Client case study: Hercle

Onboarding was fast, implementation was straightforward, and we had strong support from the customer success team. There’s been close collaboration between the two teams from day one.

Powering institutional-grade liquidity with real-time fiat settlement

As digital asset markets mature, institutions need infrastructure that can move seamlessly between fiat, stablecoins and digital assets at speed, at scale, and with certainty. Hercle was founded to meet that demand, providing institutional-grade liquidity infrastructure that enables real-time, cross-asset and cross-border transactions.

Since 2019, Hercle has grown to serve more than 200 clients, including banks, brokers, trading venues, payment service providers, corporate treasuries and fintechs. With a dual regulatory base in the European Union and Switzerland, the business is structured to support a global strategy from day one. At the core of its proposition is deep digital asset liquidity across more than 25 fiat currencies, enabling institutions to optimise payments, trading and treasury operations across jurisdictions.

For a business operating at the intersection of traditional finance and digital assets, fiat settlement is mission-critical. It was this requirement that led Hercle to OpenPayd.

The challenge: reliable fiat settlement in a 24/7 market

Running a digital asset to fiat liquidity infrastructure places unique demands on payments and banking partners. While digital asset markets operate around the clock, fiat settlement has traditionally been constrained by cut-off times, fragmented rails and legacy banking processes.

“For us, fiat settlements are of critical importance,” explains Ioannis Kympritis, Head of Growth at Hercle. “We need strong trust and reliability in our banking partners, robust API infrastructure, and fast settlement with our customers.” 

Evaluating providers: balancing coverage, compliance and speed

Beyond fundamental due diligence criteria, Hercle’s payment and banking platform assessment focused on three core priorities: currency coverage, operational efficiency and technical robustness.

The team evaluated providers on their ability to support key currencies and rails, including EUR, GBP and USD, alongside pooled account structures that could support collections and payouts across currencies. Just as important was the quality of API documentation and the onboarding experience.

Settlement capability also emerged as a critical differentiator within this process. As more of their institutional clients expected real-time settlement, Hercle needed infrastructure that could operate continuously and at scale.

“Having shared customers with the OpenPayd team, it was critical for us to be in the same network,” says Ioannis. “That’s what enables 24/7 instant settlement without size limitations.”

Compared to alternative providers, OpenPayd stood out for its balance across all of these requirements.

Why OpenPayd: simplifying collections and reconciliation

The deciding factor was OpenPayd’s pooled account model combined with named Virtual IBANs across multiple currencies.

“Leveraging named Virtual IBANs for clients simplifies collections and reconciliation significantly,” Ioannis says. 

This structure enables Hercle to support institutional clients across jurisdictions without introducing unnecessary complexity into its internal operations – a critical advantage in fast-moving markets.

From onboarding through to implementation, Hercle’s experience with OpenPayd was designed for speed.

“Onboarding was fast, implementation was straightforward, and we had strong support from the customer success team. There’s been close collaboration between the two teams from day one.”

Impact: from cut-off times to instant settlement

Since partnering with OpenPayd, Hercle has been able to transform how it settles fiat with certain customers, particularly those already operating within the OpenPayd banking infrastructure.

For large settlements with customers on OpenPayd, we’ve reduced settlement times from standard SEPA credit cut-off schedules to instant settlement, 24/7.

This shift removes friction from Hercle’s core workflows and aligns fiat settlement more closely with the always-on nature of digital asset markets. The result is faster access to funds, improved customer experience and a stronger overall value proposition for institutional clients.

Enabling growth, now and next

Looking ahead, Hercle’s focus is to expand its liquidity offering across more currencies and jurisdictions, while continuing to deliver tighter spreads and fast settlement for institutional clients. OpenPayd plays a central role in that mission, enabling Hercle to optimise settlement flows with customers and providing the scalable infrastructure needed to support growth without compromising speed or control.