# Kaito as a Payment Rail

Kaito abstracts multiple providers and settlement methods behind a single set of APIs.

## What the rail provides

- Unified endpoints for quotes, payments, payouts, and lifecycle events.
- Standardized status model (`created`, `pending`, `succeeded`, `failed`, etc.).
- Provider fallback and routing (when enabled for a corridor/railType).
- Clear separation between:
  - **pricing** (`/quotes`)
  - **routing plan** (`/execution-plans`)
  - **execution** (`/payments`, `/payouts`)
  - **asynchronous state** (webhooks)


## railType

Use `railType` to explicitly declare the flow type:

- `FIAT_FIAT`: fiat disbursement to fiat beneficiary
- `FIAT_CRYPTO`: buy/transfer crypto from a fiat source
- `CRYPTO_FIAT`: cash-out crypto into fiat beneficiary
- `CRYPTO_CRYPTO`: on-chain transfer between crypto endpoints