Everything else in Kite assumes you already have stablecoins.The wallet holds them. The card spends them. Scan & Pay converts them at a merchant counter. Convert moves between them.
But at some point money has to get in, and at some point it has to come back out. That’s the ramp, and it’s by far the hardest part of the stack, because it’s the only part that touches the regulated local banking system in every single country you operate in.
TransFi is the partner that makes that work for us.
Why ramps are the hard part
A stablecoin transfer behaves identically in Nigeria and in Johannesburg. Local money does not.
Depositing in the Philippines means GCash and InstaPay. In Brazil it means PIX. In Kenya it means M-Pesa. Each of those has its own acquirer relationships, its own settlement timing, its own failure modes, its own reconciliation quirks and its own licensing requirements.
Building that country by country is not a feature. It’s a multi-year regulatory project, repeated once per market, before a single user can add money.TransFi has already done that work. Its ramp product connects local payment methods to stablecoin conversion across a wide set of markets through one integration, with local compliance and payment licensing handled on their side.
What’s live today?
Add money locally. Use the supported payment methods in your country to move from local currency into stablecoins. No international wire, no intermediary bank, no three-day wait.
Cash out when you need to. Convert supported digital assets back into fiat and withdraw to an available bank account or payment method in your country.
See the whole thing happen. Track each step from payment to settlement, with the rate, the fees and the expected timing shown clearly before you proceed.
Live in 19 countries
- 🇦🇷 Argentina (ARS): Bank transfer
- 🇦🇺 Australia (AUD): Bank transfer, PayID (deposits only)
- 🇧🇷 Brazil (BRL): Pix
- 🇨🇦 Canada (CAD): Bank transfer (Interac)
- Cameroon (XAF): Mobile Money (MTN, Orange)
- 🇨🇱 Chile (CLP): Bank transfer
- 🇨🇴 Colombia (COP): Bank transfer, PSE
- 🇬🇭 Ghana (GHS): Mobile money (MTN, Airtel, Vodafone)
- 🇰🇪 Kenya (KES): Mobile money (MPESA)
- 🇲🇾 Malaysia (MYR): FPX bank transfer, plus Boost, GrabPay, ShopeePay, DuitNow and Touch ‘n Go (deposits only)
- 🇲🇽 Mexico (MXN): SPEI bank transfer
- 🇳🇬 Nigeria (NGN): Bank transfer
- 🇵🇪 Peru (PEN): Bank transfer
- 🇵🇭 Philippines (PHP): GCash, ShopeePay, GrabPay, bank transfer, plus QRPH, UBP, Metrobank,BPI, BDO and PayMaya (deposits only)
- 🇹🇿 Tanzania (TZS): Mobile money (Airtel, Halopesa, Tigopesa, Vodacom M-Pesa), plus bank transfer (cash out only)
- 🇹🇭 Thailand (THB): Bank transfer (cash out only)
- 🇺🇬 Uganda (UGX): Mobile money (Airtel, MTN)
- 🇦🇪 UAE (AED): Bank transfer
- 🇿🇲 Zambia (ZMW): Mobile money (Airtel, MTN, Zamtel)
Why we chose TransFi
We looked at ramp infrastructure the way we look at every piece of infrastructure in Kite: what does it let us stop building, and what does it stop us promising?
It’s purpose-built for ramps. TransFi offers both a general payments API and a dedicated ramp product. We chose the ramp product because it does exactly one thing, which is move money between local fiat and stablecoins. Narrow infrastructure that does one job properly beats broad infrastructure we’d have to bend into shape.
Mobile-first, properly. Kite is an app, not a website with a mobile view. TransFi ships native iOS and Android SDKs alongside a hosted flow, which means the deposit experience is built for a phone rather than retrofitted onto one.
Compliance sits where it belongs. The verification you complete in Kite can be shared with the ramp provider rather than repeated, and local payment compliance is handled on their side. That matters most in exactly the phase where a young product is least equipped to carry regulatory operations itself.
It doesn’t paint us into a corner. TransFi’s broader platform covers payouts, multi-currency accounts and business payments. We’ve started with ramps because that’s what our users need today, but the path to more sits with the same partner rather than requiring another integration from scratch.
“You can build the most elegant wallet in the world and it’s useless if people can’t get money into it. Ramps are where crypto meets the actual banking system, and that’s a licensing problem, not an engineering one. TransFi had already solved it in the markets we care about, which means our team gets to work on what our users see rather than on reconciliation logic in fifteen countries.”
Aditya Chintawar, Founder & CEO, Kite
“Stablecoins have solved moving value. What they haven’t solved is the first mile and the last mile. Getting local money in, and getting it back out, through rails people already trust. That problem looks different in every market, and it’s the reason most consumer crypto apps never make it past one country. Kite is built for people whose lives cross borders, and that’s exactly the user who needs ramps that work the same way in Manila as they do in Lagos. We’re glad to be the layer underneath that.”
Raj Kamal - Founder & CEO, TransFi
What stays yours
Worth being precise about the custody line, because ramps are exactly where people get confused.
When you deposit, local currency goes to a licensed payment partner, gets converted, and the stablecoins arrive in your non-custodial wallet - the one where you hold the keys and Kite can’t touch the funds. When you withdraw, the reverse happens: you send from your own wallet, and fiat lands in your own bank account.
Kite never holds your money at either end. The ramp is a conversion, not a deposit account.
The boring part is the point
Nobody opens a money app excited about deposits. People open it to send money home, to pay for something, to hold dollars instead of a currency that’s losing value.
But every one of those starts with money getting in, and ends, eventually, with money getting out. If that first step is slow, confusing or unavailable in your country, nothing else about the product matters.
That’s what this partnership is for. Not a new feature on a screen, but the thing that makes every other feature reachable.
Frequently asked questions
What is TransFi?
TransFi is a cross-border payments company whose ramp product connects local payment methods to stablecoin conversion. It sells that infrastructure to apps and exchanges through an API and an embeddable widget, handling local payment compliance so partners don’t need banking licences in every market.
What’s the difference between on-ramp and off-ramp?
On-ramp is money coming in: you pay with local currency and receive stablecoins. Off-ramp is money going out: you send stablecoins and receive local currency in your bank account. Kite supports both.
Which countries can I deposit and withdraw in?
Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, UAE, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.. The app shows the payment methods available in your country, since those differ considerably by market.
How long does a deposit take?
It depends on the payment method and the country, because the speed is set by the local rail rather than by us. Kite shows the expected settlement time before you confirm, and you can track each step from payment through to the stablecoins landing in your wallet.
What does it cost?
Fees vary by country and payment method. Kite shows the payment method, the rate, the fees and the expected settlement time before you confirm, so the full cost is visible before you commit rather than discovered afterwards.
Do I need to verify my identity to use ramps?
Yes. On and off ramps connect to regulated local banking rails, which require a verified identity behind every transaction. Verification on Kite is free, and you only need to do it once.
Does Kite hold my money during a ramp?
No. Deposits convert through a licensed payment partner and arrive directly in your non-custodial wallet. Withdrawals go from your wallet to your own bank account. Kite doesn’t take custody at either end.
