Understanding Crypto-to-Fiat Payment Gateways

With the growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a common mode of payment, businesses have been making necessary changes to their payment processing systems. The most efficient way of doing so is through a crypto-to-fiat payment gateway. 

This payment solution enables merchants to accept crypto payments, making it easy for them to cater to a customer’s preferred payment method. 

However, due to its novel approach, many continue to wonder: How does it work? Is it safe? And more importantly, is it suitable for my business?

In this article, we break down everything you need to know about crypto-to-fiat payment gateways – the process, the pros, and how you can incorporate it into your business. 

   

What Is a Crypto-to-Fiat Payment Gateway?

Crypto-to-fiat payment gateways offer a straightforward solution for businesses to accept crypto payments from customers. Once payment is processed, merchants can convert them to their chosen fiat currency to be credited to their bank accounts. 

This system is suitable for merchants who would like to cater to more customers and their payment preferences, albeit without having to enter the cryptocurrency market themselves.

Alternatively, some merchants may use their personal wallets to accept digital currencies. However, the advantage of a crypto-to-fiat payment gateway is an overall more simple and more efficient process.

Crypto-to-Fiat Payment Gateway Vs. Fiat-to-Fiat Payment Gateway

Before the rise of cryptocurrencies and other digital currencies, a fiat payment gateway was the norm in payment processing. It accepts payments in national fiat currencies like USD, AUD, Euro, and the like. This payment system works for various online transaction modes like credit cards, debit cards, internet banking, UPI (Unified Payment Interface), and digital wallets.

As for how it works, fiat-to-fiat gateways involve multiple intermediaries to complete the payment process. These include the customer or cardholder, the store, the issuing bank, and the acquiring bank. 

 

Once the transaction is made, they rely on the customer’s bank card details to approve or reject payments. They go through steps of verification of bank details, authorization requests, processing, and other protocols to ensure a safe and legitimate transaction. 

So how do they compare to a crypto-to-fiat payment gateway? Here are some notable differences to keep in mind. 

How Does a Crypto-to-Fiat Payment Gateway Work?

Unlike fiat-to-fiat payment gateways, crypto-to-fiat gateways involve only two parties. These are the terms to take note of:

• The merchant: the business in need of payment processing services
• The payment gateway provider/service provider: the company with the payment system to process crypto payments and convert them to fiat currencies

The providers are the ones who take on the risk of processing crypto payments through their own wallets. From here, the providers facilitate the transaction and transfer between businesses and their customers. 

In effect, merchants can rest assured of secure, smooth transactions without risk or effort on their end. Here’s how it works:

Process

1. The customer purchases goods or services through the merchant’s website, app, e-commerce store, or brick-and-mortar store.
2. Upon checkout, the customer chooses to pay via cryptocurrency.
3. The customer is redirected to a transaction window or page, which shows the market conversion rate of the preferred cryptocurrency vs. the preferred fiat currency (i.e., USD, euro, pound, etc.) at the exact time of the transaction.
4. After the customer makes the payment, the gateway instantly converts the cryptocurrency payment to the merchant’s fiat currency of choice.
5. Payments are first credited to the merchant’s account with the gateway provider.
6. Depending on the contract, payment transfers from the merchant account to the bank account happen in fixed schedules or intervals. 

Fees

All payment processing systems, including crypto payment gateways, will involve fees for the parties involved. These include:

 

• Operational fee care of the payment provider (usually passed on to merchants)

Payment providers incur fees from the transaction validators or miners who verify blocks and transactions in the cryptocurrency network. This fee is meant to cover their energy use and computational power.

Seeing as payment providers use their own wallets to facilitate transactions, they technically incur these operational fees. However, in most cases, they transfer these fees to the merchant for using their system.  

• Service fee c/o the merchant (usually passed on to customers)

In turn, merchants typically charge customers an additional service fee to keep the payment gateway system operational long-term.

Are Crypto-to-Fiat Payment Gateways Safe?

This is a common question among merchants, especially those who are not familiar with cryptocurrencies or have reservations about this new mode of payment.

The good news is that crypto-to-fiat payment gateways generally ensure secure transactions — that is if supplied by a legitimate gateway provider or service provider. 

As such, it is the merchant’s responsibility to do their due diligence in choosing the best provider for their business and financial transactions. When researching options, some factors to consider are:

• The provider’s background, reputation, and list of merchants
• The provider’s history of hacks and scams
• Cryptocurrencies supported
• Transaction fees
• Customer support

Pros and Cons of Crypto-to-Fiat Payment Gateways

All that said, if you are considering a crypto-to-fiat payment gateway for your business, below is a summary of its pros and cons to guide you through your decision. 

Pros:

• Allows merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments from customers
• Allows international transactions and various cryptocurrencies, depending on the provider
• Secure and transparent transactions via blockchain technology
• Involves only one intermediary – the third-party payment gateway provider
• Also, reduces the risk of a volatile market as transactions are processed based on the market rate at the time of transaction
• Low transaction fees vs. fiat payment gateways
• Third-party customer support when payment issues arise
• Payments are converted to the merchant’s fiat currency of choice and transferred to their bank account.
• The third-party provider lessens the risk for merchants, especially with customer identity, fraud, and chargebacks.
• Merchants do not need to be experts in cryptocurrencies.

Cons:

• Merchants have to rely on a third-party payment gateway for seamless processing and payment transfers.
• There is a risk of the payment gateway being hacked, especially if the provider does not have a secure system.

Considering these cons, it is crucial for merchants to choose a legitimate, secure, and experienced crypto-to-fiat payment gateway for their business. 

If you are in the process of exploring your options, make sure to do thorough research, browse through reviews from fellow merchants, and contact the providers for a more in-depth understanding of their crypto payment gateway systems.

Choose the Best Crypto-to-Fiat Payment Gateway

Here at Shark Processing, our crypto-to-fiat payment gateway promises the following benefits for merchants:

• Payment processing for 120+ cryptocurrencies via bank transfers, exchanges, and digital wallets
• Low transaction fees
  Fast payments within 2 to 3 business days
• Easy-to-use payment interface
• Easy integrations into your shopping cart, website, or app
• Easy refunds
• No risk of crypto volatility 
• No chargebacks and declines
• A robust merchant dashboard for tracking payments, sending invoices, and managing funds

Contact us today, and we’ll be happy to assist you with any questions or concerns.

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