Cryptocurrencies introduced a new payment system with robust technology and unprecedented security measures, which have benefits and drawbacks. Regardless of the different speculations on cryptos’ safety, they have been widely adopted across different services and businesses worldwide.
This invention offers quick transactions, identity privacy, and personal information security, besides other crypto utilities, including trading and growing wealth.
Businesses are increasingly adding various crypto-payment methods to their platforms, operating through various payment gateways and processors that facilitate transactions. Let’s discuss how to find a Bitcoin payment gateway for your website.
Crypto Payment Gateways – What Are They?
In the financial world, payment gateways are tools and interfaces that facilitate online transactions, communicating between issuing banks, personal accounts, credit/debit cards and e-wallets to transfer funds from point A to point B.
Therefore, they mediate between the user initiating the payment, the websites where the transaction occurs, and the receiver’s wallet account.
When it comes to the crypto payment gateway, the process works the same, whereas gateways use APIs to interact with the blockchain and crypto wallets of involved parties. The transaction starts by checking the sender’s wallet, ensuring sufficient funds are available, and then passing the transfer to the blockchain for validation and registration before releasing the funds in the receiver’s wallet.
Payment gateways are not new. In fact, they have been around for decades, when online payments were introduced. However, they evolved with the rising need for crypto transactions and cross-border virtual currency payments.
Therefore, customers used to online payment using traditional payment methods will not struggle to get around crypto payments. Likewise, if you have been accepting payments using conventional methods, the only difference is that you must find a gateway that caters to crypto coins and tokens.
How to Find a Suitable Payment Gateway?
Finding and integrating payment gateways is not challenging, and their popularity has caused many processor companies to emerge and offer similar services. However, you need to find a suitable facilitator to capitalise on the broad advantages of crypto gateways, such as security, quick payments, support for multiple currencies, and improved customer experience.
Therefore, when finding a Bitcoin payment gateway, there are key criteria that you need to look for.
Processing Speed
One thing that matters to businesses and customers alike is the speed of transactions. Users want to get their payment quickly and receive their purchase as soon as possible, while businesses want to receive their money and close settlements quickly.
Gateway speed is facilitated by blockchain technology, which processes transactions almost instantly, using smart contracts and validating nodes. However, the crucial factor here is the blockchain with which the gateway interacts. Blockchains have transaction peak hours when the network is congested, resulting in delayed transactions.
Therefore, the best crypto gateways interoperate with multiple blockchains, networks and layer-2 chains to finalise transactions within seconds.
Reasonable Pricing Policy
Gateways have various fees, such as setup costs, transaction fees, and variable costs, depending on the services that you add to your websites. Other fees that a gateway provider would charge include exchange fees between fiat and crypto money.
Therefore, look for a crypto payment gateway that incorporates an affordable setup price with a reasonable commission structure for transactions and payments processed through the gateway.
Ensure there are no hidden fees or costs as you scale up your business, and check out how the gas fees are calculated and charged by the gateway.
Robust Security Systems
Crypto transactions are known for their security and privacy preservations. However, recent incidents have seen various breaches and cyber hacks taking place. Therefore, check out the safety measures and authentication protocol the provider utilises, and only accept those that ensure robust security and safety practices.
Also, ensure that the gateway adapts to the recent technological and cybersecurity updates to maintain the service and ensure recent compromises do not happen on your platform.
Scalability & Growth
Some payment gateways have limited capabilities and capacity, and businesses tend to look for a new provider once they have grown. Therefore, ensure that your provider offers the flexibility needed when you scale up (or scale down) your business offerings.
The reason this happens is that as your business grows, the transaction volume increases and APIs perform more operations, which adds pressure to the gateway’s network. Thus, ensure that the provider can manage the changing dynamics of your operations.
Conclusion
Launching a crypto business entails a few challenges, including finding the right financial solution and processor that accepts Bitcoin payments to your website. Crypto payment gateways are facilitators that allow users to pay BTC, ETC, USDT, etc., to purchase your products and services.
Therefore, thorough research is required to find the best gateway provider. Ensure you find a quick gateway that does not compromise security at an affordable price, which helps you grow and expand your business.
