive funds instantly via payments or deposits.
2. HOLD
Hold funds in your Ivy Account in 5+ different fiat currencies.
3. Send
Send funds in the same currency to your customers.
The flow of funds for an instant payout.
3. Get Stablecoin access
IN A NUTSHELL
Hold a stablecoin balance, instantly convert incoming funds from fiat to USDC, and settle directly in stablecoins, all through a single API.
To learn more, download our
Stablecoin Settlement One Pager.
Who its’s for
Ideal for onramps, crypto exchanges, and fintechs that want to avoid handling fiat, access stablecoins 24/7/365, and benefit from fixed fees and market-leading exchange rates.
Why it matters
Lower Costs: Funds are received directly in stablecoins, bypassing intermediaries and liquidity providers - cutting out deposit and conversion fees while saving on FX.
Real-Time Settlement: Settlements are processed multiple times per day using ‘straight-through processing’ even for large transactions - minimizing capital locked in transit and ensuring funds are in your Ivy wallet right when you need them.
Reduced FX Risk: Fiat is converted to USDC the moment it’s received in your Ivy wallet - minimizing exposure to currency fluctuations and market volatility.
Transparent Pricing: Settlement rates are clear and upfront with direct access to the best available exchange prices - avoiding hidden fees or margin surprises.
How it works
1. Receive
Receive funds instantly via payments or deposits.
2. HOLD
Hold funds in your Ivy Account in 5+ different fiat currencies.
3. Send
Convert funds from fiat to USDC instantly & settle them in your own wallet.
The flow of funds for stablecoins in the Ivy Platfrom.
Whether you're streamlining cross-currency flows or scaling global settlement operations, Ivy gives you the speed, simplicity, and security modern businesses demand.
Access borderless payment and banking:
Receive, hold, send, and convert funds seamlessly across fiat and stablecoins, all through one unified API, simplifying your financial operations globally.
Tap into stablecoins:
Move money instantly and securely across borders by using stablecoins as your always-on interoperability layer 24/7/365.
Onboard in days, not months:
Launch fast with a streamlined onboarding flow, developer-friendly APIs, and a dedicated team supporting you from integration to go-live and beyond.
If you'd like to explore more in-depth how Ivy can power your specific use case, or how we can help you unlock new possibilities for your product and customers, get in touch with our team. We help you build the future of finance.
