Key concepts
Money movement involves three concepts:- Payment accounts are the external funding sources you register with Rain, like a customer’s bank account. Register one once and reuse it across any payment route or transfer.
- Payment routes are persistent pathways for fiat-to-crypto (onramp) or crypto-to-fiat (offramp) transfers. Creating a route returns a virtual account (onramp) or a deposit address (offramp) for a sender to fund.
- Rain orchestration is everything that happens after a sender funds a route: Rain converts the funds, settles them, and delivers them to the destination. You don’t manage any of these steps yourself.
Registering a payment account or creating a payment route never moves money by
itself: both only define a pathway. Money moves only when a sender funds the
route.
Onramp
Onramp moves fiat into crypto. A sender funds the virtual account a payment route created, and Rain converts the funds to stablecoin and delivers them to the destination the route specifies.1
Sends fiat
Funds arrive via ACH or wire from an external bank account into the virtual account.
2
Credits the virtual account
The virtual account was created when the payment route was set up.
3
Converts to stablecoin
Rain converts the fiat to stablecoin.
4
Destination
The converted stablecoin is delivered to whichever destination the payment route specifies: an external wallet or a Rain collateral contract.
Offramp
Offramp moves crypto into fiat. A sender funds the deposit address a payment route created, and Rain converts the funds to fiat and delivers them to the external bank account.1
Source
Stablecoin is sent from either an external wallet or a Rain collateral contract.
2
Credits the deposit address
The deposit address was created when the payment route was set up.
3
Converts to fiat
Rain converts the stablecoin to fiat.
4
Receives fiat
The converted fiat is delivered via ACH or wire to the external bank account.
Two ways to move money
Rain supports two distinct flows: a quoteless flow built on payment routes, and a quoted flow built on quotes and transfers. Which one you use depends on whether you need a standing pathway or a one-time payment:- Payment routes: Register a payment account, then create a payment route. Rain returns a virtual account (onramp) or a deposit address (offramp) that a sender can fund repeatedly. Rain determines the exchange rate at conversion time. There’s no rate locked in advance.
- Quotes and transfers: Register a payment account, request a quote, then create a transfer against that quote. Each quote locks an exchange rate and fees for a short window before it expires. This is a one-time operation, built for cross-border payouts to fiat currencies like COP, MXN, and BRL. Preview rates before requesting a quote with exchange rates.
Payment accounts are shared by both flows. Payment routes are not part of the
quotes-and-transfers flow, and quotes are not part of the payment-route flow.
What’s next
Register a payment account
Register the funding source both flows use.
Create a payment route
Set up a persistent onramp or offramp pathway.
Set up onramps
See the full onramp implementation: request format, error handling, and settlement times.
Set up offramps
See the full offramp implementation: request format, error handling, and settlement times.
Preview exchange rates
See rates and estimated destination amounts before creating a quote.
Send international payouts
Make one-time, quote-based payouts to international fiat currencies.