Regulated Infrastructure Firms Shortlisted for 2026 Fiat-to-Crypto Access Awards
The assessment evaluates regulatory compliance, settlement speed, and global coverage as the industry prepares for the Proof of Talk conference in June.
BeInCrypto Institutional Research has released a long list of 15 firms identified as key providers of fiat-to-crypto access infrastructure for 2026. This selection forms part of the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 awards program, which recognises excellence in digital asset infrastructure across 26 categories. The shortlist comprises companies building regulated infrastructure, payment rails, and wallet APIs that facilitate the movement of money between traditional systems and digital asset markets.
The assessment methodology combines quantitative data, expert council scoring, and disclosed company information across seven specific criteria. These include country coverage, payment method diversity, regulatory compliance, user experience integration, settlement speed, ecosystem integration, and innovation. Data verification relied on regulatory registers from bodies such as AUSTRAC, the FCA, and MiCA-CASP, alongside audited filings and private-market sources like PitchBook and Crunchbase.
The initial pool of more than 30 onramp and offramp providers was screened to determine the 15 firms advancing to the long list. The category encompasses a diverse range of entities, including consumer-facing onramps, B2B settlement infrastructure, regional payment specialists, aggregators, and banking-grade APIs. These solutions are integrated into wallets, exchanges, fintech applications, and decentralised applications to enable seamless transactions.
Recent developments among the shortlisted firms highlight significant regulatory progress and strategic shifts within the sector. One firm has seen its OCC charter conditionally approved and its trust charter approved in February 2026, while another became fully operational under MiCA in January 2026 with an active EU passporting structure. A third firm registered an MPS asset token in Switzerland and filed for an OCC national trust bank charter, demonstrating a focus on institutional-grade banking structures.
Other notable movements include a firm that acquired Helio, Iron, and Meso in 2025 while exploring a potential deal linked to ICE, and another that launched the MUSD stablecoin in Brazil following a take-private transaction. Several entities have also expanded their technological capabilities, with one launching a headless Apple Pay API and enabling zero-fee USDC onramps on the Base network, while another integrated Lightning settlement support into its non-custodial DeFi bridge infrastructure.
The final winner will be revealed at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris on 2–3 June 2026, with the shortlist of top firms officially announced in May 2026. This annual research-driven program continues to track the firms building the critical payment rails and settlement layers required to move capital efficiently between fiat systems and crypto markets.
