How to pay overseas suppliers from USDT or USDC
Most suppliers want a bank transfer in their own currency, not stablecoins. The reliable route is to convert at the moment you pay and send the money over a bank rail, from an account in your company's name.
By Pavel Skalin, Founder & CEO, Align · Reviewed by the Align compliance team
Updated · 5 min read
Why most suppliers want a bank transfer
A supplier's finance team reconciles invoices against a bank statement. A stablecoin payment gives them a wallet to manage, a conversion to make, an exchange rate to book and, in some countries, a regulator to answer to. Most established suppliers will ask you to pay their invoice currency into their bank account.
Your balance can sit in USDC or USDT until the day you pay. On that day it's converted and sent as an ordinary bank payment: SEPA for euros, Faster Payments for sterling, ACH or Fedwire inside the US, SWIFT for most other cases.
Step by step
- Get the bank details from the invoice, then confirm them. Call the supplier on a number you already have, not one printed on the invoice. Invoice redirection fraud works by changing exactly these details. For euro transfers from a euro-area bank and sterling transfers between UK banks, your bank checks the payee's name before sending (Verification of Payee and Confirmation of Payee). Treat a mismatch as a warning. SWIFT payments get no such check.
- Pick the rail from the currency and the supplier's country. The table below covers the common cases.
- Convert at the moment you pay. Request a quote for the exact invoice amount, check the rate, and convert only what you need. Converting early leaves you holding fiat for no reason; converting late risks missing a bank cut-off.
- Pay from an account in your company's name. The supplier sees your company as the payer, so the payment is easy to match and less likely to be queried. Put the invoice number in the payment reference.
- Choose who pays SWIFT fees. For SWIFT payments, set the charge code to OUR if the invoice must arrive in full. Under SHA, intermediary banks can deduct their fees from the amount, typically 15 to 50 USD according to Wise's estimate, and your supplier may chase you for the shortfall.
- Keep the paperwork. Regulated providers can ask for the invoice or contract behind any payment. Having the PDF ready shortens the review.
Which rail to use
| Supplier's currency and location | Rail | Typical speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR, bank in one of the 41 SEPA countries | SEPA Instant, or standard SEPA | Under 10 seconds (Instant); next business day (standard) | No scheme-level maximum for SEPA Instant since October 2025; banks can set their own limits |
| GBP, UK bank | Faster Payments | Near real time | Scheme limit of £1 million; individual banks often set lower limits |
| USD, US bank | ACH or Fedwire | Same or next business day (ACH); real time once sent (Fedwire) | Same Day ACH allows up to $1 million per payment |
| USD, bank outside the US | SWIFT | Most payments reach the receiving bank within an hour | Correspondent banks may deduct fees under SHA |
| Other currencies | SWIFT, in USD or the supplier's currency | Hours to several business days | Ask the supplier which currency their bank credits without converting |
On SWIFT speed, Swift says 75% of its payments reach the beneficiary bank within 10 minutes and over 90% within an hour. The delay is mostly the last step: in October 2024 Swift's own data showed that 43% of payments were credited to the end customer within an hour. Batch processing, local banking hours and manual compliance checks at the receiving bank account for most of the wait.
When paying in stablecoins does make sense
Some suppliers prefer stablecoins, usually in markets where dollars are hard to get through local banks. If a supplier asks for USDT or USDC, three checks cut the risk:
- Address and network. Ask for the wallet address and the network in writing, and confirm them by phone or video. USDT on Ethereum and USDT on Polygon or Arbitrum share an address format but are different tokens on different networks. Sent on the wrong network, funds may be unrecoverable unless the recipient controls that address there.
- A test payment. Send a small amount and wait for the supplier to confirm receipt before sending the rest.
- Freeze risk. Tether and Circle can freeze tokens held at an address. In 2025 Tether froze about $1.26 billion of USDT across 4,163 addresses on Ethereum and Tron, according to blockchain security firm BlockSec. If a supplier's address is frozen after you pay, getting the money back is slow or impossible.
You'll also need the supplier's invoice and a record of the transaction hash for your accounts. Treat both as you would a bank confirmation.
What to avoid
- Paying from a personal account or wallet. It breaks your audit trail and can trigger extra checks with your provider.
- Converting and paying through different providers. Each extra provider adds a delay and another set of checks.
- Paying counterparties in sanctioned or prohibited jurisdictions. Regulated providers screen every payment. Align, for example, doesn't support payments to or from the countries on its prohibited list, which includes Russia, Iran, Syria and Venezuela.
How this works with Align
Your balance is held in USDC or USDT. To pay a supplier, you send USD, EUR, GBP or AED from named accounts in your company's name, over local rails or SWIFT, and the stablecoin is converted as part of the payment. Under Align's rules, payments to third parties such as suppliers go through your named virtual account, and we may ask for the invoice behind a payment.
Sources
- Swift, How long does a Swift payment take?
- Swift, Data shows focus needed on beneficiary leg (October 2024)
- Flywire, Swift charge options OUR, SHA and BEN
- Wise, What are Swift correspondent fees?
- European Payments Council, SEPA Instant Credit Transfer
- Pay.UK, Faster Payment System
- Nacha, Same Day ACH limit of $1 million
- BlockSec, $1.26 billion of USDT frozen in 2025
- Align docs, 1st party and 3rd party payments
Common questions
- Can I pay a supplier directly in USDT or USDC?
- Yes, if the supplier asks for it and both of you are allowed to send and receive it. Confirm the wallet address and network on a second channel, send a small test first, and keep the invoice. A stablecoin transfer can't be recalled, so a wrong address or wrong network is your loss.
- Will my supplier see my company's name on the payment?
- If you pay from an account held in your company's name, yes: the payer name on their statement is yours. If you pay from a pooled account, they may see your provider's name instead, which makes the payment harder for them to match to your invoice.
- How long does a supplier payment take?
- SEPA Instant payments arrive within 10 seconds when both banks support them; otherwise the payment is rejected and can be resent as a standard transfer. UK Faster Payments are near real time. SWIFT payments usually reach the supplier's bank within an hour, but the bank can take longer to credit the account, especially across time zones or when it runs manual checks.
- Who pays the fees on a SWIFT payment?
- It depends on the charge code. With OUR you pay all fees, including intermediary banks. With SHA each side pays its own bank and the supplier usually absorbs intermediary deductions. With BEN the supplier pays everything. If the invoice must be paid in full, use OUR.
This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and providers' terms change; check the sources linked above and take advice on your own situation.
Related guides
Open a business account built on stablecoins.
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