Rapyd Europe hf.

E-money or payment institution · Hafnarfjörður, Iceland

Rapyd Europe hf. is the Icelandic electronic money institution behind the pan-European part of the Rapyd Group's payments platform. It is the direct successor of Valitor, an Icelandic card-acquiring company founded in 1983 that Rapyd bought from Arion Bank for 100 million dollars in a deal completed in 2022. Regulated by the Central Bank of Iceland, it holds 91.11 percent of the Icelandic e-money market by total assets. Through this and sister Rapyd entities in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Israel and the US, the wider Rapyd platform lets businesses accept cards and more than 900 local payment methods across over 100 countries, issue payout cards, and hold multi-currency wallets, but it is not a bank and does not take deposits.

Legal name: Rapyd Europe hf.
Regulated by: Central Bank of Iceland (Financial Supervisory Authority)
Licence confirmed: yes, on a regulator's own list
Established: 1983
Website: www.rapyd.net

Scores, 0 to 10

7.0Europe (EU, EEA, Switzerland)

Rapyd Europe hf. holds an Icelandic EMI licence passported across the EEA and is the largest e-money institution in Iceland by assets, but it is one EMI licence, not a network of local banking subsidiaries. · source

7.0Fintech companies that need a partner bank

Rapyd's core model is banking-as-a-service and card issuing APIs for other platforms and fintechs, run through its own licensed entities in Iceland, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong. · source

7.0Online businesses: e-commerce and SaaS

Rapyd Collect accepts more than 900 local payment methods in over 100 countries through a single API, built for e-commerce and marketplace collection. Rapyd's API-first payments, payouts and wallet products suit software platforms embedding payments, but no revenue-based financing or accounting integrations are advertised. · source

6.5Stablecoins (USDC, USDT and others)

Since September 2025 the Rapyd group lets businesses accept stablecoins, settle in stablecoin or fiat, and pay suppliers and contractors to crypto wallets through its payout API, but partners do the crypto handling, fees are not published and the product is group-level rather than a licence of Rapyd Europe hf. · source

6.0United Kingdom

Sister entity Rapyd Payments Limited is FCA-authorised as an EMI under reference 900688, giving UK e-money and payment services separate from the Icelandic licence. · source

6.0Business cards (Visa, Mastercard)

Rapyd Issuing lets platforms create and manage physical and virtual payout cards, but published per-card FX or ATM fees were not found. · source

6.0Accept crypto payments

Rapyd group sells stablecoin checkout next to its card acquiring, where the payer picks USDC or USDT on Ethereum or Polygon and the merchant is credited in fiat in its Rapyd wallet, but the service runs through unnamed regulated third-party partners, covers stablecoins only and has no published fees; how much is booked through the Icelandic EMI is not stated. · source

5.5Asia-Pacific (SG, HK, AU, JP, KR)

Rapyd Holding Pte. Ltd. holds a Singapore Major Payment Institution licence (PS20200311) and Rapyd HK Limited a Hong Kong Money Service Operator licence, covering two APAC hubs directly. · source

5.5Crypto-friendly bank

Rapyd markets stablecoin acceptance and payout as part of its payments platform, but the regulatory framework page lists no licence covering digital-asset custody or exchange business, so this is a payments feature rather than banking for crypto firms. · source

5.0Cross-border payments, FX and multi-currency accounts

Rapyd states it can hold and send funds in 140 currencies, but published FX margins were not found and pricing is quote-based. Rapyd Wallet gives multi-currency holding across the platform's claimed 140 currencies, but no cash pooling, hedging or credit facility is described. · source

5.0Financial strength & stability

Rapyd Group is privately held and unrated; the Icelandic EMI entity had roughly 52 billion ISK in total assets in 2024 per a third-party aggregator, small next to a licensed bank's balance sheet. · source

5.0Foreign-owned & non-resident companies

Rapyd serves global platforms remotely through its API, but onboarding runs through a sales process rather than a published self-serve path for foreign-owned companies. · source

5.0On-ramp: buy crypto with fiat

Rapyd markets an on-ramp product for crypto exchanges that gives them card acquiring and local payment methods for customer deposits, so it supports fiat flows into exchanges, but it does not sell crypto to business clients itself. · source

4.5Fast digital onboarding

Rapyd's public site routes new business customers to a sales contact form rather than an instant self-serve signup flow. · source

4.5Startups & VC-backed companies

Rapyd markets to platforms and marketplaces generally rather than offering a dedicated startup programme, venture debt or pre-revenue onboarding path. · source

4.5Off-ramp: crypto to fiat in a business account

Stablecoins a merchant receives at checkout are converted and settled in fiat to its Rapyd wallet, but a business cannot deposit and sell crypto it already holds, and the conversion is done by third-party partners. · source

4.0United States

Rapyd Financial Technology US Inc. is registered with FinCEN as a Money Services Business (31000258164740) rather than holding a bank charter or state-by-state money transmitter licences confirmed on the regulatory page. · source

4.0Customer satisfaction

Trustpilot TrustScore for rapyd.net is 3.1 out of 5 from 309 reviews. · source

3.5Lowest fees

Rapyd publishes no standard fee schedule for Collect, Disburse or Wallet on its public site; merchants must contact sales for pricing. · source

3.5High-risk verticals (iGaming, cannabis, adult, forex)

No published list of accepted or prohibited high-risk verticals such as gambling, adult or forex was found on rapyd.net. · source

3.0Best interest on business balances

No interest-bearing balance or treasury sweep product for businesses is published on rapyd.net. · source

1.5Trade, manufacturing & import-export

No letters of credit, guarantees or trade finance products are listed among Rapyd's payments, payouts, issuing and wallet products. · source

1.0Crypto wallet and custody for a business

Rapyd states in its September 2025 launch release that it does not itself issue, custody or directly process crypto assets, so a business cannot hold crypto with Rapyd Europe hf or any Rapyd entity. · source

1.0Bitcoin

Rapyd's crypto features cover stablecoins only; its payment documentation lists USDC and USDT and no bitcoin, checked September 2026. · source

1.0Ethereum

Ethereum is offered only as a network for USDC and USDT payments; ether itself cannot be accepted, bought or held, checked September 2026. · source

Sources

Built on public information and the BankStore team's own aggregated experience; no confidential client or partner data. Bank Index and BankStore are not banks. This is information, not financial advice.