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October 13, 2024 
31 min. 
Since the rise of digital currencies, businesses are no longer dependent on traditional banking systems. No whole week is required for payment processing, no bank closure panics, and no hefty transaction cost — now everything is done instantly with this payment solution. Say welcome to the Crypto payment gateways. Your businesses definitely need these payment processors. From slashing payment fees to making transactions instantly, these payment gateways empower your enterprise to go global and reach a wider audience.
According to research, there are almost 560 million crypto users worldwide, and around 30,000 global industries have adopted crypto processors in their financial landscape.
Don’t you want to explore more about paying with crypto? In this article, we’ll guide you comprehensively about why should you use them, what are their top features, and what is the best crypto gateway your business should adopt in 2024. But first, let’s start with a brief definition of a Crypto payment processor.
What is a Crypto payment gateway?
A crypto payment gateway is a processor that facilitates cryptocurrency payment for businesses to support alternative digital transaction options. Consider it as an intermediary between the buyer and merchant. It offers automatic conversions of the received cryptocurrency into fiat currencies like USD or EUR to minimize price fluctuations for real-time pricing updates. You can easily integrate them with your e-commerce businesses at checkout points.
Over 500 million people use cryptocurrency globally and by 2025, these metrics will be updated with $2.2 billion in transaction volume, as the data suggests.
We’ve got many reliable processors to pay with crypto. Bitpay, Coinbase, CoinGate, etc are some prime examples. Bitpay has a good 300 million user base and has transacted over 340,000 payments to date, as per CryptoCloud. If you look at the number of adoptions, over 15,000 businesses including 2,300 just in the United States have already integrated this payment solution in their checkout points. Do you think you should too adopt this alternative? See below, we’ll now discuss why should your business have alternative pay with a crypto facility.
Why Should We Use Crypto Gateway?
Business demands good customers and good customers demand a trustable business. When it comes to trust, payment comes first. This is universally declared if your monetary system is reliable, your business is highly trustable and will flourish even more. So, won’t it be great to offer your customer a payment gateway that’s globally accepted, has lower transaction fees, and eliminates chargebacks? Crypto gateways have all these BEST features. That’s why every business is encouraged to integrate this payment method. Still not convinced? Let’s see some of its supercool benefits.
Constant Security Updates
Crypto payment processors operate on the bitcoin network and this ledger constantly verifies and updates the transaction details across the network of systems. This way there is hardly any chance of hacking, altering the costs, and even breaching your user data, ensuring a transparent payment process.
However, you might wonder why traditional payment systems aren’t recommended. Yes. Those transaction processors aren’t bad either but they are not very robust in terms of security. For instance, exposing credit card details has become very common. Those payment methods heavily rely on centralized servers that get hacked and face frequent downtime in peak hours. In contrast, the decentralized network of crypto gateways has cryptography security protocols that make security breaches nearly impossible.
Lower Transaction Cost
The next thing we’ve got is lower cost. I mean who doesn’t love saving some bucks? Let’s consider this scenario. Crypto payment gateways are globally decentralized so we can assume that it’d take equal time from all parts of the world like if you’re processing payment from England to New York or within New York City (domestic transaction), it’ll process your money with the same effectiveness. However, traditional payment processes aren’t swift but if you pay with crypto, your business can vouch for smooth cash flow and quick access to funds all the time as crypto gateways clear up the payment process within minutes and that too with all the security protocols.
The best part? You won’t even have to worry about the banking hours, card limits, and holiday closures, particularly a win-win offer to capitalize on global sales 24/7.
No Intermediaries
This is so far the best part about using crypto payment processors. It operates on a decentralized server and enables peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, which means you can send or accept amounts from any part of the globe. No bank complexities, credit card problems, hefty fees charged, delays, and frequent limitations will be imposed by intermediaries. You’re even free to customize your transaction structure and the checkout procedure according to your business model for a customer-focused approach.
Access to Opportunities
There are almost a billion people who don’t have access to traditional banking systems These people aren’t particularly aware of formal financial services. Such a scenario gives you leverage to hold on to the opportunity using the crypto gateway as it doesn’t have any geographical restrictions. By integrating crypto processors, your business can build your consumer within these billions of people providing them an alternative payment option. You can showcase your products amongst them with authority, build a loyal consumer base, and participate in the digital economy ultimately. This way you’re hoping onto a vast market that’s not been educated well before, expand your clientele, and contribute to the equitable global finance system.
These perks aren’t the only factors that vouch for the reliability of Crypto payment processors. You’ll also explore privacy and discretion benefits, multiple cryptocurrency integrations, legality compliance, and regulatory checks along with transparent cash flow. Now, let’s see how Crypto payment gateways function.
How does Crypto Payment Gateway work?
You must not appreciate the currency conversion hassle or the hefty transaction costs that’s why big giants like Shopify, Burger King, Etsy, Expedia, and Tesla have already integrated crypto processors in their payment systems. Even the Cointelegraph reports say about 30,000 merchants worldwide accept crypto payments. These market leaders definitely know the future of digital transactions. They are already up on the trend, exploring the wide range potential of the cryptocurrency industry that boasts a total market cap of $2.36 trillion even after the massive turndown of 2021.
The processor has a simple working functionality, consisting of integration, payment processing, confirmation, and settlement – that’s why businesses find it an extremely convenient gateway to incorporate with their financial handling system.
Integrate the processor:
The first step is integrating any cryptoprocessor (BitPay, Coinbase, CoinGate, CoinsPaid, etc) into your checkout software. This can be done with either low-code solutions like APIs, plugins, etc, or some external software. The payment setup will take you a good 3-8 weeks depending on the complexities.
Customer Payment Choices:
Once your customer decides to pay with crypto, your processing software will display different choices like preferred currency lists, exchange rates, wallet addresses, and user transaction histories to your customer. Make sure your chosen processor has all these UI incorporated.
Processing:
Once the customer makes all the choices, your crypto gateway will now process the payment after verifying the transaction history of the user and the right amount check.
Details Confirmation:
Once the payment is sent to the receiver successfully, both parties will be notified instantly.
Payment Settlement:
As your customer has chosen to pay with crypto, there are the following settlements to be made. Your cryptoprocessor will proceed the funds directly to the wallets with a fee deduction. In case of fiat to crypto or vice versa conversions, your gateway will also entertain this facility and then send the amount to your merchant account. However, note that the settlement can either be done instantly or take a week, depending on your chosen processor.
That’s how simply your payment processor functions without any location restraints or banking complexities.
Best Crypto Payment Processors for Businesses
Bitpay
Website: Bitpay
Established: 2011
Transaction Volume: 10m transactions since 2011
First up, we’ve Bitpay on our list that’s widely loved by businesses globally due to integration ease, cost saving, global reach, and so much more. Bitpay supports a range of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), and stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC). Due to these flexible options, businesses are inclined towards using this processor to facilitate their customers. This way they’re expanding their clientele wisely, boasting over 3 million wallet users.
Transaction Cost: The transaction fee is flat at 1% while the card processing charges you between 2.5% to 3.5%. If you make a $100k transaction a month, Bitpay will save you a good $1500 to $2000 every month. However, this is a rough estimation, the prices can fluctuate depending on the business models and transaction structure.
Instant Conversion: The best feature of Bitpay is the conversion of crypto into fiat currencies like USD, EUR, GBP, etc. This minimizes volatility factors of crypto like the businesses won’t be affected by fluctuating prices and always receive the exact amount invoiced.
Despite these factors, Bitpay would be the best possible choice for your business considering its operation in 200+ countries. It’s based on blockchain thus no security faults can be found. The decentralized server prevents all kinds of fraud-related disputes away which can be threatening to businesses. For a practical implementation, you’ll find this crypto-processor integrated with big giants like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and OpenCart.
CoinsPaid
Website: Coinspaid
Established: 2014
Transaction Volume: Approx 1M transactions in a month
Next up, we’ve CoinsPaid. This crypto payment processor is best if your business requires a reliable, secure, flexible, and swift gateway. It lets you expand your customer base in so many ways, one good way is that it offers 50 cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Tether (USDT), and Binance Coin (BNB). No matter what currency your customer prefers, you can always facilitate them with CoinsPaid.
Transaction Cost: Moving ahead to transaction cost, CoinsPaid keeps things a bit reliable and accessible for its users. Your business will charge almost 0.8%. So if your enterprise does $100,000 worth of payment processing a month, you’ll be saving a good $2,000 every month making a big sum of funds annually. What a win-win solution, right?
Secure Transaction & Settlement: You won’t need to have some external fiat convertor because CoinsPaid does it automatically, allowing your business to receive payments directly in USD, EUR, GBP, etc. This saves your company from any kind of crypto volatility risks. If you’re operating from a region where banking isn’t much facilitated, CoinsPaid will even help you with that with its faster settlement process. Traditional transactions take a good 3-5 days to verification thus CoinsPaid instant processing of fiat currencies is a significant advantage over that.
Now, let’s see the third crypto gateway on our list.
NOWPayments
Website: NOWPayments
Established: 2019
Cryptocurrency Offered: 50
Does your business need a cost-effective and secure way to pay with crypto? NOWPayment is here to help you out. There is no doubt that this payment processor is considered one of the best ways to accept transactions due to its broad range of services like flexibility, broad crypto support, and focus on user-friendliness. The best part? It supports over 300 cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Tether (USDT), and Shiba Inu (SHIB).
Transaction Cost: Coming to what you’ll get charged NOWPayments’ transaction fees start from 0.5% and this is too reasonable. Even if you compare it with PayPal and Stripe, they charge around 2.5 to 3.5% which undoubtedly equates to a big sum. So, if your business makes $100,000 a month, you’ll save a good $3,000 monthly.
Customizable Solution: This crypto processor got you many customizing options for your business. You can have:
- Payment buttons
- Invoice creation
- API integration options
- Point-of-Sale solutions
Particularly, if you have some donation platforms, subscription services businesses, etc that accept crypto, NOWPayments would be a very sane option for your business.
Cryptix
Website: Cryptix
Established: 2017
Next up, we have Cryptix on our list. This crypto gateway is best if you need an innovative and scalable payment solution for your business. It’s pretty flexible to integrate, has a simpler user interface, and offers both commitment to security and compliance. Cryptix supports more than 30 cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC), and Tether (USDT). Cryptix has several upper-hand benefits over other payment gateways.
It’s;
- Highly secured
- Has a global reach
- Accessible to over 150 countries
- Operating under an EU-regulated framework
- Swift payment processor
Transaction Cost: Cryptix charges no more than 1-1.5%. It’s pretty reliable thus this cost is competitive considering the market and will save you $1,000 at the end if your business makes $50,000 a month.
Wide Customer Experience: It’s fair to say Cryptix is too customer-centric considering its enhanced features. It offers multi-language support, custom invoicing, and detailed payment tracking. These features definitely help your business to bring many more customers.
Confirmo
Website: Confirmo
Established: 2014, Czech Republic
It’s a pretty versatile option for your business and is well-known for its transparency, simplicity, and compliance with global regulations. One of Confirmo’s most appreciated features is its ability to make real-time payments. It has a typical waiting time of just a few minutes, making your business use this crypto gateway rather than going for traditional banking systems.
Transaction Cost: Confirmo charges you the least 1% that’s pretty good if you compare the prices with other processors. It also saves you $2,000 to $3,000 if your business manages to pull off a good $80-100,000 monthly.
Globally Regulated: Confirmo has great compliance benefits. It operates with KYC (Know your customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations that help your business ultimately with international standards and reduce security threats.
Regardless of these factors, Confirmo has a 99.9% uptime, ensuring that businesses can accept payments consistently and securely. It also has 24/7 customer service to help your customers with crypto payments.
CoinGate
Website: CoinGate
Established: 2014
Transaction Volume: 3.8M since the launch
Best in terms of security, flexibility, ease of use, and extensive support for a range of cryptocurrencies – CoinGate has been an attractive option for businesses. If your company particularly looks to tap into a broad market, this crypto processor might help you a lot. It supports over 70 cryptocurrencies thus you can have the preferred coin choices of your customers. This is a global processor thus your payments will be settled instantly after making the transaction.
Lightning Network Support: This is a pretty prominent feature of CoinGate. It’s among those few crypto payment gateways that support Bitcoin’s Lightning Transaction (Fast and low-cost transactions). The stat says the transaction’s cost in the lightning ledger is nearly $0.01, compared to the traditional Bitcoin network’s fee which ranges from around $1 to $20.
Gift Cards: Coingate also supports gift cards. Thus, if your business is inclined towards paying rewards and incentives to its customers, this crypto processor is the best option.
POS App: This crypto payment gateway also takes the lead in providing a Point-of-Sale app for physical stores. It means you don’t always need to have an online platform to accept crypto payments.
POS app feature is also the best for brick-and-mortar businesses and reports suggest that these businesses have seen a 10% rise in their sales after integrating this payment solution to drive more customers.
CoinPayments
Website: CoinPayments
Established: 2013
Cryptocurrency support: 2,250+
This is one of the most loved crypto processors of today, particularly famous for its support of more than 2,250 cryptocurrencies. In 2023, it has transacted amounts to 190+ countries, giving businesses access to such a large audience for their market needs. The most convenient feature? It lets you manage multiple wallets within one single account so you can handle payments in different currencies without needing to have individual accounts for each.
Conversion: CoinPayments has another exciting feature of auto coin conversions. You can convert one crypto coin to another of your preferred choice. This is even better if you accept high-volatility currencies like Shiba Inu or Dogecoin so you will be saved from frequent price drops.
Business Tools: This crypto processor loves your business. It has Point-of-Sale (POS) systems and major plugins available to help you navigate financial services. CoinPayments proudly supports over 500,000 merchants today including Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, etc.
All these crypto gateways are so far the best in terms of services, security, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. However, let’s now have a quick comparative analysis of what top features these crypto processors support. See this table below.
Features of top Crypto payment gateways
Conclusion
So, we have almost discussed what you need to know about the best crypto payment gateways. Now, the choice is yours what crypto processor you want to integrate with your business. All the abovementioned payment solutions have been attractive options for businesses and are widely accepted. It’s recommended for your business to do primary research first. Note your requirements and what features you’ll need the most. Analyze your customer database. See if they’re financially educated or particularly novices with digital coin transactions. If you neglect these protocols, you might end up facing a big financial loss as setting up a processor costs a good amount to businesses.
Furthermore, you can also explore a few more processors to facilitate pay with crypto features to your customers like Stripe, Binance Pay, Coinbase, BTC Pay, etc. Choose wisely!
FAQs
Which Cryptocurrencies Are the Best for Crypto Payments?
There are almost 13,217 currencies available but following them is considered the best and accepted widely;
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Dash (DASH)
- Binance Coin (BNB)
- Stellar (XLM)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Can I develop a Crypto payment gateway?
Yes, you can if you’re a merchant and wish to have a separate payment gateway for your business. But you’ll also require a payment processor and an acquiring bank. Better is to consult with either fintech or some crypto trading expert for a one-to-one guide.
Can businesses in any country use every crypto gateway?
The answer is NO. Not every crypto gateway supports global access. Some of them are restricted to a few regions only while some operate globally. See Bitpay and Coinpayments, they’re available to only 190 countries, and most of the crypto processors are functional to a specific region only considering security.
Do I need a crypto wallet to use a crypto gateway?
Yes. Business requires a crypto wallet to manage and send funds to further accounts. However, some crypto payment gateways come with integrated wallets or support connecting to existing wallets. It’s advised to choose wisely.
