WooCommerce Cryptocurrency Payment Gateway for WordPress by CryptoPay
In recent years, cryptocurrencies have taken the world by storm. They went through their ups and downs. Being an oddity in the beginning, to a foolproof investment, to losing enormous amounts of money to those that traded in them, and everything in between. We could say things have stabilized in the last couple of years and virtually all forms of cryptocurrency payments have established themselves as viable, especially for online payments.
As such, more and more webshops have been cryptocurrency payments as a payment method. Since cryptocurrency really doesn’t fall into the “default” payment category yet, you’ll need a little help adding them to your payment gateway.
If you’re using WordPress, just like with everything else, you’ll find help with plugins. CryptoPay is a perfect example of such a plugin. With it, you can quickly set up a cryptocurrency payment gateway that supports all relevant solutions.
A different kind of business
We’ve collectively grown accustomed to all types of payment, including crypto payments, having some kind of commission attached. By working with a commission-type payment method, the cost will increase the more transactions you have. If you have a successful business that brings in hundreds of purchases per day, the price of commission could skyrocket quickly. CryptoPay works a bit differently because it charges a fixed license fee, so the transactions are commission-free for the seller. The more transactions you have, the more you save.
Closely related to commissions is the way cryptocurrency payments are transferred. To “justify” their commissions, services will usually be the middlemen, taking the payment on one end and depositing it on their wallet/account, before transferring it to the wallet on the other end. By doing so, you’ll have the aforementioned commission charges and longer transfer times brought on by multiple approvals needed in the process. CryptoPay, on the other hand, offers direct peer-to-peer crypto payments that are processed much faster because the transfers are direct.
Designed for WordPress
CryptoPay is specifically designed with WordPress in mind. The plugin is compatible with all the relevant add-ons, extensions, and other plugins via API, with a special emphasis on WooCommerce, the most commonly used webshop plugin out there.
Setting up CryptoPay is an easy and intuitive process. Once installed, you’ll need to activate your license. The next step consists of enabling the various cryptocurrencies. You’ll probably spend some time on this one, especially if you plan to use multiple options. We’ll go into more detail about those in a bit, but now let’s skip to the next step – connecting CryptoPay to WooCommerce.
After you have all your currencies figured out, simply activate CryptoPay as a payment method within the WooCommerce settings. The integration is so seamless because there’s a built-in cryptocurrency payment gateway, and all you need to do is enable it within the WooCommerce settings and you’re good to go – instantly receive payments in your preferred cryptocurrency.
To make it easy on both you and your customers, your next step should be setting up the WalletConnect Project ID. With it, users will easily be able to connect from mobile devices and gain access to over 300 wallets for EVM-based networks. If you don’t already have one, the plugin can redirect you to the setup wizard.
Any other add-ons you’d like to install are done by the default WordPress method for installing plugins, so there’s virtually no learning curve whatsoever. It’s also worth mentioning the current and future integrations for the plugin published for free on both WordPress.org and GitHub. For more details, visit WordPress.org page.
Cryptocurrencies
For a moment, we’ll take a step back and go over setting up your cryptocurrency details. Note that this step is required before enabling the crypto gateway within the WooCommerce settings.
At the moment, there are four cryptocurrency payment options to choose from – EVM, Bitcoin, Solana, and Tron, with more on the way. While settings vary from one solution to the next, one thing is required for each to function – your wallet address. Naturally, if you don’t plan on using a specific currency, you’ll just leave the field blank.
The EVM settings are most extensive with a plethora of wallets to choose from like MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Bitget Wallet, etc. Furthermore, you’ll need to set up all the networks which include Ethereum, Arbitrum One, Polygon, etc. All of these are added as payment methods on the frontend. By enabling many wallets and networks you’re showing a customer-first approach that gives them options and not limitations.
Bitcoin settings have fewer options that need to be configured. Outside setting up wallets (like UniSat, Xverse, etc.) there’s only choosing the Websocet provider from a dropdown menu and entering your Testnet wallet address.
Setting up Solana, you’ll need to consider the Mainnet RPC server limitations. There’s a problem with the server blocking you after a couple of uses. Several workarounds can be used to solve the issue, and the devs even set up a quick guide that covers the most common ways and a couple of alternatives.
Once the issue is resolved, simply input the custom RPC address, and enable the wallets you prefer (for example, Phantom, Slope, Bitget Wallet, etc.) and the currencies.
Lastly, if you plan on enabling crypto payments with Tron you’ll need to enable the wallets you want represented (choosing from TronLink, Bitget Wallet, Okx Wallet, etc.) and add the preferred currencies.
In case you’re looking to stop dealing in any currency, for whatever reason, every crypto payment method can be turned on or off (active/passive) with just a click on a slider. When the market starts fluctuating more than you’re comfortable, you’re presented with a quick and easy way to course-correct.
Donations
One of the primary extensions you can get for CryptoPay is the Donation plugin. Integrating ii enables you to set up a donation a donation section. You can put it on any post and/or page, or simply create a singular donation tab/page.
The currency your users will see on the frontend will be displayed in the FIAT currency of your choice (USD, EUR, etc.) with predefined donation amounts. Because users have a better handle of the currencies they use every day it’s easier for them to navigate the amounts they’re giving away (cryptocurrencies tend to get abstract when they reach the higher decimals). Once they choose the amount, however, they will get to choose the cryptocurrency they’re paying with, as well as the converted amount.
While donations aren’t usually something that naturally comes to mind with the idea of webshops you can always use the function it can be implemented specifically for situations when your customers want to go the extra mile and give you an additional reward.
Currency discounts
The cryptocurrency market is full of fluctuations, just like the regular money markets, with an expanded range. After all, you’ll never see the euro lose or gain value as quickly as some cryptocurrencies do. Regardless of the ebbs and flows, crypto will always abide by an exchange rate like any other currency. Now, the currency discount function will allow you to adjust that exchange rate.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you want your customers to gravitate to a specific form of payment (i.e. a specific cryptocurrency) you can offer them discounts on exchange rates. Let’s say you’ve found a sponsor, or business partner that works with Bitcoin. You can offer 10% discounts on all payments made with the currency and therefore encourage users/customers to pay with it. The principal idea behind a promotion like this is no different than offering a discount on artificial Christmas trees in December, only you’re not offering better value on a product, but instead on a currency.
Currency converter
You can’t support a cryptocurrency payment gateway without providing your customers with a relevant currency converter that shows them how much “real money” they’re actually spending. The prices are automatically updated, there’s simply no other way to go about it, you’ll just need to input how often it’s refreshed (in a minute). The default converter API is CryptoCompare but you can opt for another one if you’re so inclined. Other options include CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, and Moralis.
The cool thing about the conversion section is that you’re able to create your currency with a specific price value you’ve set. Since a custom token doesn’t have any recognizable value in any API, you need to set the value compared to other, recognizable currencies.
Summary
CryptoPay is a plugin that provides you with a safe, instant, and decentralized cryptocurrency payment gateway. That’s the short of it. By adding it to your WordPress/WooCommerce-based site you’ll be opening a door to a whole new avenue of crypto payment methods that will benefit your business and your customers.
At this point, it’s safe to say cryptocurrency will have a place in the future and it seems foolish to cut yourself off from such a big aspect of the financial sphere. Be ahead of the curve – use CryptoPay to take your site to the next level.
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