> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://rain-sandbox-trial.mintlify.site/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How Money Movement Works > Learn how Rain money movement works and the two ways to move funds: payment routes and quotes and transfers. Rain money movement converts and settles funds between fiat and crypto. You register a funding source and set up a pathway once, then Rain handles every conversion after that, delivering funds automatically to the destination you specified. To your users it can be fiat in and fiat out: the stablecoin layer in the middle never has to surface in your product. ## Key concepts Money movement involves three concepts: * **Payment accounts** are the external funding sources you register with Rain, like a customer's bank account. Register one once and reuse it across any payment route or transfer. * **Payment routes** are persistent pathways for fiat-to-crypto (onramp) or crypto-to-fiat (offramp) transfers. Creating a route returns a virtual account (onramp) or a deposit address (offramp) for a sender to fund. * **Rain orchestration** is everything that happens after a sender funds a route: Rain converts the funds, settles them, and delivers them to the destination. You don't manage any of these steps yourself. Registering a payment account or creating a payment route never moves money by itself: both only define a pathway. Money moves only when a sender funds the route. The sender or receiver does not have to be the customer. Anyone can fund a route on the customer's behalf. ## Onramp Onramp moves fiat into crypto. A sender funds the virtual account a payment route created, and Rain converts the funds to stablecoin and delivers them to the destination the route specifies.

Funds arrive via ACH or wire from an external bank account into the virtual account. The virtual account was created when the payment route was set up. Rain converts the fiat to stablecoin. The converted stablecoin is delivered to whichever destination the payment route specifies: an external wallet or a Rain collateral contract. ## Offramp Offramp moves crypto into fiat. A sender funds the deposit address a payment route created, and Rain converts the funds to fiat and delivers them to the external bank account.

Stablecoin is sent from either an external wallet or a Rain collateral contract. The deposit address was created when the payment route was set up. Rain converts the stablecoin to fiat. The converted fiat is delivered via ACH or wire to the external bank account. ## Two ways to move money Rain supports two distinct flows: a quoteless flow built on payment routes, and a quoted flow built on quotes and transfers. Which one you use depends on whether you need a standing pathway or a one-time payment: * **Payment routes:** Register a payment account, then create a payment route. Rain returns a virtual account (onramp) or a deposit address (offramp) that a sender can fund repeatedly. Rain determines the exchange rate at conversion time. There's no rate locked in advance. * **Quotes and transfers:** Register a payment account, request a quote, then create a transfer against that quote. Each quote locks an exchange rate and fees for a short window before it expires. This is a one-time operation, built for cross-border payouts to fiat currencies like COP, MXN, and BRL. Preview rates before requesting a quote with [exchange rates](/docs/exchange-rates). The following table compares the two flows side by side: | | Payment routes | Quotes and transfers | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | Setup | Payment account + payment route | Payment account + quote | | Reusable | Yes, funds the same route repeatedly | No, one quote per transfer | | Exchange rate | Determined at conversion time | Locked by the quote until it expires | | Destinations | US fiat (ACH, wire), MXN (SPEI), or any supported chain | COP, MXN, BRL (via international payment accounts) | Payment accounts are shared by both flows. Payment routes are not part of the quotes-and-transfers flow, and quotes are not part of the payment-route flow. ## What's next Register the funding source both flows use. Set up a persistent onramp or offramp pathway. See the full onramp implementation: request format, error handling, and settlement times. See the full offramp implementation: request format, error handling, and settlement times. See rates and estimated destination amounts before creating a quote. Make one-time, quote-based payouts to international fiat currencies.