What are payment gateways and why do businesses need them?
A crypto payment gateway is used to accept payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple etc. The rapid growth in the e-commerce space is also pushing the businesses to scale up their payment options and look into new alternatives such as accepting payments in cryptocurrencies.
Since most of the cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, enterprise businesses need to make sure that the transactions are settled seamlessly between the business and buyers. Payment gateways make this possible enabling the merchant to also keep a track of transaction history and reports. The efficiency also helps businesses increase their growth and turnover.
Why are we seeing a rapid growth in the crypto adoption among businesses?
There are endless reasons for why this is happening, but some of the major ones are:
- A direct and secure way of processing transactions
- Faster settlement than conventional systems such as bank transfers, credit and debit cards
- Each transaction is registered on blockchain making them irreversible and immutable
- Free from any third party such as banking institutions and intermediaries
- Increased protection from identity thefts while keeping the transaction information accessible
Comparison of various payment gateways
There are multiple payment gateways available in the market. Let's discuss some of them in this blog.
- Hashbon
Hashbon is a Czech Republic based B2B and B2C focused crypto solutions platform for paying in cryptocurrencies seamlessly. Hashbon has provided a multilingual platform and an avenue for new users to test its APIs and features.
Hashbon takes care of the KYC and AML requirements. In under 5 minutes, buyers/consumers can scale the identity verification process and become eligible to buy products or pay for services with cryptocurrencies. The 0% commission applies to all received transactions and all withdrawals processed via cryptocurrencies. Currently, Hashbon supports 30 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin and offers fast and convenient integration within a day.
- NOWPayments
NOWPayments is a non-custodial crypto payment gateway that lets you accept payments in 100+ cryptocurrencies, with auto coin conversion available. Regardless of what crypto customers pay with, merchants can choose to accept the coins they prefer - NOWPayments converts them automatically. The pricing is: 0.5% transaction fee + 0.5% exchange fee if exchange is needed.
The platform also supports fiat conversion, and offers customized Casino solutions, Twitch donation button, a Mass Payouts solution and a Point-of-Sale link. NOWPayments provides merchants with a variety of tools: API, invoices, donation widget, buttons, as well as plugins for WooCommerce, ZenCart, PrestaShop, Opencart, WHMCS, Magento 2 and others.
You can use this link to sign up for NOWPayments.
- Bitpay
BitPay is a bitcoin payment service provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in May 2011 by Tony Gallippi and Stephen Pair. BitPay provides Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash processing services for merchants
BitPay was founded to provide mobile checkout services to companies that wanted to accept bitcoins. By October 2012, BitPay had grown to having 1,100 active merchants, including being WordPress's bitcoin merchant. In 2017, BitPay launched another round B funding campaign. Later that year, they raised the minimum payment on the platform to $100 USD from its previous $5 USD; the change was reversed only a few days later.
- Coinpayments
CoinPayments is a payment processor that allows merchants to accept Bitcoin and hundreds of altcoins in their store through easy to use plugins, APIs and POS interfaces. With over 2.2 million users across 182 countries around the world, CoinPayments.net is one of the most comprehensive multi-cryptocurrency platform available online.
CoinPayments got its start back in 2013, when it became the first payment processor to support altcoins. At that time no one else in the industry was offering support for cryptocurrencies outside of Bitcoin, so CoinPayments seized the opportunity to create a multi-currency wallet and crypto processing solution.
| Hashbon | NOWPayments | Bitpay | Coinpayments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction Commission | 0% | 0.1 | 1% | 0.5% |
| Conversion Commission | 1% | 0.1 | 0% | Coin TX fee + third party’s conversion fees |
| Direct Bank Settlement | To bank account (SEPA), 0,5% | To bank account (SEPA), 1% | To bank account (SEPA, ACH, FPS), 0% | No |
| Volatility Risk | No | No (fixed-rate option) | No | Yes |
| Supported Coins | 30+ | 100+ | 10 | 2000+ |
| Auto Conversion | + | + | + | + |
| Massive Payouts | + | + | + | + |
Some important points to note:
- BitPay charges a processing fee to its merchants. Merchants may choose to pass this fee on to the buyer.
- Hashbon charges a conversion and fiat settlement fees and the merchants may choose to pass this fees on to the buyer.
- Coinpayments can provide settlements in fiat only through the third parties for an extra fee.
Additionally, Hashbon offers to its merchants the possibility to set up the fee amount and/or discount amount, which is included in all the invoices.
Here's a research by Entrepreneur sharing their views on crypto payment gateways.
Conclusion
Hashbon and Bitpay offer more profitable financial conditions for the Merchants. But an easy verification and integration process that has Hashbon can be more suitable/attractive for the representatives of small and medium businesses based in Europe.
Disclaimer: This blog is meant for educational purposes only and nothing from this blog should be taken as a financial advice. Please DYOR before investing.
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