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How to Pay Suppliers in Colombia in COP Using USDC

Cross-Border Payments
How to Pay Suppliers in Colombia in COP Using USDC

Colombia imported US$70.5 billion in goods in 2025, up 10%, according to DANE. Companies that pay suppliers colombia need a repeatable COP payout process. This guide covers how payouts to suppliers in Colombia work and which local rails move COP. It also shows how a USDC-funded payout works on Yativo.

Why Companies Pay Suppliers in Colombia

The country bought US$70.5 billion in goods from abroad in 2025, a 10% increase, per DANE.

Cross-border money also arrives at scale. Colombia received a record US$13.1 billion in remittances in 2025, per Migración Colombia and Banco de la República data.

Currency is the other constant. The official rate was COP 3,273.49 per dollar on October 3, 2026, down 12.87% since the start of the year.

Chainalysis puts Colombia’s crypto transaction volume at US$44.2 billion for July 2024 to June 2025.

How Suppliers in Colombia Receive Payments in COP

The domestic side is where the money lands. Colombia runs two broad paths: the instant key-based system and the traditional interbank transfer.

Bre-B

Bre-B is Colombia’s instant payment system. Banco de la República describes it as moving money between banks in seconds, at any hour, any day of the week. It works inside the apps of banks and other financial institutions, so it has no app of its own. Banco de la República allows five key types, and the ID document number is one of them: the cédula or other ID registered with the recipient’s bank.

Adoption has been fast. Since its launch in October 2025, the system has passed 1 billion transactions, with 108 million keys registered by 35 million people, La República reported in September 2026. The system now has more than 110 million keys and about 250 participating institutions, up from about 40 at launch. It handles almost 8 million payments a day, up from 2.5 million in November 2025.

There is a per-payment cap. Each Bre-B payment is capped at COP 12,110,000 in 2026, and the recipient’s bank can set a lower limit. For larger invoices, use the bank transfer rail.

Security matters on the key side. Banco de la República warns that keys are only registered in each bank’s own app or website. A transfer never needs to be accepted through a message.

Bank Transfer (ACH)

Traditional interbank transfers work without a key. An interbank transfer carries the holder’s name, ID type and ID number, as DAVIbank explains. Use this rail for payees without a key, or above the Bre-B limit.

Timing follows clearing cycles rather than seconds. On the Colombian side, interbank ACH transfers clear in five cycles on business days, according to Bancolombia. Bancolombia also credits transfers to other banks in five cycles on business days, starting at 7:00 a.m.

SWIFT

Yativo offers SWIFT gateways for cross-border legs, with T+1 settlement. Inbound wires carry an extra step on the receiving side. Bancolombia tells people receiving money from abroad to accept the transfer and its exchange rate within 30 days, unless they set up automatic credit.

The Challenges When You Pay Suppliers in Colombia from Abroad

Timing breaks at the border. A local Bre-B payment lands in seconds, but the international leg in front of it does not. Inbound wires need action from your recipient, who must accept the transfer and its exchange rate within 30 days.

FX and conversion add a second decision. The rate was COP 3,273.49 per dollar on October 3, 2026, down 12.87% year to date. Agree the payout currency and terms before you send.

Intermediary deductions shrink the amount that arrives. Sending small amounts across borders costs an average of 6.36% of the amount sent, according to the World Bank.

Reconciliation gets manual. Put the invoice number in the payout reference and keep reconciliation records with each invoice.

How to Pay Suppliers in Colombia in COP Using USDC on Yativo

Yativo uses stablecoins as a settlement layer, and the recipient receives a normal local credit. You fund a balance with USDC or fiat, request a quote in COP, and a licensed local payout partner credits the supplier’s Colombian bank account. The recipient never needs a crypto wallet.

  1. Fund your balance. Fund a float balance with USDC or fiat.
  2. Create the payout and get a quote. Enter the payee, the amount and the target rail. The quote shows the rate, fees, delivery time and exact local amount, and it holds for 5 minutes.
  3. Confirm and let the local partner pay. Yativo routes the instruction to a licensed local payout partner. The partner sends COP over the rail you chose using the payee’s key or bank details.
  4. Track and reconcile. Payouts can be tracked in the dashboard or API. Settlement timing depends on the rail, as listed below.

Yativo’s active gateways for Colombia are listed below with their IDs and settlement times. Any gateway with POBO in its name requires a POBO endorsement on the account.

GatewayIDSettlement
Bank Transfer (COP)2Under 30 minutes
Bre-B1277Under 30 minutes
Bre-B (second gateway)1278Under 30 minutes
SWIFT (POBO)1133T+1 (next business day)
SWIFT (USD)564T+1 (next business day)

These are the active gateways in Yativo’s catalog today. Always read the live list from the payout-methods endpoint before you route a payment.

Any gateway with POBO in its name requires a POBO endorsement on your account.

Your recipient does not need a crypto wallet. They never see or touch stablecoins. On their side, the payment looks like a normal local transfer.

How to Send Stablecoin Payouts to Colombia with Yativo

Option 1: Dashboard (for manual payouts)

  1. Fund your Yativo float balance with either a fiat or a stablecoin deposit, such as USDC.
  2. Go to Transfer in your Yativo dashboard.
  3. Select the float wallet you are paying with, for example USD, EUR, MXN or whichever balance you funded.
  4. Choose the customer you are paying on behalf of. This step is necessary for fintechs that run payouts on behalf of their customers.
  5. Choose Colombia as the destination and Bank Transfer as the payout method.
  6. Enter the recipient details the payout form asks for, such as the holder name, ID type and number, bank and account number.
  7. Enter the amount in USD or COP.
  8. Review the quote: exchange rate, fees, delivery time and the exact COP amount your recipient receives.
  9. Confirm with your PIN and 2FA.
  10. Track the payout in real time and download the receipt for your records.

Option 2: API (for automated and bulk payouts)

Every endpoint below is in the Yativo API documentation. Production calls go to https://api.yativo.com/api/v1, and the sandbox runs at https://smtp.yativo.com/api/v1.

Authenticate every request with the X-Api-Key and X-Api-Secret headers. Each key only works from the server IPs listed on it. These keys replaced bearer tokens, as covered in our October update. Every POST also needs a unique Idempotency-Key header.

Step 1. Generate a USDC deposit address on Solana to fund your balance:

POST https://api.yativo.com/api/v1/crypto/create-wallet
X-Api-Key: $YATIVO_API_KEY
X-Api-Secret: $YATIVO_API_SECRET
Idempotency-Key: c8230f09-d21d-5e68-9fb7-28367a7bc91f
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "currency": "USDC_SOL"
}

Step 2. List the payout methods available for Colombia:

curl "https://api.yativo.com/api/v1/payment-methods/payout?country=COL" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $YATIVO_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Api-Secret: $YATIVO_API_SECRET" \
  -H "Accept: application/json"

In this example, Bank Transfer carries gateway ID 2. Always read the ID from the live response instead of hardcoding it.

Step 3. Fetch the required fields for that gateway:

GET https://api.yativo.com/api/v1/beneficiary/form/show/2
X-Api-Key: $YATIVO_API_KEY
X-Api-Secret: $YATIVO_API_SECRET

The response lists every required field and its accepted values. Build your payment_data object from it. For field details, see API documentation.

Step 4. Create the beneficiary. Replace the placeholder with the fields the form returned:

POST https://api.yativo.com/api/v1/beneficiaries/payment-methods/
X-Api-Key: $YATIVO_API_KEY
X-Api-Secret: $YATIVO_API_SECRET
Idempotency-Key: 416095ef-03b2-5f91-94fb-acf523ab8987
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "gateway_id": 2,
  "nickname": "Medellin software studio",
  "currency": "COP",
  "customer_id": "e8caa491-57b6-4c39-9e3a-d2c97e47fbf0",
  "payment_data": {
    "{field_from_form}": "{value}"
  }
}

Step 5. Lock your COP rate. Quotes hold for 5 minutes:

POST https://api.yativo.com/api/v1/exchange-rate
X-Api-Key: $YATIVO_API_KEY
X-Api-Secret: $YATIVO_API_SECRET
Idempotency-Key: 37bc99f1-fbd2-51ee-b6e3-8f5fb0e9c655
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "from_currency": "USD",
  "to_currency": "COP",
  "method_id": 2,
  "method_type": "payout",
  "amount": 500
}

Step 6. Initiate the payout from your balance:

POST https://api.yativo.com/api/v1/wallet/payout
X-Api-Key: $YATIVO_API_KEY
X-Api-Secret: $YATIVO_API_SECRET
Idempotency-Key: 736386da-2d5e-5e1c-bb11-1ba7d324bd80
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "debit_wallet": "USD",
  "amount": 500,
  "payment_method_id": 48361,
  "customer_id": "e8caa491-57b6-4c39-9e3a-d2c97e47fbf0",
  "quote_id": "4a72ecf8-6c8a-4e38-9971-8aabe9f785ed"
}

Use the id from the beneficiary response as payment_method_id. For bulk runs, repeat the call per beneficiary, as described on our payouts page.

For a deeper walkthrough of the corridor, see stablecoin payouts to Colombia. Rail-specific guides cover Colombia bank transfer payouts and Colombia Bre-B payouts.

Comparing Ways to Pay Suppliers in Colombia

MethodFundingWho pays locallyTypical timingReference quality
Yativo local payoutUSDC or fiat balanceLicensed local payout partnerUnder 30 minutes on Bre-B and bank transfer; T+1 on SWIFTInvoice number in payout reference
International wireBank account, per paymentCorrespondent chain, then recipient bankMultiple business days, plus recipient acceptanceManual matching
Exchange withdrawalBalance held at an exchangeExchangeVaries by venue and railVaries by venue

Best Practices for Paying Suppliers in Colombia

Verify bank details at onboarding, and re-verify any change. Collect the holder name, ID type and ID number up front. If a supplier emails new account details, confirm them through a second channel such as a known phone number before you update anything.

Put the invoice number in the payout reference. A reference that carries the invoice or purchase order number lets your team match the credit without guesswork.

Agree the payout currency and terms in the purchase order. State whether the obligation is denominated in COP or USD, and who bears conversion.

Quote before you confirm. Get the COP quote, check it against your internal rate, then confirm.

Batch on a fixed schedule. Group payouts by rail and run them on set days. Start with one rail and one batch, then scale the schedule.

Keep reconciliation records, and keep tax and reporting with your advisors. Store the quote, the payout reference and the settlement status with each invoice. Tax, invoicing, customs and FX reporting duties stay with your company and its advisors, not with the payout provider.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the per-payment limit on Bre-B in 2026?

Each Bre-B payment is capped at COP 12,110,000 in 2026, which equals 1,000 UVB per transaction. The recipient’s bank can apply a lower cap.

How long does a Bre-B payment take to move between banks?

Banco de la República describes Bre-B as moving money between banks in seconds, at any hour, any day of the week. It operates inside the apps of participating banks and financial institutions rather than as a standalone app.

How long do traditional interbank transfers take in Colombia?

Bancolombia states that interbank ACH transfers clear in five cycles on business days. Transfers to other banks are credited in the same five-cycle pattern, starting at 7:00 a.m.

What details does an interbank transfer in Colombia carry?

An interbank transfer carries the account holder’s name, ID type and ID number, as DAVIbank explains. Use bank transfer for payees without a Bre-B key or for amounts above the Bre-B limit.

Does my recipient need a crypto wallet?

No. Your recipient gets a normal local credit in their usual account or wallet. They never touch stablecoins, and the payment looks like any other domestic transfer.

Is paying out this way legal and compliant?

Yes, when it runs through regulated infrastructure. Yativo is registered with FinCEN as a Money Services Business, registration number 31000270723339. A licensed local payout partner handles the local leg. Your own tax and reporting duties still apply, so confirm them with your advisor.

How long does a quote last?

Quotes from the exchange-rate endpoint hold for 5 minutes. You see the rate, the fees and the exact amount your recipient gets before you confirm.

Start Paying Suppliers in Colombia with Yativo

Fund a balance with USDC, quote in COP, and let a licensed local payout partner deliver the credit over Bre-B or bank transfer. Your team gets a reference to reconcile against, and your supplier gets a normal local payment. Start with one rail and one batch, then scale the schedule. Book a demo to set up your first payout, or contact sales if you already know your monthly volume.

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