Why Crypto Currency Payment Gateway Partnerships are Important
In our recent article we emphasized the increasing role of crypto currency payment gateway solutions in the payment industry. Indeed, as crypto currency is becoming a popular investment instrument and payment means, the need for such solutions is growing. Even payment facilitators are looking for gateway solutions that would allow them to smoothly provide crypto merchant services.
Credit card payments are made with the mediation of payment card networks (Vise/MC and others) and banks. At the same time, a crypto payment (unlike credit card payment) does not involve any intermediary entities and respective fees. This is, probably, the key benefit for merchants that accept cryptocurrency and for their customers. Indeed, many buyers prefer to pay cryptocurrency for some products, while sellers want to be able to get paid in crypto.
These considerations make businesses look for ways of accepting cryptocurrency payments, particularly focusing on crypto payment gateway solutions.
Choosing the right crypto payment solution might be a challenge. So, in this article we are going to address several important aspects of cryptocurrency payment platform selection.
The Key Aspects of Crypto Payment Solution Selection
What merchants that accept cryptocurrency should remember
Support for stablecoins
Some examples of the present-day blockchains include Bitcoin, Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Avalanche, and Fantom. As a merchant, you have to define, which currencies you intend to support. Some businesses might be unwilling to accept cryptocurrency payments, because crypto is an extremely volatile and risky asset. However, presently, special cryptocurrencies, called, stablecoins are becoming increasingly popular as an investment and payment vehicle. Examples include Tether (USDT), DAI, BUSD, USDC, and others. The price of stablecoins is pegged to conventional currency rates and, thus, they are immune to sharp fluctuations.
Not all blockchains support stablecoin transactions, though. For instance, Bitcoin blockchain mostly supports Bitcoin payments and not stablecoins. Ethereum blockchain, built on Ethereum Virtual Machine, does support many stablecoins, such as USDC and DAI.
Gas fees
An additional concern is high “gas fees”. Just like a credit card transaction, each transaction on blockchain has its price. On some blockchains, such as, again, Ethereum, transaction fees are rather high. So, it makes sense to process only high-ticket transactions on this blockchain. Indeed, there is no point in processing a crypto payment worth $30 and pay a $60 fee.
Fantom, Polygon, BSC, and Avalanche blockchains have lower per-transaction fees than Ethereum. However, it might be more challenging to convert stablecoins to fiat if you operate through these blockchains. In the next section we briefly explain why.
Tips on crypto to fiat conversion for those who want to get paid in crypto
When it comes to cryptocurrency acceptance, crypto to fiat currency conversion is, actually, one of the main challenges. Presently, there is no universal solution or some “payment environment” allowing easy crypto to fiat conversion. That is why, it is extremely important to choose the right blockchain for your business, based on your target currencies.
Essentially, there are two mechanisms of crypto to fiat conversion: a crypto card and a centralized exchange (CEX). A crypto card allows you to purchase products and services for cryptocurrency. The respective amount of crypto is sold for fiat. A brokerage service (or CEX) allows you to convert crypto to fiat through the brokerage account (or wallet).
Every blockchain charges gas fees in some specific currency. Examples include Ether for Ethereum, BNB for BSC, AVAX for Avalanche, Matic for Polygon, FTM for Fantom. Most exchanges support deposits and withdrawals on a particular blockchain only for the currency used to pay gas fees.
Examples
Many exchanges support the withdrawal of AVAX to Avalanche and deposits of this same currency to the Avalanche network. However, they will not support deposits of stablecoins using this network. Most exchanges support deposits and withdrawals of stablecoins using the Etherium blockchain, where transaction fees are pretty high.
So, technically, it is impossible to deposit USDC directly through Avalanche. In order to do that, you would have to bridge USDC from Avalanche to Ethereum. Then you’d have to do an Ethereum transaction to fund your brokerage account. The problem is: while conversion from Avalanche to Ethereum might not be that costly, the Ethereum transaction will require you to pay high gas fees. So, depending on the amount that you are dealing with, the cost might be prohibitive.
BSC has its own exchange, supporting multiple currencies, including stablecoins. This simplifies transfer and conversion operations for this particular blockchain. However, the fees charged for cryptocurrency sales are similar to those charged for credit card transactions. Buyers and sellers can bypass this limitation if they use BSC-supported coins (USDC) for payments without converting them to fiat. When (or if) this is the case, crypto payments might actually compete on par with credit card payments.
Conclusions
Choosing the right blockchain partnerships is an important aspect of crypto payment platform selection. The choice mostly depends on your business model (merchant, PayFac, other) and on your target currencies. Need more information on the subject? Consult our experts and take a look at UniPay Gateway solution. It is an omni-channel crypto-friendly payment gateway technology, suitable for many categories of businesses.
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