The issue of crypto aggregators has been raised since the birth of altcoins. Now there are more than 10,000 coins and tokens on CoinMarketCap, and this is far from the limit. Web3 entrepreneur Vladimir Menascop explains how, to whom and why to work with such aggregators.
The author personally tested the projects discussed in the material, however, he asks to remember that the Web3 industry is rapidly changing. The article is for informational purposes, the responsibility for any use of the services mentioned in it remains with you.
Classification of crypto payments
Almost 10 years since my first attempt explore similar aggregators and share their impressions, the market has developed beyond recognition. Hence – a few important words about how to accept crypto payments, how different methods differ and who needs it.
All payments can be divided into three types according to the criterion of automation:
- Manual.
- Semi-automatic.
- Automatic.
Like any other classification of innovations, this one will be incomplete and inaccurate, but it helps to understand where to go in practice.
The manual method is the most obvious: we start an ETH domain, indicate our BTC or EVM wallet (Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, etc.) and accounts in other networks. This method is suitable for those who accept donations or sell goods not in the mass segment.
It can be converted to semi-automatic with the following modifications:
- Make notifications about important transactions via Etherscan, BscScan, PolygonScan, etc., which will be sent to the mail.
- Write with help ChatGPT and Open Zeppelin standards are simple smart with token distribution, notifications, etc. Here the issue of financial security is acute, and knowledge of the basics is indispensable.
- Develop links like IFTTTthere are many no-code solutions for this.
And yet, the majority follows the path of full automation, connecting various aggregators.
Types of aggregators
Among them, one can single out those that initially did not work with cryptocurrency, but then, for some reason, began to do so. We will also mention those who continue to function, and those who have closed. The latter will help you understand the reasons why you risk losing your money.
- PayPal. One of the first such systems, which in 1998 taught people to “send money by e-mail.” Having abandoned Libra in 2018-2019, PayPal implemented its own service in 2020, which by 2023 led to the accumulation of more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency. At the same time, restrictions on jurisdictions are quite solid, you can get acquainted with them Here.
- webmoney. Created in the same 1998, but took a completely different path. As such, there is no cryptocurrency in the “pure” WebMoney service, but there is surrogates like WMX, whose denomination is associated with BTC.
- Skrill (formerly moneybookers). The site announced the purchase and sale of more than 40 crypto assets.
- Departed. At different times, under different pretexts and with different schemes, aggregators of small, medium and large hands were introduced into the sphere of payments, among which it is worth noting: OkPay, Z-Payment, Payza and a number of others. Most of them closed on their own, unable to withstand regulatory and/or competitive pressure. But there have been cases where the closure followed direct state intervention, as in the case of Payza.
Crypto aggregators and processing
They were originally created to work with crypto assets, but in the end, someone survived and expanded, while someone went “into a niche”. In turn, they can be divided into two large groups:
- Pure crypto aggregators:
- Working only with cryptocurrencies.
- Working with both cryptocurrency and tokens.
- Mixed:
- Working with cryptocurrency and fiat.
- Working with crypto assets and fiat.
In addition, there are those who specialize in payments for ICO/IDO/etc.; more inclined to accept bitcoin (and rarely – something to it); suitable for internal exchanges (in wallets, DeFi services, etc.) and others.
A few years ago, it would be possible to distinguish “pure” crypto aggregators from wallets, but today many have mixed these functions (Bitpay, Advacash), and therefore such a gradation does not make sense. It is not worth grading by self-names: “processing” and “processors”, “aggregators” and “integrators”, “payment systems” and “payment gateways”. Hiding behind different licenses and approaches, they often do confusingly similar operations.
Bitpay is the first among equals
Common data:
- Website: bitpay.com.
- Year of foundation: 2011.
- Fiat acceptance: yes, but how to recalculate.
- Own map: Yes.
- Countries: different.
- Reviews: over 100,000.
- Rates: from 1%.
- Localization: multiple.
- Solutions: about 10 (map, browser extension, etc.).
Other
The following is a list that you can consider on your own according to the points formulated above:
- Advcash.com
- Alchemypay.org
- Choice.com;
- Coinpayments.net
- Cryptoprocessing.com
- Electroneum.com;
- forumpay.com;
- Freeway.io
- Fsfpay.com
- Flare (withflare.co);
- lbank.info;
- Li.fi;
- Metalpay.com
- Mercuryo.io
- Mobilum.com;
- moonpay.com
- Nowpayments.io
- NFTpay.xyz;
- onmeta.in;
- paywithmoon;
- Pypl.com;
- Ramp.network;
- Rocketfuel.inc;
- Safepal.com
- simplex.com;
- Transak.com
- xanpool.com;
- Utrust.com.
These are the decisions that have caught my eye over the past two or three years for at least one of the following reasons:
- I used them myself, paying for crypto services and / or goods.
- They were used by my clients/partners.
- They are built into other crypto solutions (primarily wallets).
Exotic Solutions
Since 2016, I have been working full-time in legal consulting related to Web3 startups. In my practice, there have been many cases when banks operating in various jurisdictions did not allow even the most honest and open projects to open accounts.
How to be?
The simplest thing is to give up and go to another business. So did many. But the other way is to look for solutions ad hoc. In the latter case, they contacted me and the DAO Synergis team. Here is the gradation we ended up with:
- banks directly. They can also be divided into conditional subcategories:
a. Classic structural banks (there are many of them in Switzerland);
b. Banks with an open structure (“Privatbank” at one time in Ukraine or “Tochka” in the Russian Federation);
c. Banks as fintech startups. - non-bank credit institutions. It all depends on the jurisdiction in terms of specific names, but these entities also often come in the form of fintech startups, electronic money operators, etc.
- Various kinds of payment aggregators (see above). This also includes processing centers and similar solutions. Under licenses, they usually achieve maximum simplicity, relative to clauses 2 and 3.
- centralized exchanges. Everything is clear here, but, as we see in 2023, it is still not stable;
- Forex brokers and all who are connected with this market.
- Cryptomat operators (bitcoinwide.com).
- Crypto exchangers in their purest form.
- Other solutions.
If you go from bottom to top, you will understand that the higher the structure in the list, the:
- harder to get through due diligence;
- longer account opening process;
- more difficult with limits;
- more bureaucracy.
On the other hand, the lower down the list, the more:
- higher risk of closing the service;
- less scope for financial instruments.
Therefore, it is possible to find a balance, but it is not easy to do it: hundreds of partner solutions were 100% customized.
Cryptoshore
This is by far the best solution for DAODeFi products, including DEX, and a number of other structures. You can find out about it here, here, here and Here.
The main rule: do not leave cryptonomy if you do not want unnecessary problems from regulators.
Where to look for new solutions
Here are the basic groups where I’m looking for myself:
- Departed solutions (coinbooks.finance, bitmakler.com/birzha, okpay.com and others). If they were active, then you can find digital traces and, based on them, go to those services that were subsequently used. I recommend going through the list of those who work half-heartedly or do not work at all: Onpay, Z-Payment, RBC money, SpryPay, Assist, Dengionline, IntellectMoney, PayOnline, Skrill, Payza, Ya.kassa, Qiwi.
- The next way is to go through cases. Bought not too long ago KlimaDAO and found several live crypto payment aggregators at once.
- Of course, searching through the sites of various ecosystems helps.
- As a lawyer, it is clear to me that you should always start with documents, namely, with contextual search according to the rules that are always on sites. Here is a specific example.
- As a crypto enthusiast, it is obvious to me that there are always open-source solutions that somehow use different services, which for this reason can be reached. Here are two examples: PaySuper And Data Terminal.
Conclusion
As you can see, the market has grown to an incredible size in recent years and only the laziest can fail to find suitable solutions. The main thing to remember is three simple rules:
- Diversification is more important than extra interest.
- Cryptooffshore is an ideal solution, but outside the fiat world.
- Nothing is eternal.
Found a mistake in the text? Select it and press CTRL+ENTER
Cryplogger Newsletters: Keep your finger on the pulse of the bitcoin industry!
The issue of crypto aggregators has been raised since the birth of altcoins. Now there are more than 10,000 coins and tokens on CoinMarketCap, and this is far from the limit. Web3 entrepreneur Vladimir Menascop explains how, to whom and why to work with such aggregators.
The author personally tested the projects discussed in the material, however, he asks to remember that the Web3 industry is rapidly changing. The article is for informational purposes, the responsibility for any use of the services mentioned in it remains with you.
Classification of crypto payments
Almost 10 years since my first attempt explore similar aggregators and share their impressions, the market has developed beyond recognition. Hence – a few important words about how to accept crypto payments, how different methods differ and who needs it.
All payments can be divided into three types according to the criterion of automation:
- Manual.
- Semi-automatic.
- Automatic.
Like any other classification of innovations, this one will be incomplete and inaccurate, but it helps to understand where to go in practice.
The manual method is the most obvious: we start an ETH domain, indicate our BTC or EVM wallet (Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, etc.) and accounts in other networks. This method is suitable for those who accept donations or sell goods not in the mass segment.
It can be converted to semi-automatic with the following modifications:
- Make notifications about important transactions via Etherscan, BscScan, PolygonScan, etc., which will be sent to the mail.
- Write with help ChatGPT and Open Zeppelin standards are simple smart with token distribution, notifications, etc. Here the issue of financial security is acute, and knowledge of the basics is indispensable.
- Develop links like IFTTTthere are many no-code solutions for this.
And yet, the majority follows the path of full automation, connecting various aggregators.
Types of aggregators
Among them, one can single out those that initially did not work with cryptocurrency, but then, for some reason, began to do so. We will also mention those who continue to function, and those who have closed. The latter will help you understand the reasons why you risk losing your money.
- PayPal. One of the first such systems, which in 1998 taught people to “send money by e-mail.” Having abandoned Libra in 2018-2019, PayPal implemented its own service in 2020, which by 2023 led to the accumulation of more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency. At the same time, restrictions on jurisdictions are quite solid, you can get acquainted with them Here.
- webmoney. Created in the same 1998, but took a completely different path. As such, there is no cryptocurrency in the “pure” WebMoney service, but there is surrogates like WMX, whose denomination is associated with BTC.
- Skrill (formerly moneybookers). The site announced the purchase and sale of more than 40 crypto assets.
- Departed. At different times, under different pretexts and with different schemes, aggregators of small, medium and large hands were introduced into the sphere of payments, among which it is worth noting: OkPay, Z-Payment, Payza and a number of others. Most of them closed on their own, unable to withstand regulatory and/or competitive pressure. But there have been cases where the closure followed direct state intervention, as in the case of Payza.
Crypto aggregators and processing
They were originally created to work with crypto assets, but in the end, someone survived and expanded, while someone went “into a niche”. In turn, they can be divided into two large groups:
- Pure crypto aggregators:
- Working only with cryptocurrencies.
- Working with both cryptocurrency and tokens.
- Mixed:
- Working with cryptocurrency and fiat.
- Working with crypto assets and fiat.
In addition, there are those who specialize in payments for ICO/IDO/etc.; more inclined to accept bitcoin (and rarely – something to it); suitable for internal exchanges (in wallets, DeFi services, etc.) and others.
A few years ago, it would be possible to distinguish “pure” crypto aggregators from wallets, but today many have mixed these functions (Bitpay, Advacash), and therefore such a gradation does not make sense. It is not worth grading by self-names: “processing” and “processors”, “aggregators” and “integrators”, “payment systems” and “payment gateways”. Hiding behind different licenses and approaches, they often do confusingly similar operations.
Bitpay is the first among equals
Common data:
- Website: bitpay.com.
- Year of foundation: 2011.
- Fiat acceptance: yes, but how to recalculate.
- Own map: Yes.
- Countries: different.
- Reviews: over 100,000.
- Rates: from 1%.
- Localization: multiple.
- Solutions: about 10 (map, browser extension, etc.).
Other
The following is a list that you can consider on your own according to the points formulated above:
- Advcash.com
- Alchemypay.org
- Choice.com;
- Coinpayments.net
- Cryptoprocessing.com
- Electroneum.com;
- forumpay.com;
- Freeway.io
- Fsfpay.com
- Flare (withflare.co);
- lbank.info;
- Li.fi;
- Metalpay.com
- Mercuryo.io
- Mobilum.com;
- moonpay.com
- Nowpayments.io
- NFTpay.xyz;
- onmeta.in;
- paywithmoon;
- Pypl.com;
- Ramp.network;
- Rocketfuel.inc;
- Safepal.com
- simplex.com;
- Transak.com
- xanpool.com;
- Utrust.com.
These are the decisions that have caught my eye over the past two or three years for at least one of the following reasons:
- I used them myself, paying for crypto services and / or goods.
- They were used by my clients/partners.
- They are built into other crypto solutions (primarily wallets).
Exotic Solutions
Since 2016, I have been working full-time in legal consulting related to Web3 startups. In my practice, there have been many cases when banks operating in various jurisdictions did not allow even the most honest and open projects to open accounts.
How to be?
The simplest thing is to give up and go to another business. So did many. But the other way is to look for solutions ad hoc. In the latter case, they contacted me and the DAO Synergis team. Here is the gradation we ended up with:
- banks directly. They can also be divided into conditional subcategories:
a. Classic structural banks (there are many of them in Switzerland);
b. Banks with an open structure (“Privatbank” at one time in Ukraine or “Tochka” in the Russian Federation);
c. Banks as fintech startups. - non-bank credit institutions. It all depends on the jurisdiction in terms of specific names, but these entities also often come in the form of fintech startups, electronic money operators, etc.
- Various kinds of payment aggregators (see above). This also includes processing centers and similar solutions. Under licenses, they usually achieve maximum simplicity, relative to clauses 2 and 3.
- centralized exchanges. Everything is clear here, but, as we see in 2023, it is still not stable;
- Forex brokers and all who are connected with this market.
- Cryptomat operators (bitcoinwide.com).
- Crypto exchangers in their purest form.
- Other solutions.
If you go from bottom to top, you will understand that the higher the structure in the list, the:
- harder to get through due diligence;
- longer account opening process;
- more difficult with limits;
- more bureaucracy.
On the other hand, the lower down the list, the more:
- higher risk of closing the service;
- less scope for financial instruments.
Therefore, it is possible to find a balance, but it is not easy to do it: hundreds of partner solutions were 100% customized.
Cryptoshore
This is by far the best solution for DAODeFi products, including DEX, and a number of other structures. You can find out about it here, here, here and Here.
The main rule: do not leave cryptonomy if you do not want unnecessary problems from regulators.
Where to look for new solutions
Here are the basic groups where I’m looking for myself:
- Departed solutions (coinbooks.finance, bitmakler.com/birzha, okpay.com and others). If they were active, then you can find digital traces and, based on them, go to those services that were subsequently used. I recommend going through the list of those who work half-heartedly or do not work at all: Onpay, Z-Payment, RBC money, SpryPay, Assist, Dengionline, IntellectMoney, PayOnline, Skrill, Payza, Ya.kassa, Qiwi.
- The next way is to go through cases. Bought not too long ago KlimaDAO and found several live crypto payment aggregators at once.
- Of course, searching through the sites of various ecosystems helps.
- As a lawyer, it is clear to me that you should always start with documents, namely, with contextual search according to the rules that are always on sites. Here is a specific example.
- As a crypto enthusiast, it is obvious to me that there are always open-source solutions that somehow use different services, which for this reason can be reached. Here are two examples: PaySuper And Data Terminal.
Conclusion
As you can see, the market has grown to an incredible size in recent years and only the laziest can fail to find suitable solutions. The main thing to remember is three simple rules:
- Diversification is more important than extra interest.
- Cryptooffshore is an ideal solution, but outside the fiat world.
- Nothing is eternal.
Found a mistake in the text? Select it and press CTRL+ENTER
Cryplogger Newsletters: Keep your finger on the pulse of the bitcoin industry!
