The year 2021 has been a lot of bad, but it was really a quantum leap for cryptocurrencies – no one can deny that fact. And we are talking not about the great highs and lows of Bitcoin, but the fact that, for example, El Salvador became the first nation to accept Bitcoin as legal tender.

Crypto payments become more and more usual year to year – the news from Elon that Tesla would accept dogecoin as payment for merchandise wasn’t that big of a surprise. With the understanding that crypto in general and crypto payments, in particular, are already part of everyday life, two simultaneous processes occur:

• More people start to view crypto payments as something ‘normal’.

• Governments start to regulate the market.

That raises a question for merchants and business owners:

“How to find a bitcoin payment processor and set up a cryptocurrency payment gateway without dealing with changing legislation?”

Although crypto payment processing is still in its early stages, we'll look at several choices for organizations looking to try out the cutting-edge of alternative payment technologies.

But before that, let’s answer a simpler question:

What can crypto do for your company?

If you haven’t found the answer to that question before, here are some of the rationales behind why some companies are currently accepting cryptocurrencies:

• According to a recent survey by the University of Chicago, almost 13% of Americans trade cryptocurrencies. While many crypto investors choose to profit from the market's volatility by trading, there is still a substantial group interested in using the technology for payments, decentralized finance (DeFi), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These individuals regard cryptocurrencies as an asset and an investment in infrastructure that eliminates the need for banks and credit card networks.

• Crypto users frequently represent a more cutting-edge clientele that places a premium on transaction openness. According to a recent study, up to 40% of clients who pay with cryptocurrency are first-time customers, and their purchase amounts are twice those of credit card users.

And, apart from it all, accepting crypto payments would make your business feel more “cutting-edge”, which you cannot deny – is great.

The Top 5 Crypto Payment Gateways in 2022

With all the big questions answered, let's proceed to the best options available when it comes to choosing a crypto payment gateway for your business. While cryptocurrency can be transferred between wallets with hashes using crypto applications or QR codes, payment gateways and similar services provide extra payment processing capabilities and convenience to cryptocurrency transactions.

1. Coinbase Commerce

Coinbase is the largest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It can provide amazing features to make its users' lives easier simply because it has such a large user base. 

Because the company is located in the United States, it is required to follow all of the country's currency exchange laws. As a result, it is one of the most reliable exchanges, which is crucial given the mostly unregulated nature of the cryptocurrency industry. 

Coinbase, as you might think, also provides a bitcoin payment gateway for merchants to use. WooCommerce and Shopify are both supported by Coinbase Commerce – that is great if you already work with these platforms.

As mentioned before, Coinbase provides many unique features that some people may find useful. Users do not need to create a new crypto address for each currency they desire to receive when utilizing the Coinbase Commerce crypto payment gateway. It's done automatically by Coinbase, and consumer payments appear in the merchant's account immediately. At the same time, the platform's primary shortcoming is that it is custodial. In other words, when holding crypto in a Coinbase account, merchants do not have complete control over their private keys, posing a danger of losing money.

Coinbase allows for quick conversion of Bitcoin to fiat currency without requiring a withdrawal request from the merchant. For the first $1 million in transactions, Coinbase offers this service for free, after which it charges a 1% merchant fee. 

Payments settle into the merchant's bank account in 2 to 3 days, making it a great option for businesses of all sizes. Coinbase's only drawback is that the gateway functionality is not widely available worldwide.

Pros:

• Trusted, big brand

• Integrates with Shopify and WooCommerce

• Easy conversion to fiat

Cons

• Availability around the world

• Not complete control over private keys

2. Cryptoprocessing by CoinsPaid

A Bitcoin payment service for the Merkeleon corporation was established in 2014 as an internal application for Bitcoin payments. 

In 2018, the product was available in over 100 countries under the CoinsPaid name. To keep up with demand, the processing business was split off as Cryptoprocessing.com after a year of significant growth. As for 2022, it is one of the biggest crypto payment ecosystems globally, processing 7% of all on-chain transactions.

It is important to understand that CoinsPaid is not just a payment processor, but rather a larger ecosystem with features such as business wallet, personal crypto wallet, exchange & OTC and even a SaaS solution. Its easy-to-use interface and reliable features are tailored specifically for the intricacies of businesses. 

Settlements can be made directly to companies’ bank accounts via SEPA or SWIFT in six different currencies with no hidden fees. According to their website, CoinsPaid has over 800 merchants on its books and has been in the bitcoin sector for more than seven years.

Moreover, at the AIBC Summit 2021, CoinsPaid was awarded “Payment Provider of the Year”, and the AIBC Summit in Dubai, which took place in November, nominated the firm for a second time in the same category.

The company is actively growing and offering new convenient services. The growth of transaction volume by 354% and the number of transactions by 175% in 2021 prove that more and more businesses use their services. Especially considering that, for now, the service is being widely used by online entertainment projects, Forex trading platforms, e-Stores, and software vendors. In 2022, CP plans a massive expansion across Latin America and has already registered a legal entity in El Salvador.

There's also an over-the-counter desk for trading large amounts of cryptocurrencies with no slippage. CoinsPaid, of course, has plugins for WooCommerce and Magento, and you can integrate it with any other service by using an API, it also provides merchants with four options for charging customers: invoices, Payment links, Channels, and Plug-and-pay. Coinspaid offers one of the greatest APIs on the market, which is basically similar to a Lego constructor. Anyone may put together an API that meets their own needs.

A direct bank transfer is available for all of CoinsPaid's cryptocurrency-accepting businesses using the auto conversion tool.

As the first cryptocurrency payment processor to be audited by reputable security organizations, Coinspaid's security mechanism is one of its most enticing features. That is something to consider while choosing a crypto payment gateway for your business.

Moreover, CoinsPaid provides cold storage – this means that clients have the opportunity to store only operational funds on a hot (online) wallet, and main assets on a cold (offline, protected from hacking).

It is also important to note that the company is registered in Estonia, so it is obliged to follow KYC & KYC procedures. This provides additional clarity and transparency for regulators and businesses.

It, of course, is not the most popular solution yet, but there is definitely a potential for them to become the best crypto payment gateway in 2022.

Pros

• Security

• Low fees (from 0.8%)

• Supports 50+ crypto and fiat currencies

• Fee discounts while using CPD token

• Anti-volatility features

• EU regulated company that follows the latest compliance standards

Cons

• Your company’s activity should comply with EU AML laws

• Not complete control over private keys

3. BitPay

Bitpay is a crypto payment gateway headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 2011. BitPay has been active in cryptocurrency payments for over a decade. However, Bitcoin is a relatively new technology – the American Red Cross, Microsoft, and Twitch are among its many delighted customers. Even the Wikimedia Foundation is on the list of their merchants. That’s a great list to be in.

BitPay's crypto payment gateway system is built around a simple QR code invoicing method. But this is where it stops being that boring. By locking in the currency rate at the moment of sale, BitPay tries to protect businesses against volatility. BitPay will bundle your sales each business day and deposit your balance to your bank account or crypto wallet in either fiat or one of several cryptocurrencies. This approach allows you to accept a cryptocurrency payment but never have the money pass through your hands unless you desire to be paid in cryptocurrency.

BitPay merchants can use the auto conversion feature to get all of the cryptocurrency they accept in euros and dollars via direct bank transfer. 

BitPay's cryptocurrency payment gateway solutions are extremely portable and can be used on tablets or laptops. Merchants can put their funds in BitPay Wallet, which is a unique custodial wallet. They can also use their crypto assets to purchase goods and services from other crypto merchants. BitPay invoices have been translated into 40 different languages, making crypto adoption easier in diverse parts of the world.

BitPay supports settlement in 12 currencies and direct bank deposits in 37 countries. Cryptocurrency settlements are supported in over 200 countries. The complete list with all currencies available can be found here. All that makes BitPay great as a crypto payment processor and a great option to accept crypto payments.

Pros

• Anti-volatility features

• Respected and prooved

Cons

• Market volatility shielding can cut both ways

• Minimum balances required before payouts (20$)

4. GoCoin

GoCoin.com, founded in 2013, is a digital currency platform that provides merchant APIs for online and retail businesses to accept several cryptocurrencies. It operates as a B2B corporation with its headquarters in Singapore.

GoCoin is a popular cryptocurrency platform among developers all around the world. This is because it provides them with a very basic and easy API to use. GoCoin has many plugins, allowing it to be utilized on a variety of online purchasing sites, including Shopify.

By the way, please note that if you accept crypto payments via Shopify, you’ll still be charged a Shopify transaction fee unless you also activate Shopify Payments.

Customer support for this cryptocurrency payment gateway has been praised. It pays out in US dollars and charges a fixed fee of 1% on all transactions. It is supported in many countries worldwide, making it a viable alternative for businesses.

Companies like General Electric, Cozy Games, BitFury, and Tesla Motors are among the merchants who use the platform. 

Pros

• Intuitive API

• Variety of plugins

Cons

• The interface might be challenging

5. NOWPayments

The ChangeNOW team launched NOWPayments in 2019 to create a crypto payment gateway with the most cryptocurrency options, an easy-to-use API, and ready-to-use solutions.

Indeed, the API of this crypto payment processor is extremely user-friendly. The service currently supports over 40 currencies, including the most popular coins, stablecoins, and tokens, with the list constantly growing. Fiat currencies currently supported include EUR, USD, RUB, GBP, TRY, and UAH.

Everyone may organize a crypto payment gateway using NOWPayments on their websites, online stores, and social media accounts. It's a non-custodial service, which means it doesn't hold or store any of your money. This also implies that this one does not offer a 'one-click' option, unlike the other platforms on this list. NOWPayments accepts over 50 different cryptocurrencies.

What are the fees like? Well, they start at 0.5 percent and gradually reduce as your monthly sales volume increases (measured in BTC). If you choose to settle in a currency other than the one you got, you'll have to pay an extra 0.5 percent. You can choose a fixed-rate exchange option to protect you from volatility, which raises the base fee to 1%.

NOWPayments, like many of the other services on this list, can work with a variety of eCommerce systems, including Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce. As a result, NOWPayments is a simple and cost-effective approach to accept online payments.

Pros

• Low fees

Cons

• For settlements in other currencies, there are additional fees

• Not “a one-click” solution

Your crypto-entry point 

Selecting a cryptocurrency payment processor will be one of the first steps on your growth path. Do your homework on each one before making a snap judgment. While all those crypto payment gateways may appear to be very similar at first glance, it's worth digging deeper to see which one offers the capabilities that are most relevant to your business. 

Use the information and suggestions in this article to help you choose the best solution for your business.