Quotes
Understanding Quotes
A Quote is a locked exchange rate between two currencies — fiat and stablecoin, or fiat and fiat — valid for a short window of time. Every transaction that involves a currency conversion requires a quote to be created first.
Quotes exist to give both you and your customers rate predictability: the price agreed upon at quote time is the price used when the transaction is executed, as long as the quote has not expired.
How quotes work
When you create a quote, UnblockPay returns:
- A unique
idto reference in the subsequent transaction request - The
quotation— the exchange rate locked for that quote - An
expires_attimestamp indicating when the rate expires
Quotes are valid for 5 minutes. If the transaction is not initiated within that window, the quote expires and a new one must be created.
A quote does not reserve funds or commit to any transaction. It only locks a rate. The transaction is only created when you call the corresponding transaction endpoint with the quote_id.
Specifying the amount
When creating a quote, you can optionally provide an amount on either the sender or the receiver side — but not both.
- Amount on the sender side — fixes how much is being sent. The quote returns how much the receiver will get.
- Amount on the receiver side — fixes how much the receiver should get. The quote returns how much the sender needs to send.
- No amount — the quote returns only the exchange rate. The amount is specified when initiating the transaction.
For fiat to fiat quotes, the same logic applies across both legs. The sender_quotation reflects the fiat A → stablecoin rate, and the receiver_quotation reflects the stablecoin → fiat B rate.
Quote types
UnblockPay supports two quote endpoints depending on the transaction type:
| Endpoint | Used for |
|---|---|
POST /v1/quote |
Pay-in (fiat → stablecoin) and Payout (stablecoin → fiat) |
POST /v1/quote/fiat-to-fiat |
Fiat to fiat (fiat A → stablecoin → fiat B) |
Wallet transfers do not require a quote.
Partner fees
Quotes support an optional partner_fee object, which lets you apply a markup on top of UnblockPay's base rate. You can configure:
percentage_fee— a fee in basis points (e.g.150= 1.5%)flat_fee— a fixed amount deducted from the transaction
Partner fees are applied at quote time and reflected in the final amounts received by the customer.
API endpoints
POST /v1/quote— Create a quote for pay-in or payoutPOST /v1/quote/fiat-to-fiat— Create a quote for a fiat to fiat transaction
For the full schema and request/response details, see the API Reference .