Crypto Payment Gateway
Since Europe is the largest crypto economy in the world, the number of consumers willing to pay for products and services with cryptocurrencies is naturally growing, and having such a payment option in Europe can help businesses to increase customer conversion rates.
If you’re a forward-looking business owner, you should certainly consider allowing your customers to pay with cryptocurrencies which would expand the functions of your payment processing ecosystem and give you a strong competitive advantage. While you can use your personal crypto wallet to accept cryptocurrency payments, there is also a more efficient method – a crypto payment gateway – that can connect your online store with a payment processor.
A payment gateway is a client-facing type of software supplied by payment service providers, usually integrated into an online store or at the credit card terminal of a physical store, which enables merchants to either accept or decline credit and debit cards and other types of payments in a safe and secure way. A transaction can’t be processed without first going through the payment gateway.
In an online store, this is the section where a client is asked to select a payment method (credit or debit card or an online payment system such as PayPal) and enter the payment details. Many of today’s payment gateways allow customers to pay in cryptocurrencies and at the same time enable merchants to automatically have cryptocurrency payments converted into fiat money during the transaction process, which allows for the elimination of the volatility inherent to cryptocurrencies.
This means if you have reservations about storing cryptocurrencies or have no understanding of this new payment means, a crypto payment gateway can momentarily remove this perceived hurdle by using its own crypto wallet to complete every transaction between a customer and you and by instantly converting cryptocurrencies into the fiat currency of your choice.
If you prefer to store received cryptocurrencies in your crypto wallet instead of converting them into cash, there’s an increasing number of crypto payment gateway providers that facilitate direct payments to merchants’ crypto wallets.
A customer selects a crypto payment method enabling them to send cryptocurrencies from their crypto wallets and enters their payment details at the payment gateway of an online store. The total amount of cryptocurrencies is determined by pricing them at their market value at the time of the transaction.
The payment gateway validates the customer’s data, as well as verifies the availability of the customer’s funds.
The payment gateway encrypts the customer’s data and sends it to the payment processor of a merchant acquiring bank.
The merchant acquiring bank sends the information to the customer’s crypto wallet service provider to approve the transaction.
The customer’s crypto wallet service provider either authorises or rejects the transaction and sends this data back to the merchant acquiring bank.
The merchant acquiring bank sends the payment authorisation data to the payment gateway.
If the payment is approved, cryptocurrencies are momentarily converted into the fiat currency of a merchant’s choice. If you’ve selected a payment gateway provider that allows sending payments directly and instantly to your own crypto wallet, the payment won’t be converted.
The payment is transferred to the merchant’s bank account or wallet.
If you’re planning to obtain a crypto payment gateway, you probably already have a merchant account and have a business relationship with a merchant account service provider who facilitates more common payment methods. You may want to request them to offer a crypto payment gateway. If this isn’t an option, consider finding a solution in the hands of more advanced providers.
