OpenFX, the Miami-headquartered cross-border payments infrastructure company, has agreed to acquire Embed, an Amsterdam-based embedded payments firm, in a move that grants it a regulated presence across the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom for the first time. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The deal marks a decisive pivot in OpenFX’s global expansion strategy, positioning the company to serve European businesses and financial institutions through locally licensed, regulator-supervised entities — rather than relying on third-party partnerships or correspondent banking arrangements.
A Regulatory Foothold at the Centre of European Payments
Embed brings with it two critical regulatory assets: a Dutch Payment Institution licence carrying full EU passporting rights, and a UK Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence. Together, these licences allow OpenFX to issue virtual IBANs, facilitate multi-party balance accounts, and process payments across SEPA, UK Faster Payments (FPS), and Swiss bank rails — entirely within the regulated framework of both jurisdictions.
The acquisition remains subject to regulatory approval. In parallel, OpenFX confirmed it is pursuing a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) licence, which would give the combined entity a comprehensive stablecoin payments regulatory stack spanning the EU and the UK.
“We built this stack for a different use case, but the underlying infrastructure is exactly what a cross-border platform needs: virtual IBANs, multi-rail bank connectivity, EEA and UK coverage,” said Alex Schoonkind, Co-Founder of Embed. “Combining it with OpenFX’s distribution is the right home for the technology.”
Expanding Boots on the Ground
Alongside the acquisition, OpenFX announced the opening of new offices in London and Amsterdam — its first physical presence on the European continent and in the UK. The initial team headcount stands at 20 members, spanning product, growth, regulatory affairs, and compliance, and forms part of OpenFX’s broader global workforce of 120 across the United States, UAE, India, and Singapore.
The move is backed by European institutional investors, including Northzone and Atomico, both of whom have participated in OpenFX’s funding rounds. The company confirmed that Europe now represents its largest market commitment outside of the United States.
The Story Behind Embed
Embed was co-founded by Alex Schoonkind (CEO), Andrei Valeanu (COO), and Konstantin Indjov (CTO) — a team whose professional histories converge across some of the most formative names in European financial technology.
Schoonkind spent the decade prior to founding Embed at Form3, Verifone, and Ingenico. Valeanu, who served as a compliance officer during the critical PSD2 transition period at Ingenico, later ran compliance operations at Uber Payments. Indjov joined as engineering lead following Verifone’s acquisition of Dimebox, where he had been a senior technical figure.
The company originally launched as a crypto-native payments business, but pivoted to traditional embedded payments infrastructure following an unfavourable regulatory climate for blockchain-based payment systems. That pivot produced the multi-party balance account architecture, pay-in and payout engines, and API stack that vertical SaaS platforms now integrate — the very infrastructure that attracted OpenFX’s interest.
Strategic Rationale: Programmable Money Rails, Not Correspondent Banking
OpenFX’s acquisition of Embed is not merely a licence play. It reflects the company’s broader infrastructure thesis: that stablecoin-settled, programmable money rails will systematically outperform the correspondent banking model that has defined cross-border payments for decades.
The company currently processes transactions at an annualised total payment volume (TPV) of $60 billion — a figure that grew further in June 2026 following an automated treasury milestone that pushed OpenFX past the $70 billion TPV mark. Ninety-eight percent of its cross-border transactions are settled in under one hour, at costs it claims are 80 percent lower than traditional FX providers.
Embed’s regulated infrastructure, combined with OpenFX’s stablecoin settlement layer and existing corridors connecting the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia, creates a unified platform capable of servicing multi-geography enterprises with a single, API-connected payments stack.
Prabhakar Reddy, Founder and CEO of OpenFX, has previously described the company’s mission as enabling money to “move as freely as data” — a philosophy that finds natural expression in the acquisition of a payments firm built specifically to make programmable rails accessible to businesses through simple API connectivity.
What This Means for European Businesses
For corporate clients and financial institutions operating in Europe, the combination addresses a persistent pain point: the absence of a single provider capable of delivering sub-hour cross-border settlement with full regulatory coverage across the EU, the UK, and key emerging-market corridors.
With Embed’s SEPA, UK FPS, and Swiss connectivity now integrated into OpenFX’s broader payment network, European businesses gain access to:
- Virtual IBAN issuance for seamless multi-currency account management
- Multi-rail settlement across SEPA, UK Faster Payments, and Swiss bank networks
- Real-time FX execution with sub-60-minute withdrawal windows
- Stablecoin settlement infrastructure operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week
- EU and UK regulatory compliance through locally licensed, supervised entities
The addition of a forthcoming MiCAR licence is expected to further extend the platform’s capabilities into digital asset-backed transactions under the EU’s emerging crypto regulatory regime.
Sector Implications
The acquisition reflects a broader trend in global fintech: infrastructure consolidation around regulated, multi-jurisdiction entities capable of delivering end-to-end payments without reliance on correspondent bank intermediaries.
As regulatory scrutiny of stablecoin-based payments intensifies across the EU and the UK — and as the MiCAR framework takes fuller effect — the ability to hold in-house licences, hire locally, and operate under direct regulatory supervision is becoming a meaningful competitive differentiator. OpenFX’s decision to pursue this model, rather than licensing third-party infrastructure, signals a long-term commitment to European market presence.
The transaction also underscores the continued strategic value of Amsterdam and London as dual centres of European financial regulation — a dynamic that has intensified in the post-Brexit landscape, where firms serving both the EU single market and the UK must maintain separate regulated entities in each jurisdiction.
OpenFX is a Miami-based cross-border payments infrastructure company founded in 2024 by Prabhakar Reddy. The platform enables businesses and financial institutions to move money across borders using stablecoin settlement rails, delivering transactions at speeds and costs that are 90 percent faster and up to 80 percent cheaper than traditional FX mechanisms. OpenFX operates active payment corridors connecting the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia, with teams across the US, UAE, India, and Singapore. The company raised $94 million in a Series A funding round backed by investors including Northzone and Atomico. OpenFX processes transactions at an annualised total payment volume (TPV) exceeding $70 billion.
Embed is an Amsterdam-based embedded payments infrastructure company co-founded by Alex Schoonkind (CEO), Andrei Valeanu (COO), and Konstantin Indjov (CTO). Originally established as a crypto-native payments business, Embed pivoted to traditional embedded payments infrastructure in response to an evolving regulatory landscape, developing a proprietary stack comprising virtual IBAN issuance, multi-party balance accounts, pay-in and payout engines, and an API layer designed for integration by vertical SaaS platforms. Embed holds a Dutch Payment Institution licence with EU passporting rights and a UK Electronic Money Institution license, providing regulated coverage across the EEA and the United Kingdom.
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