CoinPayments Review
5.1/10A horizontal crypto payment gateway running since 2013: 175-plus coins into a custodial wallet, 0.5% on incoming payments, real-time fiat settlement, cart plugins and a REST API, operated from Grand Cayman with no MiCA CASP and no US service since the 2019 to 2022 withdrawal.
Our read
- 175-plus coins for processing and 2,200-plus holdable in the wallet, on a gateway running since 2013.
- Flat fees: 0.5% on incoming payments, with deposits free up to a monthly threshold.
- Real-time fiat settlement to USD, EUR, and more.
- A mature integration stack: a documented REST API, hosted checkout, a POS app, an XRPL path, and cart plugins.
- A broad wallet and payout toolset, including a cold-storage vault option alongside the hot wallet.
- No MiCA CASP and no license in any market, on an offshore Cayman entity.
- The US market is closed: service was withdrawn from 2019 and complete by 2022.
- A fully custodial model on an offshore entity: funds sit with CoinPayments until swept, with no regulated safeguarding regime behind the balances.
- No iGaming-specific cashier and no responsible-gaming tooling.
A non-US, offshore merchant that wants coin breadth and flat fees, and can hold balances with a custodial gateway.
Any EU, UK, or US-regulated operator, and any compliance team that needs a licensed counterparty behind custodial balances.
Markets & licensing
The operating entity, CoinPayments Inc., sits in Grand Cayman and holds no MiCA CASP and no EU VASP registration. The company withdrew from the US market from 2019 and had fully stopped serving US residents by 2022, so the largest regulated market is off the table by the company's own action. What remains is an offshore custodial gateway with published fees and deep coin coverage, holding merchant funds with no license behind them.
CoinPayments stopped onboarding US businesses from 2019 and had cut off US residents entirely by 2022, so there is no route for a US-facing operator regardless of state.
No CoinPayments entity holds an FCA authorization or cryptoasset registration, and the operating entity is offshore in the Cayman Islands. For a UK-facing operator there is no regulated leg to contract under UK rules.
- MiCA CASPNone
- No MiCA CASP authorization held
- EU VASP / EMINone
- No EU VASP registration or e-money license exists for CoinPayments Inc.
- US money transmissionNone (exited)
- No US money-transmitter license. US service withdrawn 2019, fully by 2022
- Operating entityCayman Islands
- CoinPayments Inc., Grand Cayman, the offshore holding and operating base · Founded 2013 in Vancouver. The entity and headquarters are now offshore
Licensing tier: CoinPayments holds no license in any market.
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Methods & rails
What you can reach
Payout rails
Processing features
Integrations & engineering
One contract and one API instead of a separate deal per studio, feed, or PSP. Here's what connects, how fast, and on what stack.
Merchants integrate through hosted checkout, payment buttons, a POS app, a documented REST API, or a cart plugin, take 175-plus coins in, and settle into a custodial multicoin wallet with real-time conversion to USD, EUR, and other fiat. Auto-Sweep forwards or converts balances on a schedule, and roughly 85% of transactions confirm instantly through a GAP600 integration.
Plugins and hosted pages make a basic setup fast, with the REST API for custom builds.
Products & tools
Everything in the stack hangs off the custodial wallet: payments land in it, conversion to fiat runs through it, and payouts leave from it.
Crypto Payment Gateway
The original product: accept 175-plus cryptocurrencies through hosted checkout, payment buttons, or the API, settle into a custodial multicoin wallet, and convert in real time to USD, EUR, and other fiat, with roughly 85% of transactions completing instantly via a GAP600 integration.
- 175-plus coins for processing, with 2,200-plus held in the multicoin wallet
- Real-time fiat settlement to USD, EUR, and more via Coinmotion and a Wyre integration
- Auto-Sweep to forward or convert a coin balance automatically each night
- Roughly 85% of transactions confirmed instantly through GAP600
- 0.5% on incoming payments, with deposits free to a monthly threshold then 0.5%
- Hosted checkout, payment buttons, and a point-of-sale app
Custodial Wallet
A custodial multicoin hot wallet with a cold-storage vault option, mass payouts and withdrawals to external addresses on an ASAP or nightly schedule, and auto-conversion between coins.
- Custodial multicoin hot wallet plus a cold-storage vault
- ASAP or nightly forwarding to external addresses
- Mass payouts for players, affiliates, or suppliers
- Auto-conversion between supported coins
- Consumer wallet app alongside the merchant tools
Integration
A REST API with documentation, hosted payment pages, and cart plugins, plus a point-of-sale app and an XRPL-powered processing path.
- REST API with extensive documentation and hosted payment pages
- Plugins for WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, OpenCart, PrestaShop, and Drupal
- Point-of-sale app for in-store crypto acceptance
- XRPL-powered processing (2025)
- Payment buttons and email invoicing for lighter setups
The history
Longevity in this industry usually comes with a change of owner somewhere in it.
CoinPayments launched in 2013 in Vancouver, Canada, one of the first crypto payment gateways, founded by Alex Alexandrov with Jason Butcher joining as an advisor in 2015 and chief operating officer in 2017 before becoming CEO in 2020. The operating entity, CoinPayments Inc., is now offshore in Grand Cayman, and Ali Rafi was named CEO in June 2025. The company grew to well over 100,000 merchants, and began withdrawing from the US market in 2019, completing the exit by 2022.
Corporate
Leadership
Milestones
- 2013
CoinPayments launches in Vancouver, founded by Alex Alexandrov.
- 2017
Jason Butcher becomes chief operating officer, on the path to the CEO seat in 2020.
- 2019
CoinPayments begins withdrawing service from US businesses, a process completed by 2022.
- 2025
Ali Rafi is named CEO, and an XRPL payment-processing path launches.
Where they're pushing next
- Non-US, offshore merchants across e-commerce, iGaming, and forex on the existing gateway
Longevity and ownership
Switching vendors is expensive, which makes the company's staying power part of the purchase. What the contract says about your data decides how expensive an exit gets.
CoinPayments vs alternatives
Most buyers in this market shortlist three or four vendors long before they take a single sales call.
| Attribute | CoinPayments | NOWPayments | CoinsPaid | Bitpace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 | 2019 | 2014 | 2016 |
| Team | 71+ | 22+ | 200+ | — |
| US market | Restricted | Restricted | Restricted | Restricted |
| Pricing | Public | Public | Public | On request |
| Currencies | 9+ | 21+ | 40+ | 20+ |
| Coins | 175+ | 350+ | 20+ | 70+ |
| Settlement | Roughly 85% of transactions confirmed instantly via GAP600, with real-time fiat settlement to USD, EUR, and more | Per transaction, in minutes | Near-instant crypto-to-fiat at a rate locked when the payment is made | Seconds to minutes after blockchain confirmation, with auto-conversion to USD, EUR, or USDC |
| Instant payouts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Settlement & commercials
CoinPayments publishes pricing. Those figures are below, and final terms still land in the contract.
0.5% on incoming payments and deposits, with deposits free up to a monthly threshold (around $15,000 equivalent) then 0.5%, 1% on stablecoins and tokens, plus coin network fees and any partner conversion fees. Withdrawals carry the coin transaction fee.
0.5% on incoming payments and 1% on stablecoins and tokens, with deposits free to a monthly threshold, plus network and conversion fees. There is no rolling reserve and no chargebacks on the crypto rail.
The deal
Money movement
Onboarding path
- 1Confirm the business is outside the US
- 2Open a merchant account and clear KYB
- 3Scope the integration: the REST API docs, a cart plugin, or hosted checkout
- 4Pick the settlement leg: real-time fiat to USD, EUR, and more via Coinmotion or Wyre, or balances left in the multicoin wallet
- 5Configure Auto-Sweep and ASAP or nightly forwarding to external addresses
- 6Go live and run mass payouts to players, affiliates, or suppliers
Support & account management
You can't demo service before you sign, so what a vendor puts in writing is the only floor you can hold it to.