OpenTrade powers Ontop’s launch of reward products for a growing network of thousands of global workers

Ontop has launched a 3% APR reward program in under a month, powered by OpenTrade’s institutional-grade yield infrastructure. The partnership will enable Ontop’s workers worldwide to get rewards on their USD savings, protecting their earnings against inflation and reparation risk.

The Ontop global workforce platform combines payroll, payments, and financial services, and the stablecoin yield infrastructure provider OpenTrade. The company processed over $1 billion in payroll to thousands of workers worldwide across more than 150 countries in 2025. However, despite that scale, user funds sat idle between payroll circles.

Consequently, Ontop integrated the OpenTrade yield infrastructure to offer the ~3% APR rewards program, with no material lift. Users can now earn rewards on their USD savings directly through the platform, protecting their earnings against currency devaluation regardless of where they are in the world.

OpenTrade COO says partnership meets Ontop ‘operationally.’

Jeff Handler, the COO at OpenTrade, claims that his company’s ability to meet Ontop “operationally” without requiring them to rebuild their infrastructure is exactly what OpenTrade was designed to do. He notes that the majority of the fintech world still runs on dollars in traditional bank accounts, moving funds over traditional banking rails. However, Handler argues that this should not be a barrier to access plug-and-play institutional-grade yield.

In this regard, the pilot launched to 1,300 users in December 2025 and crossed $1 million in user-provided funds in under two weeks. It has since expanded to Ontop’s full user base, with total user-provided funds now exceeding $3 million.

OpenTrade also integrated its APIs into Ontop’s reporting system, providing the platform with real-time, daily visibility into user-provided funds and rewards performance. All activity occurs within the Ontop Global Account, making it the financial home for global workers. 

Ontop Co-founder says partnership turns idle balance to real opportunity

Julian Torres, the co-founder of Ontop, emphasizes that his company’s integration of OpenTrade is a key step in turning idle balances into real financial opportunities anywhere in the world. He notes that financial systems have not yet caught up with the future of work globally, but points out that the collaboration is building a global workforce financial infrastructure to help workers get paid. Essentially, this gives them a place to store, move, and grow their money through Ontop’s Global Account.

On the other hand, the partnership introduces a new revenue layer for Ontop. Subscription-based payroll services previously drove the company, but it now captures a margin on the amounts it makes available on OpenTrade. The move has enabled Ontop to diversify its model into a financial platform, rather than just a payments provider, without building proprietary infrastructure or incurring operational overhead.

Meanwhile, the Ontop team has disclosed that several fixed-term programs are currently in development and are expected to launch in the coming weeks. Ontop is looking to capitalize on its partnership with OpenTrade, which Circle and a16z back. 

OpenTrade has processed over $268 million in transaction volume to date. Its asset management operations are overseen by Five Sigma Finance, a UK-regulated firm managing over $6 billion for institutional clients. 

For Ontop, activating that capital was a natural step in expanding its Global Account into a financial operating system for the global workforce. Delivering this required a partner like OpenTrade, capable of building on Ontop’s existing infrastructure. 

That has enabled Ontop to absorb the challenges and launch quickly. OpenTrade is providing exactly what the partnership needs to succeed, from legal structuring and portfolio management to reporting automation and a roadmap for fixed-term products.