Case Study
Enabling Enterprise Liquidity and Digital Asset Custody with Airtm x Bridge
Industry
Fintech
Location
Latin America
Use cases
Stellar for PaymentsProducts and tools used
Stellar USDC and EURCCross-border payments
Stablecoins
Digital Wallet
This is Airtm
Airtm helps people, businesses, and marketplaces manage their money across borders throughout the Global South. Founded in 2015 to protect citizens in unstable Latin American economies from currency devaluation by offering a digital wallet, Airtm has expanded to support enterprises with digital asset custody, liquidity management, and cross-border payments. The global payments platform has served over 1.8 million users, making international transactions simple, predictable, and reliable by connecting businesses and marketplaces with the growing digital economy.
Payment Infrastructure
About Bridge
Bridge is an entirely new payments platform, built with stablecoins, to simplify global money movement. Bridge offers stablecoin orchestration and issuance as a service. Orchestration provides a Stripe-like experience enabling developers to easily convert between any two dollar formats (fiat, USDC, USDP, USDT, etc.). Issuance gives developers the ability to convert any of these dollars into a stablecoin they can program and benefit from. With Bridge's Orchestration and Issuance APIs, companies and teams can easily offer digital dollar-based services to their consumers or businesses.
At Airtm, we are dedicated to empowering aid and gig platforms by providing innovative payment infrastructure that leverages the 'disconnected dollar.' Together with partners like Bridge and others, we've built an entirely new system that enables real-time stablecoin-based payouts to thousands of end users, helping them navigate volatile currencies and connect to the global economy.
Rubén Galindo Steckel, CEO and Co-Founder of Airtm
Challenges
Ensuring Timely and Compliant Global Payments
Paying workers in geographies with volatile currencies and high inflation creates several challenges for employers and workers. Employers want to meet global payroll requirements easily and efficiently, while workers need reliable, timely payments that retain their full value and can withstand local currency instability. Existing payment rails take days to settle and cost several percentage points in fees and often can lack penetration into emerging markets.
Airtm acknowledged these issues and sought to use digital assets to expedite money movement and reduce payment friction for businesses and workers. However, executing cross-border payments on chain introduced new challenges for Airtm:
- Global Compliance: Navigating the complex regulatory landscape across multiple countries is expensive and introduces regulatory risks
- Currency Conversion: Smooth and cost-effective currency conversions across diverse markets can be costly and difficult to access for enterprises
- Technical Integration: Integrating the Stellar network’s capabilities with Airtm’s existing platform required careful planning and execution to maintain service reliability and user experience.
Impact
Bringing Secure and Fast Payments to Global Enterprises
Bridge’s support for US ACH, FedWire, and European SEPA rails enables Airtm to expand into the US and Europe without costly integrations or regulatory burdens. Airtm’s enterprise customers can offer global payouts to over 100 million workers using USDC, at an average cost savings of 20% compared to industry alternatives. The extensive Stellar network of global on and off-ramps allows employees to easily convert funds from Airtm’s wallet to local currency.
Although our world has fundamentally shifted from a collection of isolated, local economies to an interconnected global economy, mainstream solutions for currency exchange are cumbersome, expensive, slow, and out of reach for many. That’s why Bridge is so excited to partner with Airtm and other developers like it to enable cross-border payroll solutions for millions of workers.
Zach Abrams, CEO and Co-Founder of Bridge
Conclusion
Cross Border Payment Success
Airtm and Bridge have created a platform that seamlessly moves funds across borders and currencies in seconds. Powered by the Stellar network, this solution offers low-cost and immediate global payments, expanding market reach for Airtm. With over 400,000 access points, Stellar’s ecosystem ensures easy conversion from Airtm’s wallet to local currency, giving individuals quick access to their earnings.
Next Steps
Want to Know More?
Stablecoins
Cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of a stable asset (like fiat currency or gold) to reduce price volatility, typically used for trading and remittances.
Cross-Border Payments
Support receive-side cross-border payments for users around the globe.