Fiat Accounts

Fiat currency accounts are essential for managing traditional money like AED, USD, EUR, or GBP within the Fuze ecosystem. They enable your End-Customers and your organization to hold fiat balances, receive payments via traditional banking rails, and make payouts to external bank accounts. Fuze differentiates between two main types of fiat accounts: Internal Accounts (hosted and managed within Fuze, often via banking partners) and External Accounts (references to bank accounts outside Fuze).

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Internal vs. External: Fiat Account Distinction

Internal Fiat Accounts are created and operated within the Fuze platform, providing a way to hold and manage fiat balances for your users.
External Fiat Accounts are records of bank accounts that exist outside Fuze, registered for sending funds to or identifying funds received from.

This "Accounts" section focuses on fiat currencies. For cryptocurrency holdings, please refer to the Wallets section.

Internal Fiat Accounts

Purpose: Internal Fiat Accounts are Fuze-facilitated accounts designed to hold your End-Customers' (or your organization's) fiat currency funds securely within the platform's ecosystem.

These accounts act as a bridge between traditional banking systems and the services you offer through Fuze.

Key Characteristics:

• User-Linked: Each Internal Fiat Account is directly associated with a specific End-Customer or an Organizational User.
• Currency Specific: An Internal Fiat Account is denominated in a particular fiat currency (e.g., AED, USD, GBP). A user might have multiple Internal Fiat Accounts for different currencies.
• Unique Deposit Instructions: Upon creation, each Internal Fiat Account is provided with unique deposit instructions. This might include a virtual IBAN (vIBAN), specific bank details, or reference codes that End-Customers use to send funds into this account via traditional bank transfer methods.
• Balance Management: Fuze securely tracks and updates the balances of these accounts as funds are received or sent out.

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Access Traditional Payment Networks

Internal Fiat Accounts empower your users to easily receive fiat funds from various sources using familiar banking networks, and to hold these funds within your platform for further use.

Primary Uses:

• Receiving Fiat Deposits: End-Customers can receive fiat funds (e.g., salary, payments from others) directly into their Internal Fiat Accounts.
• Holding Fiat Balances: Securely storing fiat currency on behalf of your End-Customers.
• Funding Transactions: Serving as the source or destination for:
  • Trades (e.g., converting AED to Bitcoin, or USDC to USD).
  • Payouts to External Fiat Accounts.
  • Internal transfers to other Fuze users.

Lifecycle & Interaction:

1. An Internal Fiat Account can be created for an End-Customer after they have successfully completed KYC/KYB.
2. Unique deposit instructions (e.g., virtual account details) are generated and made available to the user.
3. The End-Customer (or an external payer) initiates a bank transfer to these details.
4. Once the funds are received and reconciled by Fuze (via its banking partners), the End-Customer's Internal Fiat Account balance is updated and the partner is informed via webhooks.
5. The balance can then be used for various activities on your platform.

External Fiat Accounts

Purpose: External Fiat Accounts are records within the Fuze system that represent traditional bank accounts existing outside the Fuze platform (e.g., a customer's personal bank account at a commercial bank, or a supplier's business bank account).

These are primarily linked to Counterparties (either SELF—the End-Customer's own external bank account—or THIRD_PARTY).

Key Characteristics:

• References to External Bank Accounts: They are pointers to bank accounts not directly managed or hosted by Fuze.
• Counterparty-Linked: Securely associated with a registered Counterparty to ensure funds are directed to known individuals/entities or recognized from known sources.
• Detailed Account Information: Defined by currency, beneficiary name, account number, bank name, bank country, and all relevant routing codes (e.g., IBAN, SWIFT/BIC, ABA routing number, sort code), depending on the region and payment scheme.
• Labeled for Clarity: You can often assign a custom label (e.g., "My Personal Savings," "Rent Payment Account") for easier identification.
• Verification is Often Required: Unlike some crypto wallets, external bank accounts usually require verification before they can be reliably used for payouts.

Primary Uses:

• Payout Destinations: This is a primary function. End-Customers can withdraw funds from their Fuze Internal Fiat Account to a registered External Fiat Account (their own or a third party's). Registering and verifying these accounts is crucial for successful payouts.
• Recognized Sources for Deposits: Registering an expected External Fiat Account source can help in identifying, tracking, and reconciling incoming fiat deposits from known Counterparties, supporting compliance efforts.

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Verification and Accuracy for Payouts

Before an External Fiat Account can be used as a payout destination, it often needs to be verified (e.g., via micro-deposits or document submission like a bank statement). Ensuring all account details (beneficiary name, account number, routing codes) are perfectly accurate is critical to avoid payment failures or delays.

Lifecycle & Interaction:

1. An External Fiat Account's details are registered within Fuze and linked to a specific Counterparty (SELF or THIRD_PARTY).
2. A verification process is often initiated (e.g., Fuze or its partner sends micro-deposits, or requests proof of account ownership).
3. The End-Customer or your operations team completes the verification steps.
4. Once verified, the External Fiat Account can be selected as a destination for fiat payouts from an Internal Fiat Account.
5. For incoming funds, if an External Fiat Account is registered as a known source, this information can be used to help attribute the deposit.

API Interaction (General)

The Fuze API provides comprehensive endpoints to:

• Create Internal Fiat Accounts for your End-Customers, retrieving their unique deposit instructions.
• Register (add), manage, verify, and list External Fiat Accounts linked to Counterparties.
• Query balances of Internal Fiat Accounts.

By leveraging both Internal and External Fiat Account functionalities, you can offer a seamless experience for users to move and manage traditional currencies within your application.