Key Highlights
- OpenFX is using stablecoins to cut cross-border transfer times from days to under an hour, addressing cost and speed inefficiencies.
- Backed by Accel and Niklas Zennström’s Atomico, OpenFX is scaling globally as demand for faster payments rises.
- Stablecoins are shifting beyond trading, with growing real-world use in remittances and savings, especially in volatile economies.
Cross-border money transfers are evolving quickly. FX startup OpenFX recently raised $94 million to grow its stablecoin-based services. The funding comes from investors including Accel, Atomico, Lightspeed Faction, M13, Northzone, and Pantera, and will help the company address slow processes and high costs in international payments.
As per a Reuters report, Prabhakar Reddy founded OpenFX in 2024 to make cross-border money transfers faster. He got the idea after seeing long lines outside Western Union branches in Dubai. “There are very few people in the world who are actually willing to pay 2% to 5% to move USD to euro — so that’s when I realized that the infrastructure was broken,” he said.
Using stablecoins as a bridge, OpenFX enables businesses to move between $1,000 and $10 million quickly. Today, more than 98% of transfers settle in under an hour, compared with two to five days in the traditional system.
Expanding market reach
OpenFX already operates in the U.S., the UK, the UAE, and India, and plans to expand into Southeast Asia and Latin America, where stablecoin use is growing quickly. Last year, the platform handled over $45 billion in payments, up from $4 billion, serving fintech firms, neobanks, remittance companies, and payroll services.
Niklas Zennström, Atomico’s Founder and CEO said, “Just as AWS removed the complexity of infrastructure to let developers build at scale, OpenFX is doing the same for money movement.”
Stablecoins themselves are also gaining traction. A 2026 report by BVNK, Coinbase, and Artemis found that more than half of surveyed users held stablecoins in the past year. On average, holders put about a third of their savings into crypto and stablecoins, and the share is even higher in countries with volatile currencies. This shows stablecoins are moving beyond trading to play a bigger role in everyday finance.
Regulatory outlook and market stability
The U.S. Senate is still working on the Clarity Act, which could allow companies to offer rewards on stablecoins without forcing people to pull money from banks. At the same time, the stablecoin market is steady, with a total market cap of about $315.5 billion, according to DeFiLlama data.
OpenFX’s new funding comes at a key moment, as companies look to use blockchain for faster, cheaper, and more reliable cross-border payments. Stablecoins are moving beyond trading and becoming part of everyday finance.
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