Crypto and stablecoin payments at checkout: how they work

Crypto at checkout suits a specific group of merchants: those whose customers already hold stablecoins, or who sell into markets where cards and cross-border bank transfers work poorly. For them, the question is practical. What happens between the customer pressing pay and the merchant being credited, and what can go wrong?

This article covers how a crypto payment works at checkout, which coins and networks matter, confirmation times, price movement and conversion, underpayments and refunds, compliance such as MiCA and sanctions screening, and the tax questions to ask an adviser. It is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. For how the method appears on Omno, see the crypto payment method page.

How does a crypto payment work at checkout?

Unlike a card payment, a crypto payment is pushed by the customer. Nothing is pulled from an account. A crypto payment provider sits between the customer’s wallet and the merchant, and the flow usually runs like this:

1. The customer chooses crypto. The order stays priced in your currency, such as USD or EUR.
2. They pick a coin and network. Stripe’s flow, for example, sends the customer to a hosted page to select a currency and payment network and connect a wallet.
3. The provider shows an amount and destination. That is a wallet address and QR code, or a wallet connection.
4. The customer sends the funds. They scan the QR code or paste the address into a wallet or exchange app, then approve the transfer.
5. The provider watches the blockchain. The transaction is broadcast, then added to a block.
6. The provider confirms. The merchant gets a status update, usually by webhook.
7. The merchant is credited. That may be in fiat or crypto, depending on the agreement.

BitPay’s invoice states show this in detail. An invoice starts as new, with a 15-minute window for the customer to send payment. It moves to paid when funds are received, which BitPay stresses is not a guarantee, because the transaction still needs network validation. It reaches confirmed, the status BitPay tells merchants to watch before fulfilling orders, and then complete when funds have settled. If nothing arrives in the window, it becomes expired. If a paid invoice is not confirmed within 1 hour, it becomes invalid, though it can still update later if the transaction confirms.

Your order system should mirror this. Hold the order at the first status and release goods only at the status your provider recommends. Our article on webhooks and idempotency covers how to handle these updates safely.

Which coins and networks should you accept?

Start with what your provider supports and what your customers hold. The usual options are US dollar stablecoins, such as USDC and USDT, and Bitcoin. A stablecoin is a crypto-asset pegged to a fiat currency or other asset to limit volatility, as Stripe’s documentation puts it, which suits pricing goods.

The network matters as much as the coin. The same stablecoin exists on several blockchains, and those networks are separate. Stripe lists USDC on Tempo, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Base, with USDP and USDG limited to certain networks and US merchants. Tether lists USDT on Ethereum, Tron, Solana, TON, Avalanche and others, and notes it has stopped issuing on some older ones, such as Omni and Algorand.

Three practical points follow:

• Show the network next to the address. CoinJar’s guide says that sending on an incompatible network can leave funds inaccessible or permanently lost. CoinPayments’ documentation says a refund address must match the chain of the original payment.
• Keep the list short. Each extra coin and network adds support cases, reporting work and risk of error.
• Expect provider limits. Stripe, for example, sets a customer limit of USD 10,000 per transaction, and its business availability varies by country, with the EU in private preview at the time of writing. These terms change, so check them.

In the EU, availability also depends on the regulatory status of the stablecoin issuer, which we cover below.

How long do confirmations take?

It depends on the network and on the rules of your provider. “Confirmed” is a provider setting, not a universal standard.

Network	What the source says	Source
Bitcoin	A new block about every 10 minutes on average; at least 6 confirmations suggested for high-value transfers	Bitcoin.org
Ethereum	Circle requires 12 confirmations, about 3 minutes	Circle
Solana	Circle requires 1 confirmation, about 200 milliseconds	Circle
Polygon PoS	Circle requires 2 to 3 confirmations, about 8 seconds	Circle
Base	Circle requires 12 Ethereum blocks, about 3 to 9 minutes	Circle

Circle says these are its own requirements for Circle Mint, not network rules, and that it sets them by each chain’s history, reorganisation risk and architecture. Your provider may use different numbers. Bitcoin.org also warns that blocks arrive unpredictably, so one confirmation may come sooner or later than average.

Some providers let you choose the trade-off. BitPay offers high, medium and low transaction speed settings, which change when an invoice counts as confirmed. Faster release suits low-value digital goods. A higher value order can wait longer. Decide this per product type, and tell the customer what to expect so that they don’t send a second payment while the first one is confirming.

How do volatility and instant conversion work?

Two risks sit in a crypto payment: the price can move during the payment window, and it can move after you are paid.

For the first, providers fix the crypto amount for a short period. BitPay’s window is 15 minutes, and the invoice expires if payment doesn’t arrive in time. A customer who pays late may have to start again.

For the second, you can avoid holding crypto at all. With instant conversion, the provider credits you in your settlement currency, so your books show the order value, less fees. Stripe says its stablecoin payments settle in your balance in your local currency. BitPay says it credits the merchant in the currency set in its settlement settings. A stablecoin is designed to limit volatility, not to remove it, so conversion terms still matter.

If you choose to keep crypto, you take on price risk, custody and accounting work that a card payment doesn’t bring. That is a treasury decision for your finance team and advisers, not a payments setting, and we make no recommendation on it. Before you sign, ask these questions:

• What fee and spread apply to conversion?
• Who bears a price move between payment and conversion?
• When does settlement reach your bank, and in which currency?
• Can you settle in several currencies?

What happens with underpayments, overpayments and refunds?

Customers can send the wrong amount. CoinPayments says underpayments usually happen because network fees weren’t included or the buyer typed the wrong amount. Providers handle this differently, so read your provider’s rules before launch.

Situation	BitPay	CoinPayments
Underpayment	Marked paidPartial; refunded automatically to the customer, not credited to the merchant	Shown as Partially Paid; merchant can accept it through a configured limit or manual approval
Overpayment	Marked paidOver; excess refunded automatically to the customer	Invoice completes; excess refunded automatically, unless smaller than network fees
No payment in the window	Marked expired	Check provider documentation

Your support team needs a script for each of these. Decide in advance whether you will accept a small shortfall, who contacts the customer, and how long the order stays open.

Refunds work differently from cards. Bitcoin.org states that a Bitcoin transaction cannot be reversed and can only be refunded by the person receiving the funds. So a refund is a new transfer. Stripe returns stablecoin refunds to the customer’s original wallet. With other providers, you may need to collect an address, so verify the request through the customer’s account. Decide whether you refund the original fiat value or the crypto amount, and put that in your terms. Our guide to refunds across local methods covers the wider picture.

The other side of this is that there are no card-style chargebacks. Stripe says stablecoin payments won’t produce disputes that turn into chargebacks. Customers can still complain to you, so keep a clear process and a named contact.

Which rules apply: MiCA, travel rule and sanctions?

These rules mainly bind providers, but they decide which providers you can use and what they will ask of you. They change often, so check the position at the time you sign.

MiCA in the EU. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation sets EU rules for crypto-asset service providers and issuers. ESMA’s April 2026 statement said the transitional period would expire across the EU on 1 July 2026, and that any entity providing crypto-asset services to EU clients without a MiCA licence after that date is in breach of EU law and must stop. Ask for your provider’s authorisation details and check them against ESMA’s interim MiCA register, which ESMA updates weekly.

Stablecoins in the EU. ESMA said, in guidance with the European Commission, that providers had to act on non-compliant stablecoins as soon as possible, and no later than the end of the first quarter of 2025. So the list of coins available to EU customers can be shorter than elsewhere.

PSD2 overlap. The EBA advised national authorities in June 2025 to require a PSD2 authorisation from 2 March 2026 for a defined subset of providers transacting e-money tokens. Ask how your provider meets this, directly or through a partner.

Travel rule. Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 extends to crypto-asset service providers the duty to send information with transfers, and the EBA’s guidelines apply from 30 December 2024. They cover transfers to and from self-hosted addresses, which may affect customers paying from their own wallets.

Sanctions. OFAC’s guidance says civil penalties are generally based on strict liability, so a US person can be liable without knowing about a violation. It advises tools to identify and block transactions linked to blocked persons, including addresses on the SDN List, and notes that unlisted addresses sharing a wallet with a listed one may also pose risk. It also recommends geolocation tools and IP blocking for sanctioned jurisdictions. In the EU, EBA guidelines on restrictive measures for payment and crypto-asset service providers apply from 30 December 2025. Ask your provider how it screens wallet addresses, and what happens to an order if a payment is held. Our glossary entry on sanctions screening gives the background.

United Kingdom. The FCA says the full scope of regulated cryptoasset activities will expand from 25 October 2027, with an application window that opened on 30 September 2026. Check the current position for your provider.

Marketing. EU supervisory authorities warned in October 2025 that crypto-assets can be risky and that legal protection may be limited. Keep your wording to what the method does at checkout, and avoid anything that reads as a promise about value.

Which tax questions should you ask an adviser?

Tax treatment varies by country and by how you settle, and some of it is unsettled. Take these questions to your adviser:

1. If I settle in fiat, is this a normal sale? With instant conversion, you may never hold crypto, but confirm it.
2. If I receive crypto, how is income valued, and when? The IRS says digital assets, including stablecoins, are property, not currency, and that receiving them for goods or services in a business setting is taxed as ordinary income or a loss. It is also reportable whether or not it creates a gain or loss.
3. What is the VAT value of the sale? HMRC’s manual says VAT applies in the normal way, on the sterling value of the tokens at the point of the transaction, and it describes these treatments as provisional.
4. Which other taxes apply? HMRC lists several that may apply to a business taking exchange tokens for goods or services, and says which ones depends on its structure and activities. Ask whether selling crypto later creates a gain.
5. Which rate and record do I use? Keep the rate, time, transaction hash and provider statement for every payment.
6. How are refunds treated? A refund at a different rate may create a difference to account for.
7. What will my provider report? The EU’s DAC8 applies from 1 January 2026 and puts reporting duties on crypto-asset service providers. Ask what this means for your customers and for your own records.

How does Omno offer crypto at checkout?

Omno’s hosted checkout can show crypto beside cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and local methods, where a connected provider offers it. Merchant-set routing rules choose the provider, for example by currency or country, and the final status reaches you by webhook. Each crypto provider onboards you separately and handles the address, rate and conversion. Omno is not an exchange and does not hold funds.