A Bulgarian company paying contractors abroad

The situation

Petar runs a twelve-person software company in Sofia, registered as an OOD. Most of the team is in the office, but three people work with the company as contractors from other countries. Elena, a backend developer in Lisbon, invoices EUR 3,000 a month. James, a QA engineer in Ohio, invoices USD 2,500 and wants dollars in his US bank. Diego, a designer who works from several countries a year, asks to be paid 1,500 USDC to his wallet on Solana.

On the last working day of the month, Petar's accountant sends the invoices over with a note: the bank wire to the US last month arrived short, and James asked why. Diego's request is new, and nobody in the company has sent USDC before. Petar wants one routine that works every month, does not surprise the contractors and gives the accountant clean records.

Where the cost or risk really comes from

Each of the three payments has a different weak point.

• Euros inside SEPA are not the problem. Bulgaria has used the euro since 1 January 2026, and a euro transfer to an account in Portugal is a SEPA payment. It is usually quick and cheap from a Bulgarian bank. Changing this route rarely saves much.
• Dollars by international wire are where money leaks. The company's bank converts euros to dollars at its own rate, charges for the wire, and correspondent banks along the way may deduct fees. The contractor receives less than the invoice and has to chase the difference. That is what happened to James.
• USDC is cheap to send but easy to get wrong. The network fee is small, but a wrong address or a wrong network can mean the payment is lost, and the company cannot call a bank to reverse it. There are also lookalike tokens that use the USDC name.
• The paperwork gap. A bank transfer comes with a bank statement. A USDC payment needs its own record: the transaction hash, the date, the amount and its euro value, tied to the invoice.
• The contractor's side. Whoever receives USDC may pay a fee to turn it into local money. That cost does not show up for the company, but it affects how happy the contractor is with the arrangement.

How to handle it

1. Sort contractors by how they want to be paid. Ask each one to confirm in writing: currency, bank or wallet, and for wallets, the network. Put it in the contract or an annex.
2. Pay euro contractors in SEPA from the company bank. For Elena, the company's Bulgarian bank is a sound choice. Check the IBAN with the IBAN checker the first time and confirm changes by phone.
3. Fund a stablecoin balance for the non-euro payments. Transfer euros from the company bank to the company's xChange.bg EUR IBAN. They arrive as USDC for 1.5%. Alternatives include a multi-currency business account at a payment provider, or the bank's own foreign currency wire. Compare the total cost, including the exchange rate.
4. Pay dollar contractors from the USDC balance. Use send to bank to pay James in USD by ACH or wire at 1.25%. The fee and the amount he receives are shown before you confirm.
5. Pay USDC contractors carefully. Ask Diego for his address and network in writing. Run the address through the crypto address checker, send a small test amount on the agreed network, and wait for him to confirm before you send the rest.
6. Close the loop with the accountant. For each payment, file the contract, invoice and payment record. For USDC payments, add the transaction hash and the euro value on the payment date. Ask the accountant which tax obligations apply to payments to foreign persons. This page is not tax advice.

Setup checklist

• Payment method for each contractor confirmed in writing (currency, bank or wallet, network)
• Company xChange.bg business account opened and verified
• Company EUR IBAN saved in the company's bank as a payee for funding
• US bank details for dollar contractors saved and checked
• Wallet addresses for USDC contractors checked and tested with a small amount
• A monthly calendar: invoices in, funding transfer, payouts, records to the accountant
• A rule that any change of bank details or wallet address is confirmed by phone

Worked example

Petar's month: EUR 3,000 to Elena, USD 2,500 to James, 1,500 USDC to Diego. The example uses an illustrative rate of USD 1.15 per euro; the real rate on the day will differ.

Elena, EUR 3,000. Paid by SEPA from the company's Bulgarian bank, at the bank's own tariff. xChange.bg is not involved.

Funding the rest. Petar transfers EUR 3,600 from the company bank to the company's xChange.bg EUR IBAN.

James, USD 2,500.

Diego, 1,500 USDC. Sent to his wallet on Solana, after a 10 USDC test transfer that is part of the 1,500. The cost is the network fee only.

Total xChange.bg fees on the non-euro payments: EUR 54 on funding and 31.65 USDC on James's payout, plus the network fee for Diego. Both fees are all-in: what the table shows as landed is what arrives, with no other charges. See the pricing page for all fees.

What this is based on

The xChange.bg fees come from the published pricing page: 1.5% on money in, 1.25% on bank payouts, network fee only for on-chain sends. The European Central Bank's SEPA pages describe how euro payments work across the SEPA area, and Bulgaria's use of the euro since 1 January 2026 is set out in the ECB's announcement of Bulgaria joining the euro area. The Federal Reserve describes the Fedwire Funds Service used for US wires. Circle publishes the official USDC contract addresses for each network, which is how you tell real USDC from a lookalike. Solana's documentation explains its transaction fees. Company names and figures in the story are illustrative, and the exchange rate is an example, not a quote.