Overview
Siam Rice Export Co., Ltd. is a rice exporter in Thailand serving Africa, the Middle East, and the rest of the world. As the company grew internationally, it sought to streamline the process of cross-border payment for buyers who experienced delays through traditional banking channels but also maintain efficiency in its own financial procedures.
For this, Siam Rice Export integrated NOWPayments and offers stablecoin payments as well as bank transfers and letters of credit. Buyers can pay with the digital assets they already own and the company gets settlement in USDT TRC20 via auto conversion.
The settlement time was shortened from weeks to minutes in many cases due to the integration, and international buyers were granted more flexible payment options, making it possible to introduce yet another payment solution for Siam Rice Export without altering their established commercial and accounting workflows.
Challenge
Siam Rice Export’s challenge was not in finding buyers but in assisting them in making international payments. A number of buyers work in environments where they can experience delays in settlement caused by restricted access to foreign currency, capital controls, and old-fashioned banking methodologies, even once a deal has been struck, with knock-on effects for booking confirmations, shipment planning, and cash flow.
The firm was not seeking to replace bank transfers or letters of credit but to add an additional payment option that would enable customers to conduct cross-border transactions more easily while integrating smoothly into its own financial and operational processes.
Before working the NOWPayments into their workflow, the group was looking to:
- provide an alternative payment option to the existing ones, being bank transfers and letters of credit;
- lessen the time it takes for settlements to be completed in global transactions;
- compatibility to settle in a stable asset instead of being exposed to the exchange rate volatility;
- make the whole accounting, buyer verification, and compliance process transparent and easy to audit.
The Solution
When evaluating payment providers, Siam Rice Export looked beyond payment acceptance. The company wanted a solution that would simplify international transactions while fitting naturally into its existing financial processes. Three factors ultimately shaped the decision.
Flexible payments for buyers
Not all importers have the same digital assets, and making them buy a certain token for buying would just lead to more friction. With NOWPayments, buyers pay with the assets they already own, and Siam Rice Export received USDT TRC20 by automatic conversion.
Siam Rice Export is able to:
- give buyers greater flexibility at checkout;
- receive settlement in a stable asset;
- remove exchange rate risk when processing payments internationally.
Direct control over funds
As an exporter, Siam Rice Export sought to have payments settle directly to wallets it holds control over rather than in a custodial arrangement. NOWPayments facilitated this method with its non-custodial integration option, providing the company with an opportunity to keep its financial dealings simple, while at the same time holding 100% control over the collected funds.
This helps the company to:
- retain direct control over settlement;
- avoid unnecessary custody of assets;
- maintain focus on core export business.
A solution that aligns with the current operation
The concept was to offer customers a choice to settle, in addition to traditional business practices. Stablecoin payments were built on existing trade documents, accounting procedures, and traditional payment methods, allowing the firm to introduce new payment method choices and finished goods without disrupting day-to-day operations.
It helps Siam Rice Export to:
- weave stablecoin payments into existing processes;
- keep existing accounting and compliance workflows;
- upgrade payment options without having to overhaul internal processes.
Together these features allowed Siam Rice Export to accept stablecoin payments while using their well-established treasury, accounting, and operational processes.
Implementation
One detail stood out during the implementation. Connecting the technology took less than one day, while adapting the business around it took several weeks. Although Siam Rice Export IPN and API callbacks were quickly developed in the Laravel application with the use of PostgreSQL as the database, most of the project was devoted to updating internal processes rather than programming.
Integration at a Glance
| Stage | Outcome |
| API integration | Completed in less than one day |
| Documentation | Clear enough to complete the integration without opening a support ticket |
| Internal rollout | Quotation, invoicing, buyer verification, and accounting workflows updated over several weeks |
Rather than introducing a separate payment flow, Siam Rice Export incorporated stablecoin payments into its existing operations by updating quotations and invoices, introducing buyer verification before accepting stablecoin payments, and ensuring every transaction could be reconciled transparently from payment to settlement.
Results
The integration delivered measurable improvements to both payment processing and day-to-day operations.
Results at a glance
| Before | After |
| Letter of credit settlement: 2 to 4 weeks | Stablecoin settlement: minutes |
| Intermediary banking fees | Network fees: around $1 |
| Booking confirmation after settlement | Same day booking confirmation |
| Limited payment options | Stablecoin payments alongside traditional methods |
Early business impact
The company has already seen encouraging signs in several international markets:
- Traffic to siamriceexport.com from Senegal increased by 63 percent.
- Faster settlement means that bookings can be confirmed and shipments can start moving sooner.
Although the crypto payment channel is still in its infancy, Siam Rice Export is adopting a prudent expansionist stance and concentrating on polishing the operations prior to further scaling.
What Changed Beyond Payments
One observation came up several times during our conversation with the Siam Rice Export team. The challenge was never demand but helping legitimate buyers complete international transactions more efficiently, particularly in markets where traditional banking infrastructure creates unnecessary delays.
Stablecoin payments have allowed us to:
- give our buyers another way to pay;
- avoid delay on transactions with traditional banks;
- serve clients in countries where foreign currency is restricted, and that too without having to change their trade workflows.
Siam Rice Export views the utility of stablecoin payments as expanding access to international trade and making it more predictable for buyers by allowing them to transact more efficiently and to a wider range of markets.
Looking Ahead
Siam Rice Export plans to continue expanding its crypto payment offering while refining the operational processes that support it. Looking ahead, the company sees opportunities to make payment infrastructure even better suited to international trade.
Areas the company would like to improve:
- payment links designed for trade documentation, including pro forma invoices, bills of lading, and packing lists;
- built in support for staged payments, allowing deposits and final balances to be managed within a single payment flow;
- smoother payment workflows for B2B trade.
Commenting on the partnership, Kate Lifshits, Chief Business Development Officer at NOWPayments, said:
“As businesses expand internationally, they need payment infrastructure that grows with them. At NOWPayments, we’re building an ecosystem that helps companies simplify payments, settlement, and financial operations, and we’re proud to support Siam Rice Export on that journey.”
Reflecting on the partnership, Mr. Boonchote Tungboontavee, Managing Director of Siam Rice Export Co., Ltd., shared:
“Rice moves on ships, but trade moves on settlement. Our buyers in Africa and the Middle East were never short of demand. They were short of access to dollars. With NOWPayments we can invoice a container in stablecoin and have it settle in minutes, so a legitimate importer is no longer waiting weeks in a central bank queue to buy food. That is the part of the trade we were finally able to fix.”
About Siam Rice Export
Siam Rice Export Co., Ltd. is a Thailand-based rice exporter supplying customers across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and other international markets. With decades of export experience and the leveraging of modern digital tools, the company is adapting cross-border trade for a more efficient format, enabling the buyers to have reliable access to high-quality rice and more flexible ways to make payment.
About NOWPayments
NOWPayments is a crypto business ecosystem built for companies operating internationally. Businesses can accept stablecoin and cryptocurrency payments, automate payouts, manage conversions, and integrate payment infrastructure into existing financial workflows through enterprise-ready APIs. Combined with flexible settlement options, operational support, and scalable infrastructure, NOWPayments helps businesses simplify global payments as they grow.
