Blog Cryptocurrency

What are Crypto Payment Gateways and How do they Work?

The modes of payment are constantly evolving from physical money to digital wallets and now cryptocurrency. With this advancement, payment systems are also getting evolved. There is no doubt that traditional payment systems are effective, but there are certain limitations, and businesses across the globe have realized these. Decentralized payment gateways, or crypto payment gateways, have brought out the changes businesses are looking for.

What are crypto payments gateways?

Crypto payment gateways are services that allow a merchant to accept payments in cryptocurrency, similar to online payment. These crypto-payment gateways act as intermediaries between the customer and the merchant. With the help of these gateways, payments can be accepted on e-commerce platforms, a website, mobile applications, and even in offline stores like brick-and-mortar.

There is no requirement for conversion as the money gets deposited in the merchant’s bank account. Without any crypto wallet, a crypto payment gateway offers solutions for merchants to receive payments in crypto. A crypto payment gateway allows borderless transactions, which implies that merchants can accept crypto as a payment from multiple countries without worrying about international bank transfers and currency conversion charges.

Without risking security, merchants can accept payments in multiple cryptocurrencies. Users can also transfer crypto from their wallet to another using the payment gateway. These crypto payment gateways are built on blockchain technology that provides the benefits of immutability and transparency in transaction records.

Being built on a blockchain, there is a decentralized nature that crypto payment gateways inherit. In this, intermediaries like banks and other financial institutions are eliminated from the payment procedure, eventually speeding up the transactions and reducing the processing time.

How does crypto payment gateways work?

Crypto payment gateway emerged as a demanding payment method in many businesses ready to be in the crypto market. In return for the services, payment gateways charge a service fee from the customers. In this, the merchants need to open an account to accept crypto payments. The process of work in a crypto payment gateway is similar to the traditional payment gateway; the only difference is that digital wallets replace the cards here.

The crypto payment gateway’s deposit and withdrawal processes are almost identical, but let’s get a process flow of how payment gateways of crypto work.

Deposit

  • In the deposit process, when the customer comes to the merchant site, the user will see a crypto deposit option to choose the kind of crypto to pay in.
  • When this information is introduced, an address with a QR code will get displayed to the users.
  • After this, the customers can decide whether to copy the address or pay through the QR code, which will open in their device’s pre-installed crypto wallet.
  • If the customers want to use the address, they can copy and paste that manually into the built-in infrastructure of their crypto application.
  • When the customer initiates the transaction, the payment processor will convert the received amount of crypto automatically to the fiat balance.
  • An API callback will be received on the merchant system, which includes all the information regarding the deposit, like transaction status, amount, fee, etc.,
  • In the end, the amount will get added to the balance of the customers on the merchant site.

The process of depositing the amount in the payment gateway gets completed from the customer’s end; they can pay for the purchase and then withdraw the amount from the merchant’s site, the process will start from fiat, and the withdrawal will be requested in cryptocurrency.

Withdrawal

  • In the withdrawal process, the customer will see a crypto withdrawal option and then can choose the kind of crypto they want to be paid in.
  • For the payout process, customers need to put their addresses.
  • Analyzing the information, a request is made for the processing from the site.
  • The payment processor will then initiate automatically and exchange the fiat currency for the requested cryptocurrency.
  • Again, the merchant system will receive an API callback which includes the transaction status.
  • Ultimately, the customer’s balance will decrease based on the transaction amount they have inserted.

There are multiple cryptocurrency payment systems in the existing market, and various gateways provide certain flexibility to customers where they can input their information and confirm the transaction; this flexibility can be considered in payment methods.

What are On-chain and Off-chain crypto payments gateways?

Payments done in crypto are processed both on-chain and off-chain. As the name suggests, an on-chain payment gateway processes transactions on the blockchain. The transaction details get stored in the public ledger of the blockchain. The main advantage of on-chain payment gateways is that it provides transparency and immutability. But on the other hand, transactions take more time to settle in, and the charges are high in terms of transaction fees.

In off-chain cryptocurrency payment systems, the transactions are processed outside the blockchain. This increases the speed of transactions and lowers the transactions’ charges, but transparency and immutability do not get affected. Off-chain transactions are secure, too, as the bundle of transaction details gets stored in the blockchain mainnet.

Popular crypto payment gateways

In existing cryptocurrency payment systems, many crypto payment gateways are very reliable and provide customer friendly experience to their users. We have mentioned some of them here to get a basic understanding of what crypto payment gateways are and what makes them unique.

1. Speed

Speed is a leading crypto payment gateway; it provides fast payments at a low transaction fee. This cryptocurrency payment system allows you to accept payments globally without any international transaction charges.

Speed provides multiple sets of solutions for businesses, from payment links to One QR to Checkout page; there are payment solutions for every business, whether online or offline

2. Coinbase

It is a cryptocurrency payment system where you can trade in various digital currencies and keep track in one place. A secure platform for all cryptocurrency transactions, you can store your currencies offline. It supports other digital currencies; users can link their bank account with the wallet and trade in any cryptocurrency on the platform.

3. Coingate

This crypto payment solution is a one-stop solution for businesses and individuals wanting to trade crypto. You can buy crypto from a wide collection or sell it for fiat money with one transfer. Users can exchange their earnings in fiat money too. It is safe to use as most cryptocurrencies are stored in secure Cold Storage.

4. BitPay

A cryptocurrency payment system where users can buy, store and swap their cryptocurrency from one secure place. There are no hidden charges, and the users can buy crypto using credit and debit cards too. It provides a noncustodial crypto app where users can securely store their cryptocurrencies. Using crypto, users can buy gift cards from their wallets.

5. CoinPayments

CoinPayment provides multi-coin wallets where multiple cryptocurrencies can be kept in one place. A feature is also offered to avoid volatility and automatic conversion of coins. At low rates, global payments can be made; the coins can be safeguarded in the crypto vault for as long as the user needs. These coins can also be locked in the vault for a predefined period of time.

Benefits and Features of crypto payment gateways

Crypto payment gateways are beneficial for both businesses and individuals. To understand the role of crypto payment gateways, we need to know the features and benefits that bring out the merchant’s interest in providing crypto payments.

1. Borderless and Instant Transactions:

There are various currencies in the world; each has limitations and is bound by multiple jurisdictions. Euros can only be used in the United States once and if converted to USD and vice versa. While using cryptocurrency, payments can be made globally and instantly. These borderless transactions are free from any international charges, saving many expenses from the customer’s end.

2. Safe and Secure Transactions:

When it comes to crypto payment gateways, security concerns are there in online transactions. To keep all the transactions safe and secure, crypto payment gateways use secure methods like SSL encryption, two-factor authentication, and cold wallets to hold their funds.

3. Maintain Anonymity:

Customers nowadays value privacy a lot, and crypto payment gateways help them to achieve that. During transactions, customers and merchants will see the transaction address and not the person’s identity, allowing them to keep their identity safe and private from the world.

4. Less Involvement of the Intermediaries

In crypto payment gateways, the only intermediary involved is the gateway, reducing the chances of something being wrong during the transactions. This makes the crypto payment gateways more reliable for its users as the chances of risk get minimized.

5. Reliability during Payment Issues

When using an individual mobile crypto wallet, if any payment gets stuck or any issue arises, the user has no options to reach out to any system. While using a crypto payment gateway like Speed, a user can always reach out for help regarding payments, and the provider will try to help you in all possible ways.

Crypto Vs. Fiat Payment Gateways

Cryptocurrency Vs. Fiat Currency War has always been on the digital currency market; no doubt they resemble some of the same features, but there are some differences in these payment gateways, which differ from each other. Let’s find out some of these major differences.

Criteria Crypto Payment Gateway Fiat Payment Gateway
Control Censorship resistance Control by the third party
Payment Time In 1 second to 10 days In 1 second to 14 days
Intermediaries Involved One Multiple
Transaction Charges Globally Low Globally High
Chargebacks Very minimal or not at all High chances of chargebacks.
Security Highly secure with cryptographic techniques and also decentralized systems. With the centralized system, chances of vulnerability and hacking are high.

 

Things to consider before choosing cryptocurrency payment gateways.

There are various benefits of cryptocurrency payment systems, but certain things need to be considered before going for any crypto payment gateway.

  • There should be a risk scoring system where ongoing transactions get stamps and monitor any possibility of the vulnerability of the payments.
  • Payment providers should support real-time fiat conversion as it is a commonplace in the industry, so the users don’t have to use any other background application for crypto.
  • Check out whether they charge a setup fee or not; multiple providers charge the setup fee, disguising it in the API integration charges. Crypto payment processors are easy to set up, and reputed providers do not charge any setup fee.
  • Ensure that the crypto payment processor you are going for is scalable and supports cross-border payments.
  • There should be multiple options from the provider’s end so the users can get all they need, like e-commerce plugins, invoices, multiple account management, and much more.

Conclusion

Cryptocurrency processing is easy to understand, but its technical part can be restrictive to some users. Crypto payment gateways provide a flexible payment space to merchants, using which they can receive payments globally. With fast and borderless transactions, businesses can reach the growing cryptocurrency market and acquire multiple new customers. In this article, we covered the overview of crypto payment gateways and explained their working.

Speed Team