In Brief
- Falcon Finance integrates its synthetic dollar USDf with Altery through Synterra Connect.
- USDf holders can now convert into fiat balances and access payment rails including SEPA, SWIFT, local transfers, and card-linked products, with GBP, EUR, and USD supported at launch.
Falcon Finance has connected its overcollateralized synthetic dollar, USDf, to regulated fiat payment rails through an integration with Altery, a UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)-authorized Electronic Money Institution (EMI), using Synterra Connect as the crypto-to-fiat conversion layer.
The setup is designed to let USDf holders convert tokens into fiat balances inside an Altery account and then move money out through traditional channels such as SEPA bank transfers in Europe, SWIFT cross-border payments, local transfers and card products. Altery lists its FCA firm reference number as 901037 and notes that client funds are safeguarded under the UK e-money regime (rather than protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme).
Bridging a synthetic dollar to bank rails
“Trading desks and crypto treasuries have been asking for a way to earn yield on-chain while still being able to pay suppliers in euros or pounds,” said Artem Tolkachev, Chief RWA Officer at Falcon Finance.
“This integration gives them that flexibility without forcing them to choose between DeFi yields and real-world obligations,” Artem added.
In the flow described by the companies, USDf holders transfer tokens to a Synterra Connect address for conversion; the resulting fiat balance is credited to the user’s Altery account, which can then be used for transfers or card-linked spending. Synterra Connect is described in Altery’s help center as a service provided by Synterra Innovations Ltd, registered in Canada with FINTRAC as a Money Services Business for virtual currency/digital asset transactions.
While Falcon Finance positions the integration as “regulated rails access,” the regulatory perimeter is split: Altery provides the regulated fiat account and payment services, while the crypto conversion is handled by Synterra’s MSB framework, and the USDf issuance itself remains an onchain product.
What is USDf, and how big is it?
Falcon Finance markets USDf as an overcollateralized “synthetic dollar” that can be minted against a diversified collateral base, alongside sUSDf, a yield-bearing variant used in its vaults.
In December 2025, Falcon said USDf had brought more than $2.3 billion in reserves onchain and was among the larger stable assets by backing. Messari lists USDf at roughly $2.0B market cap at the time of writing.
Falcon’s positioning—crypto collateral plus tokenized real-world assets (RWAs)—targets a segment that has grown quickly as teams try to turn tokenized treasuries, credit and commodities into usable liquidity without fully exiting onchain strategies.
Why the integration matters
1) It reduces “treasury friction” for crypto-native firms.
The practical problem for trading desks, DAOs and Web3 businesses is not earning yield onchain; it is paying real-world bills in fiat without unwinding positions, waiting on exchange withdrawals, or juggling banking counterparties. Altery’s rails—SEPA/SWIFT/local transfers and card products—effectively turn USDf into a treasury instrument that can be converted into spendable fiat inside a regulated account environment.
2) It tests a common RWA thesis: tokenized assets must “round-trip” to the banking system.
Tokenized RWAs can generate onchain yield, but many institutional allocators still require clear redemption pathways, bank settlement and compliance segregation. By routing conversion into an FCA-authorized EMI account, Falcon is effectively trying to close the loop between onchain balance sheets and regulated payout rails—without claiming USDf itself is regulated e-money.
3) It highlights how stablecoin usage is converging with payments infrastructure.
Even as stablecoin regulation evolves market by market, payment firms increasingly treat stablecoins and stablecoin-like instruments as another input into fiat account crediting, rather than as a parallel financial system.
How it compares to major competitors
USDf is entering a competitive field that spans fiat-backed stablecoins, crypto-collateralized stablecoins and “synthetic dollars” that rely on derivatives hedging.
- Ethena’s USDe is currently the best-known synthetic dollar, generally described as using a delta-neutral approach (hedging crypto collateral with derivatives) and sits at a larger scale by market cap—about $6.6B according to CoinGecko data.
- Maker’s DAI remains a benchmark for overcollateralized stablecoins, with a market cap around $4.4B as per CoinGecko.
- Frax’s FRAX, once a major “fractional” model stablecoin, is materially smaller today (hundreds of millions or less, depending on the dataset and wrappers), reflecting how stablecoin market structure has consolidated around the largest issuers and a few DeFi-native survivors.
Where Falcon is differentiating is the explicit emphasis on a diversified collateral set that includes tokenized RWAs and the packaging of a “payment-layer token” (USDf) alongside a yield wrapper (sUSDf)—a structure Messari describes as a way to isolate yield risk from the settlement token.
Similar efforts—and what they indicate
Falcon is not the first crypto project to try to stitch onchain assets back into legacy rails, but its approach sits alongside a few notable patterns:
Regulated IBAN-to-onchain models (Europe)
Monerium issues an e-money token (EURe) and provides a “web3 IBAN” that allows bank transfers via SEPA to mint or redeem onchain balances. Monerium and Gnosis Pay describe an architecture where regulated e-money infrastructure supports card and SEPA-linked flows tied to onchain accounts.
Result so far: this model has operated in the market with eligibility constraints and compliance checks—illustrating that regulated rails access is possible, but tends to come with KYC, geo-restrictions and limits.
RWA token redemption via bank wire (institutional products)
Ondo Finance’s USDY documentation states that, for compliance reasons, redemptions must be made in fiat via USD wire (and only to certain bank accounts/geographies).
Result so far: redemption via bank rails works, but it is typically gated, jurisdiction-sensitive and not designed as a retail “stablecoin checking account” experience.
Treasury products that rely on centralized conversion/wiring
Maple’s Cash Management product documentation describes flows where stablecoins are converted to USD through centralized venues (e.g., Coinbase Prime) and wired to brokerage accounts.
Result so far: these structures can satisfy conservative treasury mandates, but they underscore the reliance on regulated intermediaries and operational dependencies.
Against that backdrop, Falcon’s Altery integration looks less like a one-off and more like another data point in a broader trend: DeFi-native dollar products increasingly need credible, compliant exits back into fiat rails to compete for corporate and institutional treasury share.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Read our Editorial Policy. Parts of this article were drafted/ researched with the assistance of AI tools and subsequently reviewed, edited, and verified by the author and our editorial team to ensure accuracy and journalistic integrity. The final version reflects human editorial judgment and fact-checking. Read our AI Policy.
Image Credits: Falcon Finance, Canva
