How Do I Accept Crypto Payments as a Business?

The survey also found that 90% would likely accept crypto if setup were as simple as accepting credit cards. A payment processor, a company that handles crypto payments for a business, takes care of the crypto side of that setup.

The processor receives the coins, converts them into your currency, and sends you the money. This overview covers the four decisions involved, from choosing a processor to adding crypto to your checkout, and the costs to compare.

• You can accept crypto and still get paid in your own currency. The first decision is whether to convert every payment or keep some crypto.

• Choose the processor before the coins. Ask where it pays you and how it handles wrong amounts, then start with stablecoins, which hold a steady price.

• Compliance has two sides. The processor checks customers and payments, and your company passes a business review and keeps its own records.

• Start with the simplest checkout option and compare its total cost with U.S. credit card fees of 1.5% to 3.5%.

In the usual setup, a payment processor sits between the customer and your business. Each crypto payment then goes through four stages.

1. Your checkout shows the price in your currency, and the processor works out the crypto amount.
2. The customer pays that amount from their crypto wallet.
3. The processor confirms that the payment has gone through.
4. It converts the crypto and pays you in your currency, or keeps it as crypto if you choose that.

When the processor converts every payment, the sale looks like any other sale in your currency, with the exchange done before the money reaches you.

That last stage holds the main choice. A business can convert each payment into fiat, meaning regular money such as euros or dollars, or it can keep the crypto.

Keeping crypto means accepting price changes. The total crypto market lost roughly 30% of its value in the first half of 2026.

Each option needs a different setup, so deciding first narrows the list of processors. A business new to crypto can start by converting every payment and consider keeping some later.

Processors differ first in the kind of business they serve. Some are add-ons that plug into an existing online store.

Others serve businesses that run their own payment pages, such as marketplaces, wallets, larger online stores, and agencies that pay many people at once. Mercuryo Pay belongs to this second group, and our guide to fiat-to-crypto gateways explains how this kind of service works.

A short call with each processor shows how clear its answers are. The four questions below cover money, coins, errors, and payouts.

The third question deserves extra attention. A card charge matches the amount the merchant sets, while a crypto payment arrives as whatever the customer sends.

A payment can arrive short, for example, when the customer's exchange keeps a fee from the amount sent. A good answer is that the processor fixes the difference itself, and the Mercuryo Pay checkout detects and resolves these discrepancies on its own.

The same platform also handles bulk payouts. That answers the fourth question, since collecting and paying out share one setup and one business review.

For a checkout, a stablecoin is usually the better place to start, and Bitcoin can follow once customers ask for it.

Stablecoins are tokens designed to stay worth one unit of a regular currency, usually the U.S. dollar. The two largest are USDT, from Tether, and USDC, from Circle.

That steady value makes them practical at checkout, since a $100 order paid in USDC arrives as 100 USDC. Circle's terms still note small moves above or below $1 on other platforms.

Buying patterns also support starting with them. On our buy-crypto service, stablecoins rose from 43% to 60% of purchase value, and 47% of new users chose one for their first purchase, as our H1 2026 trends report details.

Bitcoin is the coin many customers recognize, and BTC Map counted 25,470 Bitcoin-accepting merchants at the end of April 2026. Its drawback at checkout is speed, since Bitcoin's developer guide suggests waiting about an hour before treating a large payment as final.

The price can move during that wait. For that reason, the starting list below adds Bitcoin with the processor converting it on arrival.

Stablecoin rules also vary by market. The United States passed a federal law for payment stablecoins in July 2025.

In the EU, the European Securities and Markets Authority said in October 2026 that licensed providers should stop offering stablecoins that don't meet EU rules.

With those rules in mind, a business can launch with the following coins:

• One or two stablecoins permitted in your main markets.
• Low-fee networks, meaning the blockchains a coin travels on, so small orders stay affordable.
• Bitcoin once customers ask for it, converted on arrival.

Compliance work is split between the processor, which checks customers and payments, and your business, which passes its own review and keeps records.

Under its license, the processor checks each payment. That includes verifying a customer's identity when the rules require it and screening where the money came from to prevent money laundering.

In Mercuryo Pay, customers without crypto can buy it inside the same checkout, and we handle the identity check on our side when required. Your business still keeps its own legal obligations.

Before taking payments for you, a processor reviews your company. This step is often called KYB, short for Know Your Business, and a typical request covers the items below.

Have these documents ready before the first sales call:

• An official extract from the business register.

• Details on the company's ultimate owner.

• Details on any shareholder above 25% and on the director.

• A short questionnaire on turnover and business activity.

Record-keeping and tax reporting on crypto sales also stay with your business. It's worth confirming the payout currency at this stage too, since getting paid in the currency your books use avoids a second conversion at your bank.

The right option depends on how much your team wants to build, across three routes for online and in-store sales.

We recommend starting with the ready-made window and moving to a direct connection once crypto payments become routine, as our guide to the two online options explains.

For that first stage, the Mercuryo Pay checkout can be added with a few lines of code.

In the United States, total fees on credit card payments typically range from 1.5% to 3.5% of each sale, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Chargebacks add to that cost when a customer disputes a charge through their bank.

Once a crypto payment is final, only the merchant can send the money back, so refunds follow a policy your business sets within local consumer law. The table below compares the other costs.

Crypto can cost less than cards on cross-border sales, where cards add exchange fees, and in sectors with frequent chargebacks. A low fee per payment can still come with a poor exchange rate, which is why each processor's quote should cover every row.

Mercuryo Pay offers crypto checkout for marketplaces, online stores, and wallets, with processing and bulk payouts in one product.

• Identity checks for customers who need to buy crypto before paying

• Licensing for the services it provides

• Conversion between crypto and regular currencies

• Payouts, including bulk payouts

• Passing the business review
• Record-keeping and tax reporting
• The refund policy

Customers in more than 150 countries can pay through Mercuryo Pay, and more than 500 companies work with Mercuryo. In April 2026, we announced our ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, the international standard for information security.

We send card payouts in euros, dollars and pounds. To see how the setup would work for your business, book a call with the Mercuryo Pay team.

Do I need a crypto wallet to accept crypto payments? Only if you want to keep crypto. If the processor converts each payment, it receives the crypto and pays you in your own currency. With Mercuryo Pay, payments can also land in a business wallet that holds crypto or fiat.

Which cryptocurrencies should a business accept? Stablecoins first, since their value tracks the dollar or euro. Add Bitcoin once your customers ask for it. On our buy-crypto service, stablecoins reached 60% of purchase value in the first half of 2026, based on our trends report.

How fast does the money arrive? A Bitcoin payment goes through in about ten minutes, and large payments may wait about an hour. Stablecoin speed depends on the network, and the payout follows the processor's schedule. We confirm payout routes with each business during onboarding.

How are crypto payments taxed? It depends on the country. The IRS, for example, values crypto received for goods at its dollar price, and an accountant can confirm the rules where you operate. With Mercuryo Pay, your business keeps full control of its own tax reporting.