Overview
NOWPayments is a crypto payment gateway that lets online businesses accept payment in cryptocurrencies. A merchant adds a payment button, an invoice link, or a store plug-in, and customers can pay in coins like ADA, Bitcoin, or Ethereum. Funds land in a wallet the merchant controls, in the coin they prefer to receive1.
NOWPayments is operated as part of the ChangeNOW family of services, alongside NowNodes (a blockchain node provider) and Walletnow. It supports more than 100 cryptocurrencies, including dedicated checkout flows for Cardano and Bitcoin23.
Key Features
- One integration covers many coins. A single NOWPayments account can accept ADA, Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum, and dozens of other cryptocurrencies, so a shop does not need to add a new tool every time it wants to support another coin1.
- No-code and developer paths. Non-technical merchants can drop in a hosted invoice link, a payment button, or a plug-in for popular store platforms; developers can use the published API to build custom checkouts45.
- Auto-convert at checkout. A customer can pay in one coin while the merchant receives a different coin, so a business that prefers to hold Bitcoin can still accept payments in ADA without manually swapping later2.
- Dedicated Cardano checkout page. ADA support is documented on its own product page, with merchant copy aimed at adding ADA as a payment method on a website rather than as a separate integration project2.
- Tools beyond simple checkout. The product range includes recurring subscriptions, donation widgets, point-of-sale flows, and mass payouts, so the same account can power a SaaS, a non-profit, and a physical store5.
What to Expect
A business signing up creates an account, adds a wallet address for each coin it wants to receive, and picks an integration: an invoice link, a payment button, a plug-in for a popular store platform, or the API. From there, customers see a familiar checkout where they pick a coin, scan a QR code or paste an address, and pay. The merchant gets a confirmation when the network confirms the transaction, and the funds settle to the merchant's wallet in the coin they chose to receive.
NOWPayments advertises transaction fees starting at 0.5%, with the exact rate depending on the coin and whether auto-conversion is used; standard blockchain network fees apply on top1. Routing and conversion happen on the NOWPayments side, so funds pass through the platform briefly during processing before settling to the merchant's wallet — anyone treating it as a long-term custody solution should read the help center and terms first6. For people exploring more crypto-checkout options, the payments and accounting category lists alternatives across the Cardano and Bitcoin ecosystems.
