What does a crypto payment gateway cost?

Shieldz charges a $0 platform fee. You pay only the blockchain network gas for the coin your customer sends, never a percentage of the sale.

Do I need KYC to accept crypto payments?

No KYC is required to start with Shieldz. Because it never holds funds, there is no balance to verify.

Crypto payment gateway

Q: Is Shieldz a custodial or non-custodial crypto payment gateway?

Non-custodial. Shieldz only ever holds a public key, so it can watch for your payments but can never spend, freeze, or seize them. The key-derivation code is open source and can be verified.

A crypto payment gateway lets a business accept cryptocurrency at checkout, with hosted pay pages, invoicing, and webhooks. Shieldz is a non-custodial one: buyers pay an address that belongs to you, funds settle straight to your own wallet, and there is no platform fee.

What is a crypto payment gateway?

A crypto payment gateway is the layer between your checkout and the blockchain. It shows the buyer a hosted pay page with an address and a QR code, watches the chain for the payment, and tells your server when the money arrives, the same job a card processor does for cards. The one decision that changes everything is custody: a custodial gateway takes the coins into its own wallet and pays you out later, minus a fee; a non-custodial gateway like Shieldz only ever holds a public key, so the money is never in its hands. That is the difference between "we will release your funds" and funds that were always yours.

How a non-custodial gateway works

You give Shieldz a public key (an address, xpub, or Zcash view-only key). It derives a fresh receive address per invoice, generates a hosted checkout, watches the blockchain, and fires a signed webhook when the payment confirms. It never holds or spends your money. The key-derivation code is open source, so this is something you can verify yourself, not just trust.

Custodial vs non-custodial, the short version

Custody of funds: custodial processors hold your customers' coins and a balance for you; Shieldz never touches the money.
Payouts: custodial pays you on its schedule after review; non-custodial settles instantly to your wallet, there is no payout step.
Freezes: a custodian can freeze or seize a balance; a gateway that holds only a public key cannot.
Fees: custodial gateways take a percentage; Shieldz charges $0 platform fee, you pay only network gas.
KYC: holding funds triggers heavy KYC; Shieldz needs no KYC to start.

Read the full case for a non-custodial crypto payment gateway.

What you can accept

Native Bitcoin, USDC and USDT across Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon and Ethereum, and shielded Zcash for private payments via a dedicated Zcash payment gateway. Buyers can also pay in almost any coin and Shieldz settles it to your chosen token. See all supported coins.

Fees

$0 platform fee. You pay only the blockchain network gas, never a percentage of sales. Compare the fees of other gateways, or see how Shieldz stacks up against Coinbase Commerce, BitPay, CoinGate, NOWPayments, Cryptomus and BTCPay Server.

Integrate in minutes

A clean REST API and official SDKs, plus copy-paste guides for Node.js, Next.js, Python, FastAPI, Django, PHP, Laravel, Go, .NET and WooCommerce. The flow is three calls: create an invoice, redirect to the hosted checkout, handle the signed webhook. Read the API quickstart or the full API reference.

Who uses it

SaaS and API businesses billing in USDC, stores using the WooCommerce plugin, creators running a payment link or tip jar, and AI agents that spin up keyless payment links with no signup. If you can hold a wallet address, you can accept crypto.

Crypto payment gateway FAQ

What is a crypto payment gateway? A service that lets a business accept cryptocurrency at checkout with hosted pay pages, invoicing and webhooks, and routes the payment to the merchant. A non-custodial one settles straight to your own wallet.

Is Shieldz custodial or non-custodial? Non-custodial. It only ever holds a public key, so it can watch for your payments but can never spend, freeze, or seize them. You can verify the derivation.

What does it cost? $0 platform fee. You pay only the network gas for the coin your customer sends, never a percentage of the sale. See why it is free.

Do I need KYC? No KYC to start. Because Shieldz never holds funds, there is no balance to verify. See no KYC.

Which coins can I accept? Bitcoin, USDC and USDT across Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon and Ethereum, and shielded Zcash, plus pay-any-coin settlement. See supported coins.

Start free, $0 platform fees, no KYC to start, or read the docs.

Explore Shieldz

Crypto payment gateway: overview, non-custodial, Zcash.

Accept a coin: Bitcoin, USDC, USDT, Zcash.

Compare: vs Coinbase Commerce, vs BTCPay Server, vs ZGo, vs CryptAPI, vs NOWPayments, vs Cryptomus, vs BitPay, vs CoinGate, vs OpenNode, vs Plisio, vs BlockBee, vs CoinPayments.

Use cases: For freelancers, For creators, For open-source projects, For online stores, For SaaS, For VPN & hosting providers, For agencies, For nonprofits, For digital sellers.

Guides: Node.js, FastAPI, .NET, WooCommerce.

Build: SDKs, API reference, quickstart. Learn: overview, blog, how it works, supported coins, pricing, is it safe, verify it yourself.