Choosing the best crypto payment gateway solution for your shopping cart, SaaS, or PayFac platform is not as easy as it may seem. Reason: the majority of cryptocurrency payment gateway offerings at the market are designed specifically for merchants. They simply do not support such functions as onboarding and provisioning, which are crucial for merchant lifecycle.
Each business that wants to accept crypto payments faces the same question: how to create a crypto payment gateway solution? However, the answer to this question is different for ordinary merchants and for platforms. Let us address the difference in greater detail.
Best crypto payment gateway solution: merchant’s perspective
Let us consider a merchant that processes credit card payments and needs to support crypto payment functionality. Well, the major phases of crypto gateway solution implementation for a merchant are as follows.
First, the merchant has to define, which of the crypto payment gateway options suit its business model. It is among these options that the merchant chooses its prospective partner.
Second, the merchant has to go through background verification with the chosen crypto gateway partner. True, he already completed the necessary documentation in order to process credit cards. However, in order to process crypto, he has to do it for the second time.
Third, the merchant must go through certification and integration with the chosen provider. The best option for integration of the merchant’s e-commerce website with the provider’s platform, is a custom unified API. However, some merchants prefer to integrate with providers through special off-the-shelf plug-ins. This second option does not require significant development efforts.
Finally, the merchant has to build an independent (additional) login for crypto payments. It is important to note, reporting documents on crypto and credit card payments are accessed through separate logins.
Best crypto payment gateway solution: platform owner’s perspective
Now let us consider a payment facilitator, software-as-services (SaaS), or shopping cart platform. The platform’s business model is based on simultaneous servicing of a portfolio of smaller-size merchants. That is why, a crypto payment gateway solution for a platform should support the whole merchant lifecycle. The respective gateway features, related to underwriting, funding, reconciliation, and reporting, should ensure smooth payment experience for merchants. So, the algorithm for crypto payment gateway solution implementation for a platform is as follows.
First, the platform owner needs to conduct market research in order to choose the optimal solution. The best solution would be the one, capable of satisfying the needs of the platform’s users (i.e. sub-merchants).
Second, the platform has to go through KYC process with the selected crypto gateway provider. We should stress, that this process is very similar to background verification for credit card payments.
Third, the platform should integrate with its new crypto gateway partner. For this purpose it should use the special unified API. In contrast to ordinary merchants, a platform has to focus on the following features.
- Merchant data collection for onboarding,
- MID provisioning,
- Payment reconciliation (if necessary),
- Generation of transparent consolidated merchant statements (for both crypto and fiat payments).
Conclusions
BSC, Ethereum and, of course, Bitcoin payment gateway integration is an issue that you have to address if you want to accept crypto. Indeed, these major blockchains are constantly increasing their penetration.
Based on our experience, the best strategy is an integration with a crypto friendly omnichannel payment gateway. An omnichannel offering would support both crypto and fiat payment gateway functionality through a unified API.
At present, PayFac, SasS, and shopping cart platforms represent the dominant force at the market. All of them need integrated solutions capable of supporting all the major payment methods and types, including crypto.
Need a crypto payment gateway for your platform? Take a look at UniPay Gateway solution. It is an omnichannel crypto friendly payment solution for payment facilitators and software platforms. In fact, it might become the only gateway solution you will ever need.