Cryptocurrency
How to Accept Payments from the US
#crypto-acquiring
The US is the largest market for online sales and, at the same time, the most awkward one if your business isn't registered there. The customer is ready to pay, but the money doesn't arrive: their own bank declines the card, the payment service demands a US legal entity, and up to 5.4% in fees gets deducted from the amount along the way.
The good news is that all three problems are solvable once you understand how they work. Here's where the money actually gets lost, what Americans really pay with, and how to put together a set of channels that survives any one of them going down.
The Main Challenges of Accepting Payments from the US
Accepting payments from the US comes down to four things: currency conversion, fees, payment system restrictions, and the risk of declines and blocks. Each one costs you money, and almost none of it shows up in a report.
Currency Conversion
The customer pays in dollars, and you receive money in your own currency — somewhere between those two points sits a conversion, and you're the one paying for it. Stripe adds 1% to the rate if the payment currency doesn't match your payout currency. The bank on the payout end adds its own markup on top, typically another 2–4% above the interbank rate.
The rate markup is the most expensive and least visible part of the cost, because the bank never shows it as a separate line item. You just get a worse rate than the market rate.
What to do about it: keep a dollar balance and convert in large batches rather than on every transaction. On $100,000 in turnover, the difference is measured in thousands.
Fees Stack in Layers
The "2.9% + 30 cents" rate everyone remembers only applies when both the account and the card are American. The moment either the card or the currency is foreign, surcharges kick in.
| Fee layer | What Stripe charges | |
|---|---|---|
| Base rate for an online card payment | What Stripe charges2.9% + $0.30 | |
| Card issued outside your account's country | What Stripe charges+1.5% | |
| Payment currency doesn't match payout currency | What Stripe charges+1% | |
| Maximum on a single transaction | What Stripe charges5.4% + $0.30 | |
| Every disputed payment | What Stripe charges$15 — regardless of whether you win the dispute |
For a business outside the US, the logic mirrors this: an American card is a foreign card to your account, and the 1.5% surcharge falls on you. PayPal charges from 3.49% + $0.49 for an online payment, which is already more expensive than card acquiring at the base rate.
Payment System Restrictions
The major services don't work with everyone. Stripe, PayPal, Payoneer, and Wise classify some regions as high-risk and simply don't open accounts there, and some businesses don't clear the review based on their line of work.
The workaround is registering a legal entity in a supported jurisdiction — the US, UK, UAE, Hong Kong. It's legal and it works, but it takes time, costs money, and adds a second set of books with separate reporting.
Even an approved account can be lost. Sudden closures and long fund holds are a recurring theme in merchant reviews of major processors. Plan as if your account could be frozen tomorrow.
The Risk of Declines and Blocks
Cross-border payments get declined more often than domestic ones. By 2026 industry benchmarks, international cards see approval rates 5–15 percentage points lower than domestic ones: the issuing bank sees a foreign merchant country, a foreign currency, and an unfamiliar pattern — and declines just in case. For well-tuned online acquiring in North America, 92–95% approval is considered the norm, and every lost point is revenue that never arrived.
False declines cost businesses more than actual fraud does. An Oxford Economics study estimated merchant losses from false declines at $50.7 billion a year, against roughly $33.4 billion in losses from card fraud. A single false decline for a loyal customer cuts their future order volume by 65%.
Which Payment Methods Are Popular with US Customers
The main thing to understand about American checkout: the customer isn't paying with a card or a wallet — they're paying with a card inside a wallet. It's one channel with different storefronts, and turning off any one of those storefronts means losing part of your customers.
According to the Global Payments Report 2026 (Worldpay surveyed more than 63,000 consumers in 42 countries), the picture in the US looks like this.
| Payment method | Share of US online payments, 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Cash App) | Share of US online payments, 202540% | |
| Credit cards directly | Share of US online payments, 202532% | |
| Buy now, pay later (BNPL) | Share of US online payments, 20256% | |
| The rest | Share of US online payments, 2025debit cards, bank transfers, other methods |
Bank Cards
The card remains the foundation of everything. Even when an American pays through Apple Pay, there's almost always a card sitting inside the wallet: about 70% of US users fund their wallets from cards.
Credit cards are more popular than debit cards because of cashback, rewards, and buyer protection. That same protection is what turns into chargebacks for you — it's the price of access to an audience that's used to paying with credit.
Electronic Payment Services
Americans don't think of PayPal, Cash App, and Venmo as an alternative to a card — they see them as the familiar button at checkout. PayPal costs more than card acquiring, but not having the button costs more than the fee — a customer who doesn't see a familiar payment method leaves at the payment step, right when they were ready to buy.
Mobile Payments
Alternative Payment Methods
BNPL, buy now pay later, accounts for 6% of US online turnover, with growth projected at 13% a year through 2030. The fee is high (Klarna costs 5.99% + $0.30 on Stripe, Afterpay 6% + $0.30), but it pays for itself in conversion: customers who hesitate at the full price follow through on the purchase if they can split it into installments.
ACH is the American bank transfer. On Stripe it costs 0.8% capped at $5, an order of magnitude cheaper than cards. A logical channel for B2B invoices and large amounts, and useless for impulse purchases.
Cryptocurrency is a growing channel, covered separately below.
Why It's Worth Having Alternative Payment Methods
A single payment channel is a single point of failure. Here's what a second one gets you.
Less dependence on one channel. If your processor closes your account or the acquirer raises your reserve, revenue stops that same day. A second channel turns a catastrophe into an inconvenience.
Convenience for different customer types. A corporate client pays an invoice by ACH, a retail customer pays through Apple Pay in one tap, a big-ticket buyer picks installments, and a crypto holder pays in USDT. Each one needs their own button, and an extra button costs less than a lost sale.
Better business resilience. Declines and chargebacks hit a specific channel. If your card processing lands in the red zone under VAMP, stablecoin payments keep going through: they have no issuing bank that can say no, and no chargebacks.
The ability to reach an international audience. By setting up several channels for the US, you automatically open up sales in countries where cards work poorly. One infrastructure, many markets.
Cryptocurrency as a Way to Accept International Payments
A crypto payment doesn't go through banks. The customer sends funds to an address, the network confirms the transaction, and you see the money. There's no issuing bank that can decline the payment, no chain of correspondent banks, and no currency controls.
Here's what that gets a business selling into the US.
Money arrives in minutes, not days. The blockchain runs around the clock, with no weekends and no business hours. A payment made on a Saturday evening lands on a Saturday evening.
No chargebacks. A confirmed transaction can't be recalled. For a business selling digital goods and subscriptions to an American audience, this removes the biggest source of losses.
The fee doesn't depend on the amount. The network charges per transaction, not a percentage of it. Sending $100 and sending $10,000 cost the same.
Geography isn't a limit. A customer pays the same way from the US, Brazil, or Indonesia. One integration covers every market at once.
No US bank required. You accept dollars in stablecoins without opening a US legal entity or passing a payment system's review that might turn you down.
Volatility — the main objection to crypto payments — has been resolved by stablecoins. USDT and USDC are pegged to the dollar, and over the past two years they've turned from a crypto asset into a regulated payment instrument — the GENIUS Act was signed in the US on July 18, 2025, the EU's MiCA framework is in effect, and Hong Kong has its own stablecoin law. In its 2026 report, Worldpay directly links growing business trust in stablecoins for cross-border settlements to improved regulation.
Let's be honest about the method's limits too — paying directly in cryptocurrency is still a niche method. Crypto won't replace cards at checkout, and it shouldn't. Its place is as a second channel, covering exactly the cases where cards break down: customers the bank won't let through, countries Stripe doesn't reach, and revenue you need today, not next week.
How to Choose Payment Infrastructure
Five criteria worth comparing services on.
Support for international payments. Look not just at the list of countries but at the list of business types. A service might work with your jurisdiction and still turn you down over your project's category. Find this out before launch, not after your first sales.
Transaction processing speed. Count not the authorization time but the time until the money can actually be spent. Card processing holds a payout for several days; crypto acquiring settles in minutes. In a cash-flow crunch, that difference matters more than the difference in fees.
Fee size. Compare not the advertised rate but the final amount that lands in your account. A base 2.9% turns into 5.4% the moment the card is foreign and the currency doesn't match.
Ease of integration. A ready-made module for your CMS or a payment link launches in a day. A custom API integration takes a week. Choose based on whether you have a developer.
Operational stability. Ask about the freeze and hold policy before connecting, not after. And never rely on a single channel, no matter how solid it looks.
Comparing Channels for Accepting Payments from the US
| Channel | Fee | What you need to connect | Main limitation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cards via Stripe | Feefrom 2.9% + $0.30, up to 5.4% on a foreign card with conversion | What you need to connecta legal entity in a supported country, an account, a website | Main limitationdeclines, chargebacks, risk of account suspension | |
| PayPal | Feefrom 3.49% + $0.49 | What you need to connecta merchant account, a supported jurisdiction | Main limitationdeclines, chargebacks, risk of account suspension, higher fee | |
| ACH (US bank transfer) | Fee0.8%, capped at $5 (Stripe's rate) | What you need to connectUS processing | Main limitationnot suited for impulse purchases | |
| Multi-currency accounts (Payoneer, Wise) | Fee1–2% | What you need to connecta foreign legal entity | Main limitationdon't work with individual customers | |
| Freelance platforms | Fee5–10% | What you need to connectan agreement with the platform | Main limitationexpensive, doesn't scale | |
| Private intermediaries | Fee10–15% | What you need to connectan arrangement | Main limitationno guarantees, risk of fraud | |
| SWIFT transfer | Feebank fees plus an exchange rate markup | What you need to connecta currency account, deal documentation | Main limitation3–10 days, payment can be returned | |
| Crypto acquiring (Heleket) | Feefrom 0.4% plus network fee | What you need to connectan account and project moderation | Main limitationthe customer needs to hold cryptocurrency |
Heleket as a Crypto Channel
Heleket is a crypto acquiring service that covers all five criteria for crypto payments. Fees start from 0.4%, several times cheaper than card acquiring on a foreign card. The service supports 17 cryptocurrencies, including USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL, TRX, and TON.
Several tools come in handy for working with American customers.
Auto-converter. Automatically converts incoming payments to USDT. The customer pays with whatever they have, you get the dollar equivalent, and you don't have to track the rate.
Invoicing. You send the buyer a payment link, and they pay from any wallet. No separate payment page on your website needed.
Mass payouts. Send payments to contractors or salaries to employees in different countries in a single action instead of transferring to each one separately.
Auto-withdrawal. Sends funds to your wallet based on a condition you set, so money doesn't sit on the service's balance any longer than it needs to.
AML checks and account protection. The service checks the origin of incoming funds and supports two-factor authentication and IP whitelisting for the API and for withdrawal addresses. Even if keys leak, no one can withdraw funds to their own wallet.
You can start without registering a legal entity — a personal account is enough. Projects go through moderation, which requires a website or bot. Integration runs through the API or ready-made modules for popular CMS platforms, and support is available around the clock.
Conclusion
It's better to accept money from the US through several methods at once. The option to pay in crypto attracts customers who hold cryptocurrency, and as a bonus you get a payment fee far lower than a bank's. The base card processing rate climbs from 2.9% to 5.4% the moment the card is foreign and a conversion is needed. Every dispute costs another $15, and crossing the 1.5% chargeback threshold can cost you access to cards altogether. Crypto acquiring fees start from 0.4%, and the money arrives in minutes.
The backup routes are even simpler. Put what Americans actually pay with on your checkout: wallets (40% of online turnover), cards (32%), installments (6%). And place a channel next to it that doesn't depend on banks and doesn't know chargebacks.
Heleket covers that second channel — 17 cryptocurrencies, 8 networks, fees from 0.4%, auto-conversion to USDT, mass payouts, and AML checks. The account opens without a legal entity, and setup takes minutes.