Blockchain Solutions for Payment Service Providers

Cryptocurrency adoption is on the rise and entering the mainstream, meaning that more and more businesses are looking to provide the ability for their customers to pay for services using crypto. The most convenient way to achieve this is by integrating a crypto payment gateway that is usually offered by crypto payment service providers. 

In this article we examine what crypto payment service providers do and how they can benefit from Crypto APIs.

The Growing Need for Blockchain Payment Solutions

According to a report by Brandessence Market Research, the global market for crypto payment gateways is set to grow by 22.8% by 2027. This prediction can be in part attributed as a backlash to the 2008 and 2020 financial crashes. 

Consumers and businesses alike are seeking out more reliable means of storing value and protecting their assets. Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency are best-placed to offer it.  

The past few years have seen cryptocurrencies creep into the mainstream markets. 2021 saw a number of milestones, such as Bitcoin hitting an all-time high of $1 trillion in market value and El Salvador passing a law to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, becoming the first country to do so. 

Also, in the United States, President Joe Biden’s proposed budget includes new tax reporting requirements on digital assets. The move is a clear acknowledgement of cryptocurrencies' importance and the acceptance of crypto in the general marketplace. 

With 32% of US small businesses already accepting cryptocurrencies and that figure continually rising, there is an ever-growing need for payment service providers to offer secure crypto payment gateways. 

Incorporating Crypto in Payments Service Providers

Traditional Payment Service Providers (PSP) enable merchants to accept online payment methods, including credit and debit cards, e-wallets, and bank transfers. As their customers become more crypto-savvy, businesses need more from their PSPs. 

Payment Service Providers can introduce blockchain payment solutions, or crypto payment gateways to their services allowing their customers to send, receive and store cryptocurrency.

Although crypto payment providers and gateways are essentially a middleman in a system that was created to forgo intermediaries, they are a necessary bridge between consumers, merchants and the blockchain.  

Crypto PSPs make it easier and safer for businesses to accept crypto payments. They provide a platform of convenience that enables fast transactions with lower processing fees and with the built-in security of the blockchain. 

Plus, they do still eliminate intermediaries from the payment process by removing the need to depend on traditional banks for the movement of money. In fact, according to a report by Deloitte, enabling blockchain payments can cut cross-border transaction fees by up to 80%.

With crypto payments worth millions of dollars being executed daily, crypto payment service providers will not only help generate more revenue, but help increase the adoption rate of cryptocurrency.

Despite the recent growth in the popularity of cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology is relatively new, and many people still have reservations. Limited crypto knowledge was named as one the top four reasons why businesses are reluctant to accept crypto payments. 

PSPs can change this by removing the uncertainties and reservations companies may have about cryptocurrencies through offering a crypto payment gateway. 

What Is a Crypto Payment Gateway?

A cryptocurrency payment gateway is a payment processing infrastructure similar to the traditional payment processors allowing payments by credit/debit cards. 

Crypto payment gateways allow businesses of all sizes to easily and safely accept and process payments in cryptocurrency, and, the most important part, receive fiat currency immediately in exchange. Crypto payment gateways give businesses the opportunity to meet their crypto-customers' needs without any risk. 

Using a crypto payment gateway means merchants don’t have to worry about exchanging cryptocurrencies themselves, or dealing with crypto wallet management. All of that is taken care of by the gateway infrastructure. 

Not only do gateways act as a crypto transaction facilitator giving merchants a competitive advantage but the immutable nature of the blockchain also means they are protected from chargeback fraud.

How Crypto APIs Infrastructure Can Help PSPs

The growing global cryptocurrency adoption means an increased demand for crypto payment service providers (PSP). But developing and managing such a sophisticated product is not easy and can cost a lot. In addition, crypto payment service providers need a constant connection to blockchains, which means having secure, stable and fast access to blockchain nodes and data.  

This is where Crypto APIs can help them offload the heavy costs of managing their own nodes. Using our simplified integration and robust infrastructure platform, they can easily query and transact on top blockchain protocols. 

At Crypto APIs, we take care of everything, from syncing data to maintenance and security, leaving payment service providers to focus on their core product and making their mark in the crypto-fintech space. 

Using our blockchain product suite which includes a Wallet as a Service (WaaS), Blockchain Events (webhooks) and powerful endpoints, PSPs can implement the blockchain infrastructure they need to provide a secure crypto payment gateway for their customers.

Wallet as a Service

Our MPC-based Wallet as a Service enables payment providers to offer their customer base an easy, safe, and flexible way to interact with multiple types of cryptocurrencies. 

Here are some of the WaaS endpoints that you can use:

Generate Deposit Address: Through this endpoint Payment Service Providers can easily generate new receiving and deposit addresses in order to accept and track cryptocurrencies.    

Create Coins Transaction Request from Wallet: Set up transactions from the entire Wallet for UTXO-based blockchains such as Bitcoin.

Create Coins Transaction Request from Address: Users can create a new single transaction request from one address to another.  

Create Coins Transaction From Address For Whole Amount: Through this endpoint customers can create a new transaction from an address for coins, which will transfer the entire available amount.

Blockchain Events

Our Blockchain Events, also known as webhooks, give real-time notifications for events on the blockchain, providing end-users greater visibility and control over their transactions. 

Webhooks are vital for users of all sorts of dApps, from crypto exchanges, marketplaces, crypto payment applications and many others. That's why Crypto APIs has included Blockchain Events into our product suite, allowing businesses to easily integrate, set up and send real-time notifications to their users.  

Here are some of the API endpoints that payment service providers ca use:

With the New Confirmed Coins Transactions endpoint customers can integrate push notifications for when there are new incoming or outgoing confirmed transactions for coins from/to the customer's address.

New confirmed tokens transactions - this endpoint will notify when there are new incoming or outgoing confirmed transactions for tokens from/to the customer's address. 

Blockchain Data

Using Crypto APIs Blockchain Data unified endpoints gives greater transparency on balances and fees. Get unified, synced, and indexed data from top blockchain protocols on-demand without managing nodes or fetching vast blockchain databases. Details can include information on balances, transactions, UTXOs, and average fees.  

Get Address Details: Through this endpoint the customer can receive basic information about a given address based on confirmed/synced blocks only. This includes the total balance of the address as well as the total amount of all coins received to or sent from the address, based on confirmed transactions.

Get Transaction Details By Transaction ID: Obtain details about a transaction by the transaction's unique identifier for transactions on UTXO and account-based blockchains. Details can include whether the transaction is confirmed or not, the recipient(s), and the amounts.

Get Fee Recommendations: Through this endpoint customers can obtain free recommendations based on mempool data for greater accuracy. Calculations are done in real-time and live. 

Market Data

With Market Data endpoints customers can get exchange rates for multiple cryptocurrency or FIAT assets, and pull a list of asset details including the rate fluctuation for different time periods. 

Get Exchange Rate By Asset Symbols: Obtain exchange rates by asset symbols. The process provides the exchange rate between assets calculated by the average of the last trades in every exchange for the last 24 hours, giving more weight to exchanges with higher volume. 

You can also get the same information but presented by asset ID with the Get Exchange Rate By Assets IDs endpoint.

Future Proof Your Business with Crypto APIs

If you’re looking to extend your traditional payment service business to include crypto payments, or you’re interested in entering the field as a new entity in the crypto-Fintech space, contact the Crypto API team today to find out how we can help.