What should you know about the payment gateways that are supported by Shopify:
Some of the most popular crypto payment gateways supported by Shopify are Crypto.com, Coinbase and Bitpay.
Although they all have their pros and cons, the process of implementing them into your Shopify site is quite simple and straightforward:
Crypto.com
Crypto.com is one of the most popular crypto exchanges used by more than 80 millions users worldwide.
Integration is quick and easy. First, you need to create a Crypto.com Pay account from here.
Then install Crypto.com Pay plugin from the Shopify app store. Here is a link to it – https://apps.shopify.com/crypto-com-pay-for-business
The next step is to login into the Shopify admin panel and select Crypto.com as a payment provider from the settings menu.
Check the complete step-by-step guide here:
https://help.crypto.com/en/articles/6188943-shopify-setup-guide
Now you can accept payments in more than 20 cryptocurrencies, including ETH, BTC and Stablecoins. You can also choose to convert the crypto you are paid with directly to FIAT money – this is a great way to take advantage of the benefits of the cryptocurrency payments, but also to avoid the volatility of the crypto.
What is great if you decide to use Crypto.com Pay is that the installation is completely free, and they don’t require any subscription. Also, there are no transaction fees. You pay only settlement fees for 0.5% of your transactions.
Coinbase commerce
Coinbase is one of the leading crypto exchanges. Trading volume on their exchange grew from 193 billion USD in 2020 to 830 billion USD in 2022. They also offer a platform that enables merchants to accept crypto payments all around the world, called Coinbase commerce.
The process is identical to setting up Crypto.com Pay – you need a Coinbase Commerce account, then add Coinbase as a payment provider from your admin panel in Shopify.
They support the most popular coins, including BTC, Bitcoin cash, ETG, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, USDC, USDT, Polygon and a few more.
Coinbase charges 1% fee for their services, and no installation fees are required.
An interesting feature offered by Coinbase is its Self-managed commerce. With this option, you have full control of your coins by controlling the private keys. The transaction fee is still 1%, though.
Here you can find more information about Coinbase commerce integration on Shopify:
https://www.coinbase.com/commerce/integrations/shopify
Bitpay
BitPay is a popular and reliable cryptocurrency payment gateway founded in 2011. It enables you to accept various cryptocurrencies on your Shopify store. Integrating BitPay with Shopify is a straightforward process.
Start by signing up for a BitPay Business account, then navigate to the “Payment Methods” section in your Shopify admin panel. Click on “Alternative Payments” and select BitPay from the list. The last step is to go back to your BitPay account and finalize the integration.
Once integrated, your Shopify store will be ready to accept cryptocurrency payments through BitPay, giving your customers the flexibility to pay with their preferred digital assets. You can manage transactions, refunds, and other aspects of your cryptocurrency payments directly from your BitPay dashboard, simplifying the process and ensuring a seamless experience for both you and your customers.
Here you can find more info on how to integrate Bitpay with Shopify:
https://bitpay.com/integrations/shopify-plugin
Bitpay charges a transaction fee of 1%+25c on every transaction.
Popular Cryptocurrencies for accepting E-commerce payments
It’s quite difficult to keep an eye on all cryptocurrencies in the world, as currently, they are more than 22,000 and new ones are being added each day.
For e-commerce businesses, it’s important to pay attention at least to the top 10 cryptos at the moment because they are the most widely used ones and more likely that your clients have them as well and pay with them.
These are the top five cryptocurrencies that eCommerce companies accept now.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency and is the most widely used one. It was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, who wrote a whitepaper named “A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” in 2008, aiming to decentralize the financial industry and hand over the control of digital transactions to people.
2. Ethereum (ETH)
The second position is occupied by Ethereum, which was created by Vitalik Buterin. His thoughts were aimed at the belief that Bitcoin and blockchain technology could be used to decentralize the financial system. The result was the establishment of Ethereum.
It verifies and logs all transactions by being a distributed public record. Users can create, monetize, distribute and use apps on the platform as well as pay with Ether cryptocurrency.
Recently, Ethereum has made it to PoS, which brings plenty of opportunities as well as challenges for the coin.
3. Dogecoin (DOGE)
Starting as a joke currency and backed by popular figures like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, Dogecoin has become vastly accepted and now can be viewed as a legitimate way of payment. Furthermore, companies like AMC Theatres are already accepting Dogecoin as a means of payment.
4. Litecoin
Next on the list is Litecoin, created in 2011, which is only two years after Bitcoin. Litecoin is the code of Bitcoin with an increased number of units to 84 million coins.
The name came at its launch after it was labeled the lite-version of Bitcoin by the crypto community. The recent rank of Litecoin has dropped down as the crypto market continues to evolve. Having faster transaction speed and limited coins still makes it a preferred choice for payment for many eCommerce merchants.
5. Ripple (XRP)
XRP operates on its decentralized, open-source blockchain known as the XRP ledger (XRPL), and transactions are facilitated by the Ripple transaction protocol (RTXP). Unlike most cryptocurrencies, XRP is pre-mined, with a maximum token supply of 100 billion. Because of its consensus protocol, XRP is able to process transactions in seconds at a low cost and with minimal energy. This makes it one of the more environmentally friendly cryptocurrencies.
Aside from the coins mentioned, there are plenty of other options you could consider for your eCommerce site. However, it’s strongly advised that you take some time to look into these currencies before adding them as a payment option. There are a few things you need to consider before starting to accept a particular coin as payment, like transaction fees, liquidity, volatility and others. Making a plan in advance of what you will do once you receive the cryptocurrency is quite important as you can store it for a longer period of time or convert it to fiat money directly. After doing extensive research into different coins and still haven’t made up your mind about which ones to implement and why we recommend talking to a professional financial advisor.