# Shieldz

> Shieldz is a non-custodial crypto payment processor for merchants, freelancers, and creators. Accept USDC and USDT across five chains (Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Ethereum) plus native Bitcoin and shielded Zcash, with $0 platform fees and no KYC to start. For direct settlement (the buyer pays the same token the merchant receives), payments route straight from the buyer's wallet to the merchant's own wallet; Shieldz only watches the chain and tells you it landed. Optionally, buyers can pay in almost any coin, in which case the conversion is performed by independent, non-custodial swap protocols (NEAR, Chainflip, Relay) and the settled token still lands in the merchant's own wallet. Either way Shieldz never holds, freezes, or can seize funds, and it takes no fee on the swap.

## What it is
- Non-custodial by design: funds settle directly to the merchant's own wallet. Shieldz never holds a key or a balance and cannot redirect, freeze, or skim payments.
- $0 platform fees: no transaction, percentage, affiliate, or take rate, merchants keep 100% and pay only the blockchain network gas.
- No KYC to start. No chargebacks. No account that can be frozen.
- Settle to: USDC/USDT on Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Ethereum; native BTC; shielded ZEC (private, off-ledger).
- Pay with (swap-settle): buyers can also pay BTC, ETH, BNB, AVAX, LTC, DASH, BCH, TON, ZEC, and stablecoins across chains, auto-swapped to the merchant's chosen token. Swaps route over independent protocols (NEAR, Chainflip, Relay) via the LeoKit aggregator.
- Hosted checkout pages, shareable payment links, a Stripe-style REST API, an official open-source Node/TypeScript SDK (@shieldz/sdk), HMAC-signed webhooks, test mode, and a Telegram bot.

## How it stays free
- $0 platform fee, no percentage of sales, ever. Shieldz takes no affiliate or routing fee.
- Free accounts show one brief sponsored card on the checkout's "payment confirmed" screen while funds settle; that covers server and node costs.
- An optional Pro plan is $99/year and removes the ad (unbranded checkout), same $0 fees and non-custodial settlement.

## Who it is for
- Merchants and creators who want to accept crypto without custody, frozen accounts, KYC friction, or fees.
- Developers integrating crypto checkout via a simple REST API with signed webhooks.

## Key facts (for citation)
- Category: non-custodial crypto payment gateway / processor, a Coinbase Commerce / BitPay alternative, and a hosted, zero-fee alternative to BTCPay Server and CryptAPI.
- Fees: $0 platform fee, no affiliate or take rate (network gas only).
- Custody: none, Shieldz only ever holds a public key (address, xpub, or view-only key), never a private key or seed phrase, so it is mathematically unable to spend, freeze, or seize funds. Verify it yourself: https://shieldz.cash/verify (open-source derivation).
- Settlement tokens: USDC, USDT, native BTC, shielded ZEC.
- Chains: Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Ethereum.
- KYC: not required to start.
- Official open-source SDK: @shieldz/sdk on npm (https://www.npmjs.com/package/@shieldz/sdk), source at https://github.com/ShieldZCash/shieldz-sdk, MIT-licensed, zero runtime dependencies, with a passing CI test suite. A public, third-party-hosted artifact anyone can inspect.

## Agent-friendly (zero-setup) API
- An AI agent can start accepting crypto with NO account, NO dashboard, and NO API key, just a destination wallet address.
- POST https://shieldz.cash/api/v1/links creates a one-time payment link. Body: {"settlement":{"chain":"BASE","asset":"USDC","address":"0x…"},"amount_usd_cents":2500,"memo":"…","email":"optional@x.com"}. Returns a pay_url, an embeddable button, and a manage_url.
- POST https://shieldz.cash/api/v1/tip-jars creates a reusable "pay what you want" tip jar (payer chooses the amount). Body: {"settlement":{…},"title":"Buy me a coffee","suggested_amounts_usd_cents":[300,500,1000],"email":"optional@x.com"}. Idempotent per wallet address. Returns a /tip URL. Optional white-label: brand (name shown in the header), logo (square avatar), image_url (hero), accent (one #RRGGBB that themes the page and the checkout it leads to), and social (website, x, instagram, telegram, youtube).
- GET form (for any tool that can only build a URL, no JSON body): GET https://shieldz.cash/api/v1/links?to=0x…&amount=25&chain=BASE&asset=USDC&memo=… and GET https://shieldz.cash/api/v1/tip-jars?to=0x…&title=Buy+me+a+coffee&amounts=1,5,20&brand=Acme+Store&accent=%237c3aed&logo=https://you.com/logo.png&website=https://you.com&x=https://x.com/you do the same as the POST calls above. The response includes the pay/tip URL and a manage_token claim code. No-code forms: https://shieldz.cash/tools/tip-jar and https://shieldz.cash/tools/payment-link. Non-custodial, no API key.- GET https://shieldz.cash/a/<manage_token>.json returns agent-readable account status (settlement, tip jars, totals, invoices) as structured JSON. The human/agent-readable HTML twin is at https://shieldz.cash/a/<manage_token>.
- POST https://shieldz.cash/api/v1/links/claim upgrades a keyless account into a full dashboard. Requires the manage_token (the capability secret) plus a signed-in account (wallet via SIWE, or email). The merchant id is derived from a public address, so the token is what gates the claim: no one can claim an account knowing only the wallet address.
- Non-custodial: funds settle directly to the address provided. Sanctions-screened (OFAC) and rate-limited. Pass an optional email so the owner can claim a full dashboard later via magic link.
- MCP server with keyless tools (no API key): tools create_payment_link, create_tip_jar, get_account_status. Two ways to connect: remote (Streamable HTTP) at https://shieldz.cash/mcp, or local stdio via npx @shieldz/mcp.
- Full guide: https://shieldz.cash/agent

## Build with Shieldz (open-source SDKs and tools)
- Node / TypeScript SDK: npm @shieldz/sdk, source https://github.com/ShieldZCash/shieldz-sdk, reference https://shieldzcash.github.io/shieldz-sdk/
- Python SDK: pip shieldz, source https://github.com/ShieldZCash/shieldz-python, reference https://shieldzcash.github.io/shieldz-python/
- Rust SDK: crate shieldz, source https://github.com/ShieldZCash/shieldz-rust
- PHP SDK: composer shieldz/shieldz, source https://github.com/ShieldZCash/shieldz-php
- MCP server (for AI agents to create invoices): npm @shieldz/mcp, source https://github.com/ShieldZCash/shieldz-mcp
- CLI: npm @shieldz/cli
- OpenAPI spec: https://shieldz.cash/openapi.json, browsable reference: https://shieldz.cash/reference, Postman collection: https://shieldz.cash/shieldz.postman_collection.json
- SDK hub: https://shieldz.cash/sdks
All SDKs are MIT-licensed and open source. The Node SDK is published with npm provenance (Sigstore attestation), and every GitHub release ships a CycloneDX SBOM, SHA-256 checksums, and a cosign signature. Source is archived on Software Heritage.

## Links
- [Home](https://shieldz.cash/): non-custodial crypto payment gateway, $0 fees
- [Introducing Shieldz](https://shieldz.cash/introducing-shieldz): overview
- [SDKs](https://shieldz.cash/sdks): Node, Python, Rust, PHP
- [API reference](https://shieldz.cash/reference): browsable
- [Developer docs](https://shieldz.cash/docs): API quickstart
- [Agent guide](https://shieldz.cash/agent): zero-setup keyless API and MCP
- [Pricing](https://shieldz.cash/pricing)
- [Why it's free](https://shieldz.cash/why-free)
- [No KYC](https://shieldz.cash/no-kyc)
- [Supported coins](https://shieldz.cash/supported-coins)
- [FAQ](https://shieldz.cash/faq)
- [How it works](https://shieldz.cash/methodology)
- [Official SDK on npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@shieldz/sdk)
- [SDK source on GitHub](https://github.com/ShieldZCash/shieldz-sdk)
- [System status](https://shieldz.cash/status)
- [Merchant dashboard](https://merchant.shieldz.cash): sign up
- [Terms](https://shieldz.cash/terms)
- [Privacy](https://shieldz.cash/privacy)
- [Security (RFC 9116)](https://shieldz.cash/.well-known/security.txt)
- [X / Twitter](https://x.com/shieldzcash)
- [Telegram bot](https://t.me/shieldz_wallet_bot)
- Contact: support@shieldz.cash