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Understanding the Platform

Saber ecosystem introduction highlighting core terminologies and concepts

The Saber Money platform enables businesses to offer fiat ↔ crypto conversion services through APIs, SDKs, and a merchant dashboard. This section explains the key entities, operations, and concepts that form the foundation of the Saber ecosystem. Understanding these elements is essential before working with the APIs.

Base URL and IP

Sandbox:

IP: 54.85.99.200
URL: https://api.sandbox.saber.money

Production:

IP: 52.200.53.174
URL: https://api.saber.money

To ensure secure data exchange, merchants should whitelist Saber Money’s IP addresses within their systems. This restricts access to trusted sources, helping to prevent unauthorised access.

Authentication

Every API request must be securely authenticated. Saber uses HMAC Signature-based authentication.

  • API Key (Client ID) and API Secret (Client Secret) are issued to each merchant.
  • To make a request, the client generates an API Signature by signing the payload with the secret.
  • The API Signature, along with the Client ID, is passed in the request headers.
  • This ensures requests are validated, secure, and cannot be tampered with.

This mechanism is consistent across all endpoints and must be implemented before accessing any functionality.

Core Entities

User

The User is the central entity of the platform. Almost every operation — whether fiat or crypto — requires a user context.

  • KYC: A user must complete Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification. Transactions are only allowed once KYC is approved.
  • Bank Account: A user can link one or more bank accounts, which are mandatory for fiat operations (payins and payouts).
  • Wallets: Each user is automatically assigned blockchain wallets across supported networks. These wallets are used for deposits, withdrawals, and transfers.

In short, users act as the anchor for all transaction flows.

Pool Account

A Pool Account is a special type of user account, mapped to the merchant’s business. It acts as the treasury account for internal operations, such as:

  • Liquidity management
  • Handling Pool Buy or Pool Sell operations
  • Acting as the settlement layer for certain transaction types

While end-users transact through their personal user accounts, the Pool Account enables merchants to interact with the Saber ecosystem at the business level.

Transactions

All transactions on Saber are initiated and recorded at the user level. They fall into two categories:

  • Crypto Transactions

    • Deposit: A user deposits crypto into their assigned wallet.
    • Withdrawal: A user withdraws crypto from their wallet to an external address.
    • Internal Transfer: Transfers crypto between two users within the Saber system.

  • Fiat Transactions

    • Payins (Onramp): A user deposits fiat via a linked bank account, which is converted into stablecoins or other supported assets.
    • Payouts (Offramp): A user withdraws fiat to a linked bank account, funded by stablecoins or crypto balances.

Each transaction has a defined lifecycle with states (e.g., initiated, pending, completed, failed), and developers can monitor these via webhooks or API fetch calls.

Operations

The platform distinguishes between two types of operations:

  • Admin Operations

    • Performed at the merchant level, not tied to any single user.

    • Examples:

      • Creating new users
      • Internal transfers between users

  • User Operations

    • Tied to a specific user account.

    • Examples:

      • Submitting and approving KYC
      • Adding bank accounts
      • Initiating transactions (fiat or crypto)

Depending on admin operation vs user operation, the signature generation varies slightly as mentioned in authentication section.

Integration Interfaces and Tools

Developers and merchants can interact with Saber through multiple interfaces:

  • APIs

    • The primary integration point for all client and user operations.
    • Enables programmatic control over user creation, transactions, balances, and more.

  • SDK / Web Widget

    • A hosted user-facing component provided by Saber.
    • Used to collect KYC and Bank Account information without merchants building their own UI.
    • Merchants generate a Widget URL and redirect the user, who completes the process on Saber’s secure environment.

  • Webhooks

    • Event notifications sent from Saber to the merchant’s server.
    • Provide real-time updates on transaction states, KYC status changes, and other events.
    • Critical for synchronizing merchant systems with Saber’s backend.

  • Dashboard

    • A web-based portal for merchants to manage and monitor activity.

    • Key capabilities:

      • Track transactions and users
      • Generate or rotate API keys and webhook keys
      • Configure webhook URLs
      • Perform developer operations (e.g., initiate crypto withdrawals, check balances)

Typical Flow

A standard flow of operations looks like this:

  1. Create User → User is assigned wallets across blockchains
  2. Complete KYC → User is verified and eligible for financial transactions
  3. Add Bank Account → Via API or Web Widget
  4. Initiate Transaction → Crypto or fiat (payin/payout/transfer)
  5. Receive Status Updates → Via webhooks or status fetch endpoints

This sequence underpins most integration scenarios and ensures compliance and traceability across fiat and crypto operations.

Ecosystem Summary

To summarize:

  • Users are the foundation of all operations.
  • KYC, bank accounts, and wallets enable user-level transactions.
  • Transactions span both fiat and crypto, with status updates available via webhooks.
  • Pool Accounts provide the merchant-level treasury interface.
  • APIs, SDK/Widget, webhooks, and dashboard together form the integration surface for developers and businesses.

With these building blocks in place, you can start exploring specific endpoints and workflows in the Saber Money API.

Updated 3 days ago