Best crypto payment gateways in 2026: 10 compared

Most crypto payment gateways now work as stablecoin payment gateways, and the right one depends on what a business wants to end up holding, so this comparison sorts 10 providers by fees, settlement currency, supported chains, licences and the kind of business each one suits.

The best crypto payment gateway depends on what a business wants to receive once the customer has paid. On 28 September 2026, Stripe charged 1.5% for stablecoin payments that land as dollars in a Stripe balance, BitPay charged 1% to 2% plus 25 cents with daily bank settlement, CoinGate charged 1% under an EU MiCA licence, and NOWPayments charged from 1% across more than 350 coins. Coinbase Business, Triple-A, BVNK, the Circle Payments Network, Request Finance and Speed cover narrower jobs, from USDC checkout on Base to cross-border payouts between banks.

Most of the recent change in this market has come from stablecoins. Stripe completed its $1.1 billion purchase of the stablecoin platform Bridge in February 2025, Coinbase folded its older multi-coin Commerce product into a USDC-first Coinbase Business account in March 2026, and Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK in August 2026. A merchant choosing a gateway today is mostly choosing how dollar stablecoins get turned into money it can spend, and where any balance it keeps is held.

How we chose

Every provider here publishes enough about its product to compare, and every figure comes from the provider's own pricing page, documentation or a regulator, checked on 28 September 2026. We didn't test the products, and the right pick changes with the business. The criteria were:

• Published fees: the processing fee on each payment, plus conversion, payout and withdrawal charges where they're listed.
• Settlement options: whether the merchant can receive fiat in a bank account, stablecoins, other crypto, or a mix.
• Assets and chains: which coins customers can pay with and on which networks.
• Custody model: whether the provider holds the funds or they go straight to the merchant's own wallet.
• Licensing and regions: which regulators authorise the provider, and where a merchant has to be based to sign up.
• Integrations: ecommerce plugins, payment links, invoicing, APIs and accounting connections.

Picks are listed by type, alphabetically within each group, and aren't ranked.

Crypto payment gateways compared

Fees are headline processing rates from each provider's pricing page or documentation on 28 September 2026, before blockchain network fees, and enterprise rates are usually negotiated lower. Stablecoin details for each asset are covered in USDC vs USDT.

How a crypto payment gateway works

A crypto payment gateway works like a bureau de change built into the till: the customer hands over one currency and the shop banks another, at a rate fixed when the payment is made. At checkout the gateway creates a payment request with a unique address or a wallet connection, watches the blockchain until the payment confirms, and screens the sending wallet for sanctions and fraud risk. It then tells the merchant's system the order is paid, usually through a webhook.

Settlement is the step that separates the providers. A gateway can convert the payment and send fiat to a bank account, keep it as a stablecoin balance the merchant holds, or pass the original coin through. Card payments carry a chargeback right that crypto payments lack, so refunds are issued by the merchant: Stripe, for example, returns stablecoin refunds to the customer's original wallet and has no dispute process for them, according to its documentation.

In the diagram, the customer's payment reaches the gateway, which confirms it and splits into two routes: fiat to a bank account or a stablecoin balance the merchant keeps. The second route leaves the business holding stablecoins between payments, which is where treasury choices start.

Merchant checkout processors

BitPay: best for US merchants that want daily bank settlement

BitPay is one of the oldest crypto payment processors and settles merchants in local currency, crypto or a combination. Its pricing page lists 7 settlement currencies, from US dollars and euros to Mexican pesos, with daily fiat settlements to a bank account. Customers can pay with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, XRP, Litecoin and Dogecoin, plus tokens including USDC, EURC and DAI. BitPay holds a New York virtual currency licence granted in July 2018, according to the New York Department of Financial Services.

Pricing is tiered by monthly volume: 2% plus 25 cents per invoice below $500,000, 1.5% plus 25 cents up to $1 million and 1% plus 25 cents above that, with higher fees for high-risk industries. The fixed 25-cent charge weighs on small orders. BitPay suits established merchants that want bank settlement from a long-running US processor.

CoinGate: best for EU ecommerce stores that need a MiCA-licensed provider

CoinGate is a Lithuania-based processor that received a MiCA licence in December 2025, which lets it serve merchants across the EU. Its standard plan charges a 1% processing fee with no monthly fee, accepts 10+ cryptocurrencies including Lightning payments, and settles in EUR, GBP, USD or crypto. Integrations cover WooCommerce, PrestaShop, WHMCS, Magento 2 and OpenCart, plus payment links and email invoicing.

The pricing page shows the costs around the headline fee: weekly automatic settlement on the standard plan, SWIFT withdrawals at 0.5%, crypto payouts at 0.50 EUR plus 0.5% and a 50 EUR minimum withdrawal. Faster settlement and custom rates sit on the enterprise plan. CoinGate suits European ecommerce stores and SMBs that want a licensed EU provider and plugin setup without custom code.

NOWPayments: best for accepting a wide range of altcoins

NOWPayments supports more than 350 currencies, the widest list here, and merchants can receive payments straight to their own wallet or hold them in a NOWPayments custody balance. Its pricing page lists a 1% fee for payments without conversion and 1.5% for automatically converted payments, plus network fees, with rates as low as 0.3% for eligible partners. Withdrawals and mass payouts carry no service fee, only the network fee.

Fiat off-ramps run through third-party partners that set their own fees, and the operating company is registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, according to NOWPayments' company page. That suits crypto-native merchants whose customers pay in many coins, and fits less well with a business that needs a regulated counterparty and fiat settlement from the same provider.

Speed: best for Bitcoin Lightning payments

Speed processes Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network and onchain, plus USDC and USDT. Its pricing page lists 1% for payments from any external wallet and 0% for payments from its own Speed Wallet. Payouts are free over Lightning and 0.2% for stablecoins on Ethereum, TRON, Solana and TON, while the off-ramp to dollars costs 0.5% over ACH, RTP and FedNow.

Lightning settles in seconds at very low network cost, which suits small payments and point-of-sale use. The customer base for Lightning is narrower than for USDC, and Speed's bank off-ramp is dollar-focused. It suits Bitcoin-first merchants, creators and kiosks.

Stripe stablecoin payments: best for businesses already processing cards on Stripe

Stripe lets businesses accept USDC on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base and Tempo, plus USDP and USDG for US businesses, and settles completed payments into the merchant's Stripe balance in local currency. Its pricing page lists 1.5% of the transaction amount, which includes conversion to fiat, wallet and AML screening and gas sponsorship. The option appears in Stripe Checkout, Elements, Invoicing and Payment Links, and Billing supports stablecoin subscriptions. Stripe's wider stablecoin work, including stablecoin accounts and issuance, runs through Bridge, which it acquired in February 2025.

The trade-offs sit in the settlement model. The merchant receives fiat and never holds the stablecoin, so this route suits a business that wants a new customer payment method more than a stablecoin treasury. The documentation caps customer payments at $10,000 per transaction, and USDP and USDG acceptance is US-only. It's best for businesses already processing cards on Stripe.

Stablecoin accounts and enterprise infrastructure

BVNK: best for PSPs and fintechs moving stablecoins at volume

BVNK builds stablecoin wallets, pay-ins, payouts and fiat conversion for payment companies and enterprises, and reported $30 billion in annualised processing volume for 2025. It holds an e-money licence in Malta and received a MiCA CASP licence from Malta's MFSA in February 2026, with direct SEPA access for euro payments. Mastercard agreed to buy BVNK for up to $1.8 billion in March 2026 and completed the acquisition in August 2026.

BVNK sells infrastructure for businesses to build on, so it takes integration work and pricing is on request. It fits PSPs, fintechs and B2B businesses that move stablecoins at volume, including card programmes and payroll platforms, and asks more of a merchant that only wants a plugin.

Coinbase Business: best for US and Singapore businesses holding USDC

Coinbase Business is a custodial business account with payment links, invoicing and checkout APIs, and it replaced Coinbase Commerce, whose portal closed after 31 March 2026. Payments settle as USDC in the Coinbase Business account, with USDT listed as coming, across five EVM networks. The account adds bank off-ramps, QuickBooks and Xero integrations and yield on idle USDC balances, according to Coinbase's transition notes. Coinbase and Shopify also run USDC checkout on Base for Shopify merchants, built with Stripe.

The limits are eligibility and assets. Coinbase Business is open to businesses with a legal entity in the US or Singapore, it no longer offers the self-custodial wallet Commerce had, and the customer pays in USDC only. The Checkout API documentation shows the fee during Payment Link setup, and merchants moving from Commerce keep a 1% rate. It suits US and Singapore businesses that want USDC in and cash out through one account.

Triple-A: best for multi-region enterprises settling in local currency

Triple-A focuses on stablecoin payments and payouts for larger merchants that don't want digital assets on their balance sheet, settling them in local currency. It holds money transmitter licences in 19 US states, a Major Payment Institution licence in Singapore, a Money Services Business licence in Canada and a French payment institution licence, as FinTech Futures reported. In May 2026 it added a MiCA CASP licence from France's AMF.

Pricing isn't published, and the sales-led onboarding suits volume more than a small store. Triple-A lists ecommerce, travel, gaming and trading platforms among its customers, with Farfetch named on its site. It's best for enterprises selling across several regions that want local-currency settlement and a wide licence footprint.

B2B and institutional payment networks

Circle Payments Network: best for banks and PSPs running cross-border payouts

The Circle Payments Network connects banks, payment providers, virtual asset service providers and enterprises so they can settle cross-border payments in USDC and EURC. An originating institution converts the sender's local currency to stablecoins and a beneficiary institution converts them back and pays the recipient. Circle sets the rules and runs the network without holding funds, and each member is vetted for licensing. It supports Arc, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and other EVM chains, and CPN Managed Payments offers enterprises a version without direct stablecoin handling.

The network is built for licensed financial institutions and payment providers, and fees aren't public. It fits a payment provider or remittance business that wants fiat payouts in new corridors through one integration.

Request Finance: best for B2B invoicing and contractor payouts

Request Finance handles the business-to-business side: invoices, bill payments, payroll and payouts in stablecoins or fiat. Its pricing runs from a free invoicing plan to $50, $300 and $600 monthly tiers, with stablecoin payouts free on every paid plan. Off-ramps to a bank cost 1% on Starter and 0.5% from Growth up, plus $10 per local transfer or $30 per SWIFT transfer, and USDC top-ups are free.

Request Finance works as a finance platform more than an ecommerce checkout, so it suits companies invoicing clients and paying contractors or suppliers in stablecoins. QuickBooks and Xero sync starts on the Growth plan, and API access on Pro.

How to choose a crypto payment gateway

The first decision comes down to what the business wants to hold at the end of the day. A merchant that only wants cash in a bank account can use a processor that converts every payment, such as Stripe, BitPay, CoinGate or Triple-A, and never touches a stablecoin. A merchant that wants to keep stablecoins, pay suppliers in them or move them across borders needs a provider with stablecoin settlement and payouts, such as Coinbase Business, BVNK, Request Finance or NOWPayments.

Location narrows the list next. EU merchants dealing with crypto-asset service providers are covered by MiCA, whose transitional period ended on 1 July 2026 at the latest, according to ESMA, so a provider's CASP licence matters there; What a MiCA licence covers sets out the categories. Coinbase Business is limited to US and Singapore entities, and several US gateways hold state money transmitter licences.

After that, fees and integrations decide. On a $100 order, a 1% gateway keeps $1 and BitPay's small-merchant tier keeps $2.25, before network fees. A self-hosted option such as BTCPay Server charges no processing fee, though the merchant runs the software and holds the keys. Checking the plugin for the store platform, the refund process and the settlement schedule usually settles the choice between two close options.

What happens to stablecoin balances after settlement

A business that settles in stablecoins holds a balance between receiving payments and spending them, and that float earns nothing while it sits in a wallet. Under the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, permitted US stablecoin issuers can't pay holders interest (Public Law 119-27), so any return comes from putting the balance to work elsewhere. How the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts reshape stablecoin yield covers what that means for payment companies.

Payment companies call this category PayFi: settlement balances, card float and payout reserves that earn onchain yield until they're needed. Upshift runs stablecoin vaults for this kind of float, including an Atomic Redemption Vault that redeems in the same transaction a card payment or payout needs, and its contracts have been through 10 smart contract audits by 6 independent firms. How card programmes earn yield on customer float and how companies earn yield on treasury cash go through the structures. Vault yields vary and aren't guaranteed.

Risks of accepting crypto payments

Custodial gateways hold merchant funds until settlement, so the provider's solvency, licensing and operations become the merchant's exposure. Products also change: Coinbase gave Commerce merchants a deadline to move their integrations and withdraw self-custodied funds, and merchants outside the US and Singapore had to find another provider. Settling to a bank account on a short cycle limits how much sits with any one gateway.

Payments sent on the wrong network or in the wrong token can be hard to recover, and crypto payments carry no chargeback, so refunds depend on the merchant's own policy. A stablecoin can also trade below its peg, as USDC briefly did in March 2023; What happens when a stablecoin depegs covers the mechanics, and stablecoin regulation covers the rules issuers follow. Tax and accounting treatment of crypto receipts varies by country.

Always make sure to do your own research and be aware of the above and any other risks before choosing a provider or holding stablecoin balances.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best crypto payment gateway?

It depends on the business. On 28 September 2026, Stripe suited existing Stripe merchants, BitPay and CoinGate suited merchants wanting bank settlement in the US and EU, NOWPayments had the widest coin list, and BVNK and Triple-A served enterprise stablecoin flows.

Which crypto payment gateway has the lowest fees?

Among hosted gateways here, Speed charges 0% for payments from its own wallet, and CoinGate, NOWPayments and Speed list 1% for most payments. Self-hosted BTCPay Server charges no processing fee, though network, hosting and conversion costs still apply.

Is it legal for a business to accept crypto payments?

It's legal in most countries, though the gateway usually needs a licence. In the EU, crypto-asset service providers need MiCA authorisation, and in the US, processors typically hold state money transmitter licences.

Can a crypto payment gateway pay out in fiat?

Yes. Stripe, BitPay, CoinGate and Triple-A convert payments and settle to a bank account, while Coinbase Business, Request Finance and Speed offer bank off-ramps from a stablecoin balance.

Do crypto payments have chargebacks?

No. Blockchain payments can't be reversed by the sender's bank, so there are no chargebacks, and refunds are sent back by the merchant, often in the original coin to the original wallet.

Does Stripe accept crypto payments?

Stripe accepts stablecoin payments in USDC on five networks, plus USDP and USDG for US businesses, and settles them as fiat in the Stripe balance for a 1.5% fee.

What is the difference between a crypto payment gateway and a crypto wallet?

A wallet stores and sends assets. A gateway processes customer payments at checkout, confirms them, fixes exchange rates, screens senders and handles settlement and reporting for the business.

Keep reading

• How neobanks and fintechs offer stablecoin yield. The structures behind yield on customer balances.
• The safest stablecoin. How reserves, issuers and redemption compare across major stablecoins.
• What is PayFi. Payments and onchain yield, and where stablecoin float fits.
• USDC yield. The routes to a return on USDC balances and what each pays.