What is NOWPayments and How does it work?

Are you convinced that our financial future will be more diversified than the current focus surrounding fiat currencies? Have you dipped your toes into the cryptocurrency waters or are you all in convinced this technology will revolutionize the way we see finance these days? Then you should seriously be considering accepting payments for your online shop, platform or service with cryptocurrencies. As there are several solutions on how to integrate this into your store, there’s a ton of examples to take lessons from and learn. Today we’ll be focusing on NOWPayments, the non-custodial, low-fee solution to accepting cryptocurrency payments

What is NOWPayments?

Simply put, it is a way of accepting cryptocurrency on your website. With an easy to integrate system the NOWPayments API allows you to start accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment on your website. The integration works with an easy native integration or a neat widget that’s as easy to use as the Internet you’re using on a daily basis. That being said, let’s zoom in a little more to see the several services that distinguish NOWPayments from their competitors. 

Range of different cryptocurrencies accepted

The most known currencies in the crypto-environment are Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. These are the biggest ones, the most trusted and those that most people that own cryptocurrencies will be holding. Thus it’s smart to accept these currencies as part of your payment options in your online store. If you are more convinced that other currencies, the so-called ‘altcoins’, are more future-proof and you would rather start stacking up on a precious alt, then NOWPayments has got you covered. A total of 27 cryptocurrencies are offered as a  form of payment, ranging from the biggest currencies to smaller cap alts and even stablecoin. If you want to enjoy the ease of cryptocurrencies but you don’t want to risk your coin losing its value, then a stablecoin would be the solution. A full list of the accepted coins can be found here.

Auto Coin Conversion

As the merchant that’s convinced about the benefits of holding cryptocurrencies, you have the ability to pick your favorite. This would mean that you still allow your store to accept the several payment options in the 27 different currencies, yet in fact, you only accept one single one. Let’s say you’re a bitcoin maximalist and you only want to stack up on some satoshis, then the auto-coin conversion will be the right option for you. The moment a payment is made, the paid token will be transferred directly on a partner-exchange, ChangeNOW, into the desired currency. That could range from Bitcoin swapping for BNB, to GroestlCoin for Ripple. It’s all up to your preferences and wishes. 

Non-Custodial service

‘Not your keys, not your coins’ are words to live by in the cryptocurrency industry. Whether you have your coins stored on an exchange or a custodial party, if these people own your private keys, it means that eventually, they are the ones that own your currencies. That means that they could run off any minute with your beloved holdings. Doesn’t sound too good, does it? With the integrated non-custodial system that NOWPayments is using, the accepted payments are directly sent to a wallet that you own. The benefits here lay in the fact that we have never touched the coins that you accept, nor could we even if we wanted to. The fact that it’s a non-custodial system also means that it’s completely compliant with all legal parties across the globe. NOWPayments does not own anything, it’s simply a service that’s being offered as an addition to your already accepted payment services. We believe that your coins should be held behind your keys. Make sure you always live by these words and find a secure and easy way to store your keys so only you can access them. 

What does crypto payments cost me?

What Is NOWPayments and How Does It Work?

The beauty of all this is that NOWPayments is a very low-fee service. We do not charge anything for using our service. The only costs that would be present are the network costs for simply doing the transactions from one wallet to another. These costs are reliant on the load of the network and the state of the accepted coins. As the conversion to your desired currency is nearly instant, the fluctuation of the prices are neglectable and do not affect the amount you eventually end up receiving in your wallet.

How do I get started?

A payment solution should be as simple as it can be. Whenever your customer is at the point of doing the payment, nothing should stop him or her from actually making the purchase. As most customers are currently accustomed to performing a payment using a credit, or debit card, there’s nothing much to explain. Cryptocurrency payments can be a tiny bit more difficult. Although taking in the fact that a person is willing to pay in cryptocurrency, it would mean that the person has the knowledge of performing the purchase. Still, we focused on creating the most robust and easy to use system for both the merchant and the customer in order for these purchases to be as comfortable as possible. The customer simply picks the desired form of payment, receives a transaction address and is asked to perform the payment. This system is as easy as it gets on the customer side, so we tried to do the same for the merchant side of integration. 

Whenever you as a merchant, want to start accepting cryptocurrency payments, the NowPayments API, that’s ready to use, is accessible whenever you need it. For those not as experienced working with code, or not used to API’s in that manner, there’s the option to perform the implementation with the help of a ready to use plug-in connected to WooCommerce and WHMCS that’s coming soon. We created a donation button and widget that are a few mouse clicks away of ending up on your website, to create the most comfortable experience for both parties. 

Ready to start accepting cryptocurrency? Reach out to us today!