Overview

At its core, Splice serves as a payment rail for financial institutions and fintechs. The infrastructure provided by Splice enables these institutions to execute real-time cross-border payments efficiently.

Before we get started, let's define a few key terms:

Sending Institution: The financial institution that initiates the cross-border payment.

Receiving Institution: The financial institution that receives the cross-border payment.

Stablecoin: A stablecoin is digital currency backed by a stable asset, such as gold or dollars. The stablecoin used by institutions on Splice is backed by the US dollar.

On Ramp: An on-ramp is an institution that converts your local currency into stablecoins.

Off Ramp: An off-ramp is an institution that converts your stablecoins back into local currency.

Setup

Before you can start transacting on Splice, follow the steps in the Getting Started guide to create an account for your institution.

Prefund Your Stablecoin Account

Once your institution's account is set up on Splice, you can begin transacting! In the Sandbox environment, transactions can start immediately.

For live transactions, you will need to fund your stablecoin account. If you already possess stablecoins, we'll provide an address for direct deposits.

If you do not have existing stablecoin liquidity, Splice can assist you through one of our On Ramp partners. Simply deposit funds in your local currency, and we will handle the conversion to stablecoins for you, clearly communicating the exchange rate before you deposit.

Executing Transactions

Once your account is funded, you can begin making payments to other institutions on the Splice platform.

Liquidity Overdraft

When transacting on the platform, if you run out of liquidity, Splice will provide up to $5,000 in free liquidity before any fees are applied.

Settlement

Settlement refers to the final stage where funds are definitively transferred. This process involves debiting the stablecoin account of the sending institution and crediting the stablecoin account of the receiving institution for the authorized payment amount. On Splice, settlement for each payment occurs in real-time.

Withdrawing Your Funds

To withdraw your funds, you can either provide us with an address to which you want your funds sent or withdraw to a bank account or mobile money account. Once an address is provided, Splice will execute a transaction to transfer your funds to your wallet. Withdrawal fees are minimal as we use the blockchain with the lowest fees available. If you wish to withdraw in your local currency, Splice will utilize one of its Off Ramp partners to facilitate the payment.

Next steps

You can now proceed to the Authorization section to learn about how to authenticate your API requests.

If you have any questions, you can reach out to us on email support@splice.africa or join our Discord server. We are always online and happy to help.