Inter Partners with TerraPay to Connect 3.7 Billion Digital Wallets to Global Payment Rails

Inter has significantly expanded its cross-border payment reach by integrating with TerraPay, granting its 45 million customers access to 3.7 billion digital wallets globally. For fintech professionals, this move signals a major shift toward bank-to-wallet interoperability, bypassing legacy friction to enable real-time international disbursements at a massive scale.

What was announced

Inter, the global financial technology firm, has entered a strategic partnership with TerraPay to link its regulated infrastructure in Brazil and the United States directly to Xend, TerraPay’s global wallet interoperability network. This integration allows for real-time bank-to-wallet transfers without the need for additional connectivity layers, effectively bridging the gap between traditional banking rails and the burgeoning wallet economy.

Under the terms of the agreement, Inter serves as the licensed settling institution for these transactions in both Brazilian Real (BRL) and US Dollars (USD). The partnership leverages Inter’s existing domestic and international payment capabilities - including PIX, InterPAY, Same Day ACH, and Real-Time Payments - and combines them with TerraPay’s Xend network. The result is a system capable of delivering the majority of cross-border transactions in under one minute.

The service is designed for both individual consumers and enterprise-level clients managing high-volume payouts. By tapping into TerraPay’s network, Inter can now facilitate localized last-mile payouts and merchant payments across diverse financial ecosystems. This expansion arrives as the market for digital wallet transactions is forecasted to grow from $9.85 trillion in 2026 to $23.4 trillion by 2031, representing a 140% increase that Inter and TerraPay are now positioned to capture.

"Our focus has always been building infrastructure that behaves like software, not legacy banking. This partnership connects that infrastructure to billions of digital wallet destinations worldwide, demonstrating Inter's long-term strategy to be the platform that links Brazil and the U.S. to the global financial system, for our customers and for the enterprises that move money at scale."

Ralph Boragina, Head of Cross-Border Payments at Inter.

The companies involved

Inter is a global financial technology company that has grown to serve 45 million customers worldwide. The firm has established itself as a dominant force in the Brazilian market, where it is recognized as one of the largest PIX payers and a leading foreign exchange operator by contracts registered with the Central Bank of Brazil. Beyond its South American roots, Inter holds a federally authorized banking branch in the United States, allowing it to operate as a regulated entity in two of the world’s most significant financial corridors.

TerraPay is a global money movement company specializing in cross-border payment infrastructure. The company focuses on solving the complexities of international transfers by building a regulated, real-time network that connects various payment types, including bank accounts, mobile wallets, and cards. Its recently launched Xend network is specifically designed to foster interoperability across fragmented financial ecosystems, enabling seamless payouts to billions of digital accounts. TerraPay has increasingly positioned itself as a critical partner for banks and fintechs looking to expand their geographic footprint without building bespoke integrations for every new territory.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed TerraPay’s aggressive expansion into emerging markets and its efforts to modernize cross-border rails. We previously reported on the company's significant push into Southeast Asia, including how TerraPay and MBV Launch Real-Time Outbound Global Payments for Vietnamese Banking Customers. The firm has also been active in the digital asset space, as seen when TerraPay and PalWallet Partner to Expand Global Stablecoin and Cross-Border Payment Infrastructure. These moves highlight a consistent strategy of building a hardware-agnostic payment layer that supports both fiat and stablecoin ecosystems.

What this means

This partnership is a direct challenge to the traditional SWIFT-based correspondent banking model, which has long struggled with speed and cost in the "last mile" of emerging market payouts. By connecting a regulated U.S. and Brazilian bank directly to a global wallet network, Inter is effectively commoditizing cross-border transfers. The real pressure now falls on traditional regional banks that rely on FX spreads and high transaction fees. As Inter scales its "infrastructure as software" approach, we should watch for other neobanks to seek similar wallet-native integrations to avoid being sidelined in the projected $23 trillion wallet economy. The speed of settlement - under one minute - sets a new baseline for what enterprise customers will expect from global disbursements moving forward.