In 2025, the way funds move across borders has become a key factor and not just a back-office trouble. Businesses require borderless, fast, predictable, and completely traceable payments. Anyone who has ever worked with international payments understands the level of frustration caused by constant delays, unclear commissions, and zero visibility as soon as the money is sent. So it’s no surprise that today’s businesses lean towards euro-native and crypto-friendly platforms, for example, people in the EU may easily buy crypto with SEPA on WhiteBIT and settle funds without getting involved in traditional banking chains.
The move away from traditional rails does not mean abandoning banks altogether — it’s about choosing the infrastructure that meets the modern business requirements: digital currencies, effortless cross-border transfers, low fees, and real-time traceability.
SWIFT Payment System Issues — Why SWIFT is Losing Ground
The biggest misconception about SWIFT is that it is moving funds, but in fact, it only moves messages. Each global money transaction relies on a chain of banks, manual checks, and time-zone-dependent processing. That does explain why today’s businesses have issues with the SWIFT system. Businesses face multiple problems:
- money transfers take 2-5 business days;
- with every middleman, fees add up, often with no upfront clarity;
- tracking a delayed payment requires human communication, sending emails between banks;
- settlement time is unpredictable, so planning liquidity becomes tough.
In fast-changing markets, these delays, costs, and lack of control turn into a big drawback. In 2025, debates around SEPA vs SWIFT payments are over with a clear advantage of SEPA payments, for it wins on speed, transparency, and costs. And now you’ll understand why.
SEPA Instant Payments and Open Banking Payments
Companies working in Europe treat SEPA as a different philosophy and not just an alternative to SWIFT. All the payments take place directly between accounts; the system is standardized and works across the region. SEPA Instant payments are processed in a few seconds, 24/7, including holidays and weekends, and this totally changes the way businesses manage cash flow. Funds now move when needed with no delays. Commissions are also minimal, and you won’t face any hidden fees.
Open banking for cross-border payments is another advancement. Enabled by PDD2 regulation, open banking allows for direct money transfers from a customer’s bank account to a business. This removes intermediaries and gives businesses much more control compared to international wires and card networks. The benefits are:
- Quick money transfers, often combined with SEPA
- Low fees compared to SWIFT or card transactions
- Reduces fraud exposure
- Clear reconciliation (payments are connected to bank data).
The combination of SEPA transfers and open banking forms the backbone of fintech payment solutions in Europe. It means automation, API connections, and real-time commerce, leaving papers and manual checks far behind.
Crypto as an Alternative to SWIFT — Stablecoins and Blockchain Use
When it comes to transferring money beyond Europe, SEPA is not enough. Cryptocurrencies here become more practical than theoretical, stablecoins, in particular. Digital assets are changing how businesses think about global transactions. By using stablecoins for international transfers, businesses settle payments within minutes instead of days. Commissions are usually a fraction of traditional wires, while all transactions are traceable on the blockchain.
The use of blockchain for cross-border payments does not imply any speculative purpose. Stablecoins are pegged to fiat (like the dollar), which removes any volatility risks or profit gaming. Here is how it usually works:
- Collect euros via SEPA
- Exchange euros into stablecoins
- Send stablecoins wherever you need globally
- Convert back to fiat when needed.
Global Payment Infrastructure 2025 — How to Smoothly Shift
Here’s how you can do it smartly and smoothly, without abandoning SWIFT here and now:
- Choose SEPA Instant for all operations with euros
- Integrate open banking for client payments
- Start using crypto for non-EU global transfers
- Consolidate internal payments through fintech payment solutions
- Still keep SWIFT for fallback.
Thus, business payments become modular, each rais does what it does best, and this setup is much more efficient than pushing all the transactions through one outdated network like SWIFT.
In 2025, speed, transparency, and control over funds are drivers behind choosing payment infrastructure. SWIFT is still here, but it does not set the industry standards anymore. SEPA, stablecoins, and open banking are here to reshape the outdated systems and bring clear, transparent, cheap, and automated infrastructure to business payments.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — In the cover: Auto Refinancing — Cover Photo Credit: freepik
