Unlocking the $4 trillion problem: continuing our partnership with OpenFX
At Accel, we believe the most durable companies are built by founders who have lived inside the problem, mapped the ecosystem deeply, and understand not just the friction but why the industry hasn't been able to fix it. Prabhakar Reddy — serial entrepreneur and a returning founder in the Accel portfolio — spent two years mapping the problem before writing a single line of code.
In March, we announced our continued investment in OpenFX as it closed a $94 million Series A. The mission: replace the correspondent banking system (one of the most entrenched pieces of financial infrastructure on the planet) with stablecoin-powered rails that settle in minutes, not days.
The problem
Cross-border payments still run on infrastructure built decades ago. Money passes through chains of correspondent banks — each adding a handoff, a fee, and a delay. Settlements take 2–7 days, conversion costs 50–150 basis points, and businesses are forced to pre-fund accounts across countries just to keep operations running. The result: $4 trillion in working capital sits idle globally, unavailable to the businesses that need it.
A $100M digital asset transfer settles in minutes. The equivalent fiat transfer takes a week. The infrastructure simply hasn't kept up.
What OpenFX is doing
OpenFX bypasses correspondent banking entirely. Using stablecoins as a settlement layer, it enables near-instant FX conversion across any currency pair, 24x7, at costs that don't scale with volume. Businesses no longer need to pre-fund accounts across borders — capital moves when they need it to, not days later. And it all runs within a regulated, compliant framework.
OpenFX closed a $23M seed round in May 2025. Ten months later, it raised a $94M Series A. In that time, the team grew from 45 to 100, customers from 35 to 100, and annualized payment volume from $4B to $45B+, serving remittance companies, neobanks, fintechs, and payroll platforms, including MoneyGram, Yellow Card, and Alfred, across 40+ trading pairs.
What's next
From Accel’s point of view, stablecoins are here to stay. We know building on stablecoin rails means navigating banking relationships, evolving regulation, and bridging two financial systems that don't naturally talk to each other. The best founders will navigate this, and we are excited to make it happen alongside them.
For OpenFX, this round will fund global expansion, including into Asia and deeper into Latin American corridors, where cross-border friction remains highest despite sophisticated domestic payment systems.
We're proud to partner with Dan, Harrison, Karan, Katherine, Nathan, Shoaib, Prabhakar, and the OpenFX team as they rebuild the rails global business runs on.
