Advanced Payment Solutions

Advanced Payment Solutions (APS) is a licensed global payment service provider that gives merchants, brokers, and Web3 platforms a single gateway to accept card payments, digital currencies, and on-chain settlements — including transactions routed over Solana — across more than 150 countries.

What APS Does

Founded in July 2021 and headquartered in Astana, Kazakhstan, APS describes its mission as building "the infrastructure behind borderless payments." The platform targets a wide range of industries: licensed forex and CFD brokerages that need embedded payment flows inside MetaTrader 5, e-commerce merchants seeking alternative payment methods in the APAC and MENA regions, gaming and freelance platforms that need multi-currency digital wallets, and DeFi-adjacent companies looking to offer fiat on- and off-ramps without building the compliance stack from scratch.

At its core, APS is a multi-rail payment processor. Rather than committing to a single settlement technology, the company combines traditional card acquiring, exchange-based digital currency flows, and open blockchain networks into one integration layer — allowing businesses to accept whichever payment method their customers prefer without managing separate processor relationships for each.

Core Product Lines

APS organizes its offering into three product areas:

Online Payments is the traditional gateway layer. Merchants can accept Visa, Mastercard, JCB, and UnionPay card transactions as well as exchange-branded digital currency payments through Binance Pay, Binance Connect, and KuCoin Pay. Brokerages using MetaTrader 5 can embed APS payment flows natively within the trading platform, removing friction for retail traders who want to fund or withdraw accounts without leaving their trading environment. The company also supports localized alternative payment methods designed for emerging market adoption in APAC and MENA.

On-Chain Payments is the blockchain-native layer, where Solana appears as a supported settlement network. APS built its on-chain infrastructure on Stellar's open-source blockchain core, using Stellar's SEP (Stellar Ecosystem Protocol) standards to enable multi-currency interoperability and cross-border conversion. From there, the platform extends settlement reach to over 60 blockchain networks — explicitly listing Stellar, Solana, and Ethereum alongside the broader set. Merchants using this layer can offer customers faster, 24/7/365 international payments with transparent on-chain records while APS handles the bridging logic between traditional fiat flows and decentralized settlement layers.

Corporate Payments targets institutional and B2B clients. This product provides a multi-currency digital wallet, cross-border settlement services, an OTC desk for large-volume fiat-to-digital currency conversions, and institutional liquidity management. The company published a February 2025 blog post highlighting APS's role as a "reliable digital currency payments rail for B2B growth," signaling continued focus on serving corporate treasury and cross-border settlement use cases.

Solana's Role in the APS Stack

Solana is one of many supported settlement layers rather than the foundational chain for APS's architecture; Stellar serves that primary role. For projects and merchants in the Solana ecosystem, APS's practical value is as a regulated fiat gateway and multi-chain PSP: a business accepting Solana-settled transactions through APS can simultaneously offer card payment options and digital currency flows from major exchanges, all under a single compliance umbrella. The "60+ settlement layers" claim positions APS as a chain-agnostic infrastructure provider, letting payment flows follow the cheapest or fastest available path at the time of settlement.

Regulatory Status

APS holds two regulatory authorizations it publishes prominently. In Central Asia, the company is licensed by the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) under License No. AFSA-A-LA-2024-0015 to provide money services related to digital assets — one of the frameworks established inside the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) in Kazakhstan. In North America, APS is registered with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) as a Money Services Business (MSB No. M22483616), covering its Fernie, British Columbia office.

Operational Scale

APS has disclosed that the platform has processed more than 10 million digital transactions and supports over 30 online payment methods. The company has been active on the fintech conference circuit, with presence at iFX EXPO Dubai in both 2024 and January 2025.

Team and History

APS was incorporated with a founding date of July 2021 and operates out of two jurisdictions — Kazakhstan and Canada — which aligns with the company's dual regulatory footprint. The company does not publicly list named executives or founding team members on its website. Its product documentation is maintained through the Apco Pay developer portal (docs.apcopay.com), suggesting an affiliation or white-label relationship with Apco Pay, a payment technology firm that provides the underlying API infrastructure branded under the APS Money product name.

Fit for the Solana Ecosystem

APS fills a practical gap for Solana-adjacent businesses that need to handle fiat: the compliance overhead of becoming a licensed money services business is significant, and APS offers a pre-licensed shortcut. For DeFi protocols, gaming platforms, or token projects that want to offer users a fiat entry or exit point without building their own payment infrastructure, APS's multi-rail model — with Solana as one of the supported settlement networks — provides a ready path. The platform's emphasis on emerging markets in APAC and MENA, regions with growing Solana adoption, makes it particularly relevant for projects targeting those geographies.