Selecting a Crypto Payment Provider: Checklist

Ask in this order. The early questions eliminate most of the field.

1. Settlement

The reference implementation of these terms is a crypto acquiring provider, whose disclosures use them consistently.

• Which currencies can you settle in
• To which countries
• Can the receiving account be in our company’s registered name

Disqualifying: settlement only to an account matching a verified individual.

2. Price risk

• Is the fiat amount guaranteed from the payment request, or determined at confirmation

Weighting: for a merchant with fixed prices, the guarantee is worth more than the fee difference between serious providers.

3. Assets and networks

• Which assets, on which networks

Note: request the matrix, not the asset list. Test each network with a small amount before accepting real payments on it.

4. Failure handling

At institutional scale an additional set applies, documented by a fintech payment gateway.

• Underpayment tolerance, and is it configurable
• Policy when a payment arrives after the window expires
• Duplicate payment handling
• Wrong-network recovery process and typical timeline
• Refund mechanism: do you send, or do we

Weighting: these determine ongoing support load, which across providers varies more in cost terms than fees do.

5. Integration

• Sandbox capability to simulate each failure case above
• Callback signing method
• Idempotency guarantees
• Reconciliation endpoint
• Plugin availability for your platform

Disqualifying in practice: no reconciliation endpoint, which means a missed callback leaves a paid order showing unpaid.

6. Commercial

Verify usage rather than assume it. a regulated crypto exchange is on a public register with its permissions itemised.

• Total cost of three specific example payments: your average order, one smaller, one larger
• Conversion margin as a percentage against the market rate
• Settlement frequency, and is daily available
• Per-payout charges

7. Regulatory

• Which entity holds funds between payment and settlement
• Is that entity authorised, by which authority, under which permission
• Are merchant funds safeguarded, by which method

Verify the register entry independently.

8. Exit

• Notice period
• Final settlement timing after termination
• Post-termination access to historical records

Rarely negotiated at the outset and rarely negotiable later.