The global payments industry is moving rapidly toward a new architecture that prioritises interoperability, compliance and speed. At the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) 2025, Aniruddha (Ani) Sane, co-founder and chief business officer of TerraPay, described how the company is contributing to this shift by expanding its compliant digital payments network across 210 sending, 140 receiving countries and about 3.7 billion wallets.

Founded in 2015, TerraPay was established on a simple question — if a text message can reach anyone in the world instantly, why can money not move in the same way? That idea shaped its mission to create “plumbing for cross-border money movement” that operates invisibly but reliably.

Sane’s perspective reflects a decade of building infrastructure for small-value, instant, cross-border transactions. TerraPay’s approach is rooted in three core commitments: to remain digital-only, to keep compliance at the heart of operations, and to partner exclusively with regulated institutions. This discipline, he said, is what allows TerraPay to scale while preserving the trust of banks, mobile wallets and regulators alike.

Digital-only infrastructure for small-value payments

TerraPay’s founding team decided from the outset to focus entirely on digital transfers — sending funds between bank accounts and mobile wallets without handling cash. This decision established a foundation that has remained consistent through the company’s growth.

Sane explained that small-value transactions are at the centre of TerraPay’s design philosophy. He noted that for remittances or daily transfers of $10 to $100, instant delivery matters most because recipients often depend on these funds for essentials like food or medicine. The firm’s systems are therefore built to process millions of such transactions simultaneously, ensuring both speed and reliability.

Over time, TerraPay diversified beyond personal remittances into business-to-business and sectoral use cases such as travel, e-commerce and digital media. While transaction sizes range from $150 for wallets to $1,200 in the travel sector, the requirement for real-time settlement remains constant. Sane highlighted liquidity as a recurring theme: “Small and medium sized enterprises need liquidity. Liquidity is a key aspect of money movement.”

This focus on liquidity and immediacy defines TerraPay’s role as an infrastructure provider. Rather than competing for consumer visibility, the company concentrates on ensuring that licensed banks and wallet operators can execute seamless, compliant and high-frequency transactions. Its self-characterisation as “the plumbing” of global payments underscores a commitment to function rather than brand recognition.

Enabling interoperability across financial ecosystems

“Interoperability lies at the core of TerraPay’s long-term strategy,” said Sane. The company’s network allows wallets across continents to exchange funds or facilitate merchant payments through quick response (QR) codes and other digital channels. This wallet-to-wallet capability has been expanded to cover regions including Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, forming a global mesh of digital payment connections.

The next frontier, Sane said, is to achieve interoperability between wallets, banks and card ecosystems. TerraPay’s partnership with SWIFT marks a significant step in that direction. Through this collaboration, SWIFT member banks can now route transactions directly to mobile wallets via TerraPay’s network, enabling account-to-wallet transfers on the same infrastructure previously limited to account-to-account transfers.

This model introduces inclusiveness by linking legacy banking systems with emerging digital channels. It broadens financial access for users in markets where wallets dominate and demonstrates how regulated institutions can embrace innovation without compromising compliance.

TerraPay is also preparing for alternative forms of digital value. Sane observed that stablecoins and atomic settlements are increasingly relevant for liquidity management. He emphasised that TerraPay’s infrastructure is designed to accommodate such developments, stating that “an infrastructure has to cater not just to today’s payment methods but also to be ready for future payment methods”. By remaining technology-agnostic and compliance-led, TerraPay aims to support both traditional and emerging rails.

Standardisation and compliance as drivers of scale

As digital payments networks multiply, standardisation becomes essential to maintain efficiency and trust. Sane described it as one of three pillars of TerraPay’s architecture, alongside inclusiveness and compliance. The company’s systems are built around standardised application programming interfaces (APIs), data formats and reporting semantics to ensure interoperability between partners.

Standardisation extends beyond technical aspects to commercial and regulatory coordination. TerraPay works to harmonise data-sharing processes and error codes across its ecosystem so that transactions are traceable end-to-end. This reduces complexity for partners and increases transparency for regulators.

Inclusiveness is the second pillar. TerraPay aims to make cross-border payments “almost invisible” by replicating the simplicity of domestic transfers. By embedding itself within local financial ecosystems, it enables consumers and merchants to transact internationally with the same ease as locally.

Compliance remains the most critical component. TerraPay operates under licences in 32 jurisdictions, giving it oversight across both sending and receiving markets. Sane explained that the company functions “on top of a hill with two valleys” — observing activity from both sides to ensure every transaction is compliant and reportable. This dual visibility, he said, defines TerraPay’s “regulatory infrastructure” and distinguishes it from consumer-facing fintechs that rely on third-party compliance layers.

Balancing regulatory discipline and innovation

Maintaining compliance while fostering innovation is a recurring tension in global payments. Sane acknowledged that this balance requires sustained investment in regulatory technology, fraud detection and risk management systems. By working exclusively with licensed institutions, TerraPay avoids the complexity of unregulated intermediaries and retains end-to-end visibility across transactions.

The partnership with SWIFT illustrates this balance. It allows banks to use existing SWIFT protocols, such as MX and ND messages, to initiate cross-border payments without new API integrations. TerraPay then executes the settlement instantly to a bank account or wallet. Sane described this as a “no-code integration” that enables faster adoption without bypassing due diligence.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also being applied within the organisation. TerraPay has incorporated AI tools into treasury, liquidity and compliance processes, using large-language-model systems to accelerate decision-making and improve analytical accuracy. Sane emphasised that AI enhances rather than replaces human expertise, helping staff analyse data faster while preserving accountability. Quantum computing, he added, remains experimental but could transform security and settlement in future.

Singapore’s strategic role in TerraPay’s global expansion

While TerraPay’s headquarters is in London, Singapore serves as its operational and regulatory hub for Asia. The company holds a Major Payment Institution licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which Sane described as a key long-term investment. Asia now accounts for about 45% of TerraPay’s total transaction flows, making the region central to its global business.

Sane characterised Singapore not only as a financial centre but as a hub for entrepreneurship and innovation. He highlighted the country’s proactive regulatory environment and the energy of its fintech community as reasons TerraPay has deepened its presence. Each year, he said, the company gains new insights from developments in the region that influence its global strategy.
He also described SFF as a reflection of the government’s commitment to building a world-class fintech ecosystem. The event’s “technology blueprint” theme, he noted, aligns with TerraPay’s focus on scalable, compliant and future-ready infrastructure.
To operate meaningfully in Asia, Sane said, requires more than representation — it requires “skin in the game”. TerraPay’s physical presence in Singapore, combined with regulatory engagement, signals its intention to grow alongside regional partners and contribute to shaping the standards of cross-border payments in the decade ahead.

Building the architecture for the next decade of finance

TerraPay’s evolution mirrors the broader trajectory of global finance: from fragmented networks toward unified, interoperable systems grounded in compliance. Its partnership-led model demonstrates that infrastructure providers can scale across continents while maintaining regulatory integrity.

The company’s integration with SWIFT, adoption of AI and readiness for stablecoin-based settlement illustrate a pragmatic approach to innovation — one that emphasises continuity and compliance over disruption. Its experience in managing millions of small-value transactions daily provides a blueprint for how financial inclusion and regulatory oversight can coexist.
Sane’s perspective situates TerraPay within a growing community of infrastructure firms shaping the next decade of finance. As cross-border payments move closer to real-time, trusted rails, TerraPay’s focus on digital-only infrastructure, standardisation and compliance positions it at the heart of this transformation. The company’s mission to make cross-border money movement as seamless as sending a text continues to define its contribution to the future of global payments.