How to choose a crypto payment gateway: a checklist of 10 questions

Gateways look alike on the front page: a big number of coins, a low fee, a promise to go live in minutes. The differences show up later, in the fee on a small ticket, in a delayed payout or in a missing webhook. Use these questions to compare providers on facts.

The ten questions

• Which coins and networks can the customer really pay on today, and can I switch some off?
• What is the total fee on my typical ticket, including the network cost? Ask for a live calculator, not just a headline percentage.
• Who pays the fee, the merchant or the buyer, and can I choose per merchant?
• What do I receive, and when? Is there automatic conversion to a stablecoin, and at which rate?
• Is there a sandbox where I can test invoices without moving money?
• How do I learn that an order is paid? Are webhooks signed, are they retried and can I read the status by API?
• How are risky incoming funds handled? Is there AML screening and what happens to a flagged transfer?
• How do I get my money out, on which network, with what limits and fees?
• Is there a public status page and real support, not only a chatbot?
• What happens if I leave: can I withdraw everything, and are my invoices and history exportable?

How to test the answers

Open a sandbox account and create an invoice with the API. Check that the amount, the address and the QR code are clear on the payment page. Break the webhook on purpose and see whether it is retried. Compare the live fee for a 20, 100 and 1000 USD payment on two or three networks. Ten minutes of testing tells you more than a feature table.

Red flags

• A fee that is only shown as a range or “from”, with no way to see the real number.
• No sandbox and no API documentation without an account.
• Vague answers about who holds the funds and how AML works.
• Promises of “no checks at all”. Serious partners screen transfers, and so should you.