Ignas Survila, CEO and co-founder of Rizon, a global dollar banking alternative for global population.
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The modern business is rarely local. Companies around the world are hiring remote teams, working with international suppliers and serving customers globally. Cross-border payments are essential for businesses, but traditional local bank accounts are far from suitable for global business operations.
Bank accounts are typically tied to a single country's jurisdiction. For businesses with local workers, suppliers and customers, this model works well. However, global businesses operate across many markets, and for them, the local bank account becomes restrictive.
For a company that operates across multiple markets, its everyday transactions are treated as international even though its business activity is global by nature.
International payments tend to be expensive and can take days to go through. This makes it difficult for global businesses to truly integrate into international financial systems and compete with local businesses.
As a solution, some businesses may open bank accounts in different countries. However, that also means navigating the added operational complexity of managing foreign bank accounts.
Some businesses face even more challenges. If a company operates in a country with a volatile currency and high inflation, it's faced with the risk of its capital losing value over time. For example, Argentina has been facing high inflation for years, and although it has gone down recently, it's still well over 30% year-on-year. Global businesses based in Argentina face the challenge of expensive and slow international transactions along with the added problem of currency devaluation.
In the past decade, some companies have started offering virtual bank accounts—the option for businesses to have bank account details (including SWIFT codes, wire details and routing numbers) from several different countries at once on the same platform. A company can send and receive payments in native currencies as if it had a local bank account in multiple countries without having to open separate accounts.
This makes it possible for transactions to be treated as local rather than foreign. Since payments can be processed within local systems, businesses can save time and money. It also makes it easier to work with local clients and access region-specific platforms. As a result, businesses can operate more naturally across markets instead of constantly having to deal with cross-border payments or navigating foreign bank accounts.
Despite the potential benefits of multi-country virtual bank accounts, most businesses already have payment workflows and compliance procedures built around traditional financial institutions, and switching to a different model can require changes to existing processes. Many companies are also waiting to see how these newer providers develop and how reliable they are before making the move.
At the same time, virtual bank accounts alone don't solve every challenge global businesses face. Even with virtual bank accounts, some businesses operate in countries with unreliable currencies. They may be able to make transfers to other countries, but they still face the challenge of currency volatility. For these companies, the issue isn't just in how the transfer can be made but in how the value can be preserved.
Multi-country virtual bank accounts built on stablecoin rails allow businesses to conduct payments using local bank details while holding and transferring value in stablecoins behind the scenes. Since stablecoins are typically pegged in value to the U.S. dollar, businesses can preserve value and avoid the negative effects of currency volatility on their business operations.
For instance, this model is especially useful in the Nigerian electronics market, which involves trade with China. Since Nigeria faces difficulties in accessing foreign currencies like USD and also has unstable exchange rates, some have turned to stablecoins for payments.
Several companies have already started offering stablecoin-based virtual bank accounts and allow users to conduct transfers in dozens of different currencies. However, while interest in this model is growing, many businesses still prefer established banking systems they already know and trust, which helps explain why adoption remains relatively limited.
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