Free reference
Crypto payment solutions for your business
A payment solution is what actually accepts and settles the cryptocurrency, independent of any register. This is where we tell you, plainly, which one fits your business: who holds the money, whether it settles to dollars, whether you have to run a server, and what really happens if the provider disappears. No rankings, no vendor money.
Start with what you need
What matters most to you?
A self-hosted server, a custodial auto-settle service, and a raw Lightning rail are radically different commitments, even though vendors call them all "processors" or "gateways." We classify by what you are actually signing up to operate and trust, not by the label the vendor prefers. See how we evaluate.
Solution directory
Solutions we've reviewed
Blink
Blink is a polished custodial Lightning wallet with a genuinely easy merchant Cash Register, but its own FAQ excludes US and Puerto Rico merchants, so for our audience it is not usable today.
- Custody
- Provider-custodied
- Bank settlement
- No
OpenNode
OpenNode is a finished, hosted Bitcoin and Lightning gateway that can auto-convert to dollars and settle to a US bank, in exchange for the provider holding your funds and gating bank payout behind approval.
- Custody
- Provider-custodied
- Bank settlement
- Gated by approval
LNbits
LNbits is free, open-source Lightning software with a real point-of-sale extension, but you run it on your own Lightning backend, so custody follows that backend and the operational burden is real.
- Custody
- Configurable
- Bank settlement
- No
CoinCorner
CoinCorner Checkout is a finished custodial Bitcoin and Lightning gateway with instant GBP/EUR conversion, but US merchants cannot use it, so for our audience it is not a usable option today.
- Custody
- Provider-custodied
- Bank settlement
- Yes
Coinbase Business
Coinbase Business is a custodial USDC payments platform for online businesses, and the migration home for Coinbase Commerce, but its fee is unconfirmed, it is US and Singapore only, and it is not for in-person retail.
- Custody
- Provider-custodied
- Bank settlement
- Yes
BTCPay Server
BTCPay Server is the reference self-custody answer: free, open-source software that takes Bitcoin and Lightning straight to your own wallet, in exchange for running and maintaining a server.
- Custody
- Merchant-controlled
- Bank settlement
- No
Zeus
Zeus is a self-custodial Lightning wallet and node-control app with a point-of-sale mode: you hold the keys, and how much you operate depends on whether you point it at your own node or use its embedded one.
- Custody
- Merchant-controlled
- Bank settlement
- No
Strike
Strike is a powerful custodial Lightning and fiat rail, but for merchants it is mostly an API plus a consumer app, and bank payout is gated behind partner onboarding, so it is not yet a turnkey way to accept payments.
- Custody
- Provider-custodied
- Bank settlement
- Gated by approval
Breez SDK
Breez SDK is a developer toolkit for building self-custodial Lightning into your own app. A typical merchant cannot use it as-is; it is for the developer who would build a merchant product on top of it.
- Custody
- Merchant-controlled
- Bank settlement
- No
IBEX
IBEX is Lightning and settlement infrastructure delivered through a single API for banks, fintechs, and platforms. A typical merchant cannot use it directly; a developer must build on it.
- Custody
- Provider-custodied
- Bank settlement
- Conditional
The six kinds of solution
Categories
A category describes what you are committing to operate and trust, not how good a solution is.
A hosted service takes the crypto for you, optionally converts it, and settles to your account. You never hold keys.
Software you (or your host) run to accept crypto directly to your own wallet, with no third party in the payment path.
A service or node stack whose core job is Lightning acceptance: liquidity, channels, node management.
Accepting payments directly into a merchant wallet app, with no dedicated acceptance platform.
A service whose primary role is converting crypto to fiat and settling to a bank, layered on another acceptance method.
An SDK or API-first platform meant to be embedded into another product, not used directly by a typical merchant.
How to read our badges
Readiness and Commitment are two different things
Readiness asks whether a solution is ready for a typical merchant. Commitment asks how much you have to operate and maintain. A solution can be highly ready yet high-commitment, or low-commitment yet not merchant-ready.
Readiness (R1–R5)
- R5 Turnkey: Sign up and reliably accept and settle today, verified end to end.
- R4 Merchant-ready: A finished merchant product, documented to work; not yet fully lab-verified.
- R3 Workable with effort: Usable, but with real operational burden or notable gaps.
- R2 Early or narrow: Real but immature, narrow in scope, or missing merchant-critical pieces.
- R1 Not merchant-ready: An SDK, infrastructure, or project a typical merchant cannot use as-is.
Commitment (C1–C5)
- C1 Sign up and configure: Create an account and configure settings. No infrastructure, no code.
- C2 Light operational setup: Some hands-on setup: a plugin, a device, or a wallet to manage.
- C3 Business-process integration: Fits into your workflow: reconciliation, staff process, or a real integration.
- C4 Self-hosted infrastructure: You run the software or a node: hosting, uptime, backups, upgrades.
- C5 Engineering platform: A developer must build the merchant product on top of it.
This Center tells you what to run. If your question is whether crypto works with your existing POS (Square, Clover, Toast, Shopify), start at the POS Compatibility Center.