Adopting Crypto Payments: How Businesses Go Global, Faster and Smarter

Objectively, cryptocurrency payments are no longer something niche.

By now, they’re proven to be a practical solution for businesses across industries to reduce payment friction, reach global customers, lower costs, and simplify finances. 

Mainstream surveys indicate that 75% of retailers plan to accept crypto or stablecoins by 2024 and 85% see crypto as a way to attract new customers.

Moreover, our recent data shows crypto transaction volumes surged by 29.6% in 2024 (1.68 million payments), with stablecoins now making up over one-third of payments at CoinGate alone.

Over the years, our team has interviewed multiple companies from various industries already using crypto payment solutions, gathered their feedback and documented their experiences.

If you’re interested, you can find all these case studies here.

In this case-driven overview, we explore why these merchants turned to crypto and what they achieved. 

1. Reducing Payment Friction and Delays

Problem: Traditional payment systems often introduce delays, geographic blocks, and chargeback headaches. 

For a global SaaS platform like Squaretalk, slow bank wires and card chargebacks were unacceptable. “Legacy finance was too slow, restrictive and costly for many of our fintech and international clients,” says Squaretalk CEO Elie Rubin. 

Similarly, ProxyScrape, a proxy infrastructure provider, found many customers struggled with cross-border payments and limited local options. Clients in regions with slow banking or currency controls experienced frustrating delays.

Solution: Cryptocurrency payments unlocked instant, borderless transactions. 

Squaretalk adopted crypto “to solve real-world payment friction – for our clients it’s about flexibility, convenience, and speed”. By accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and more, these companies enabled instant settlement from anywhere. 

NordVPN, for instance, discovered that Bitcoin could “bypass restrictions of traditional systems” and reach users in 176 countries.

ProxyScrape’s founder agrees: “Cryptocurrency enables us to accept payments from users around the world without the limitations of traditional financial systems… It offers speed, privacy, and global accessibility.”

CoinGate’s platform specifically eliminates wait times. Transactions are confirmed in minutes (or seconds on Lightning Network and layer-2s) instead of days. 

Squaretalk reported “faster settlements, particularly from clients in regions where banking is slow”. 

And because crypto payments are push-only, no chargebacks occur – a major relief for Squaretalk’s risk management. Every CoinGate crypto payment is final, sparing merchants the costly chargeback disputes of credit cards.

Results: By removing friction, merchants saw immediate improvements in customer experience. 

Squaretalk’s international clients now settle invoices instantly, no longer stuck waiting on wires. “We’ve seen faster settlements… Crypto has also strengthened our positioning with fintech clients who expect flexibility,” says Rubin. 

Coinzilla, a large ad network, similarly found that after integrating CoinGate, payment delays were gone – clients can top-up and cash-out without holdups.

In fact, Coinzilla’s publishers “love that they can get paid out in crypto on a weekly basis now… it builds a lot of trust when they see payments arriving on time”. 

Across the board, speedy crypto payments translated into happier customers, higher retention, and more conversions. NordVPN, for example, saw a 13% YoY increase in crypto payments after adding CoinGate, reflecting growing user uptake once the faster option was available.

2. Enabling Global Reach and New Customer Bases

Problem: Many businesses faced geographic barriers and missed opportunities in unbanked or far-flung markets. 

NordVPN realized early that its privacy-conscious user base spanned the globe – yet not all could pay easily with credit cards in 2017. By 2022, NordVPN knew it needed a truly global payment method to serve users in nearly every country. 

Bacloud, a Lithuanian hosting provider, likewise saw crypto as a way to “meet the evolving needs of [its] diverse clientele” and expand its presence in the global IT market. 

Traditional payment rails left gaps, especially for regions with weak banking. Merchants feared they were losing sales from tech-savvy or unbanked customers they simply couldn’t reach.

Solution: Accepting cryptocurrencies gave these companies borderless reach overnight. 

Bitcoin and stablecoins don’t care about country borders – if a customer has internet, they can pay. 

NordVPN integrated CoinGate in 2022, unlocking payments from 176 countries (covering 90% of the world). “Accepting cryptocurrency payments has been quite impactful, primarily for expanding our customer base and global accessibility,” says Kestas Saulis, NordVPN’s Head of Payments. 

ProxyScrape similarly filled a need for “seamless, borderless payments” to serve its worldwide user base. 

Even niche markets felt the impact: Ghost Galerie, a fine art gallery in Paris, attracted overseas crypto investors who wanted to buy art with their digital assets. And Bacloud’s COO observed that crypto opened “an entirely new market and new clients, which we would not be able to reach if we did not accept these payments.”

CoinGate’s multi-currency support also helped localize payments for different preferences. For instance, NordVPN’s users gravitate to BTC (~41% of crypto payments) and USDT (~29%) among others, while Eldorado.gg gamers often use BUSD, Litecoin or Ethereum in addition to Bitcoin. 

By offering a broad menu of crypto options, merchants catered to customers in emerging markets who prefer low-fee networks or stablecoins. The CoinGate gateway in-demand coins and even other payment innovations (e.g. Binance Pay integration) without merchants needing to lift a finger.

Results: Global crypto payments translated into tangible growth. 

As mentioned before, NordVPN reported receiving orders from 176 countries once crypto was enabled. 

ProxyScrape saw 33% of its total transactions go crypto, reflecting a huge uptake in regions where fiat was problematic. “Accepting cryptocurrency has helped us reach more users globally,” notes ProxyScrape’s founder Thibeau Maerevoet, “around 33% of our total transactions are made in crypto, showing a significant portion of our user base prefers this method.” 

In Bacloud’s case, adding crypto in 2017 kickstarted its global expansion strategy – new clients came aboard specifically due to the crypto option. Previously mentioned external research confirms this trend: 85% of merchants adopt crypto to find new customers, and the U.S. leads in crypto-paying shoppers, followed by rapid growth in regions like Asia and Latin America. 

By embracing borderless payments, these businesses not only captured additional revenue (e.g. Eldorado.gg gained a “new segment of revenue” worth 3% of sales), but also reinforced their brand as global and inclusive. 

Ghost Galerie’s CEO expects crypto to contribute 10–20% of transactions in coming years as they tap into a broader, younger demographic of art buyers worldwide.

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Want to introduce crypto payment solutions in your line of work? Start by signing up for CoinGate.

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3. Lowering Fees and Avoiding Banking Hassles

Problem: Payment fees and banking red tape were cutting into margins and agility. 

Credit card processors typically charge 1.5–3.5% per transaction (plus risk of fraud), eating profits. For high-volume businesses like NordVPN, those fees accumulate quickly. Additionally, chargebacks and fraud screening add cost and complexity – a big issue for digital goods providers (Squaretalk, Eldorado.gg, etc.). 

Traditional banking also posed hurdles: Squaretalk and others had to navigate cumbersome compliance checks for global transfers, and some clients in fintech simply could not pay via conservative banks without delays or denials. In ProxyScrape’s industry, local payment methods could be “limited or costly”, especially in emerging markets.

Solution: Crypto payments significantly lower transaction costs and bypass banking hurdles. 

CoinGate charges a flat 1% or less to process crypto payments – often cheaper than PayPal or credit cards by a wide margin, much lower than the 1.5–3.5% on credit cards. 

By accepting cryptocurrency payments, it also eliminates chargeback risk (fraudulent disputes aren’t possible on immutable blockchains). Squaretalk highlighted this as a major win: “one of the biggest wins has been the elimination of chargebacks – a common and costly issue with credit cards. With crypto, every transaction is final.”

Crypto’s decentralized rails also mean no middlemen taking cuts or blocking payments. In fact, 82% of merchants in one survey cited “crypto’s elimination of middlemen” as a reason they accept it. This was crucial for merchants serving customers in countries with strict banks or currency controls. 

Bitcoin and stablecoins provided a financial lifeline to complete sales that might have been impossible otherwise. NordVPN saw this as aligning with its mission: “Cryptocurrencies provide decentralized payment rails that complement our users’ privacy needs” – no bank oversight required. 

MoreMins, a telecom service for travelers, added crypto specifically to offer a higher-anonymity payment method for privacy-conscious customers. CEO Andrius Butvilas says it was a “logical next step… allowing them to purchase telecom services with higher anonymity”, reinforcing user privacy while avoiding card fees.

Results: Cost savings and smoother operations. 

NordVPN cut its effective payment processing rate dramatically (to ~1%), directly boosting the bottom line. “Lower transaction fees” were cited by 77% of surveyed merchants as a key attraction of crypto payments – and our case studies confirm it. 

On top of fee savings, merchants enjoyed zero chargeback losses and fewer fraud concerns. Squaretalk noted that crypto “removed a layer of uncertainty from billing” by making all transactions final. 

Eldorado.gg, which brokers digital game goods, benefited here as well – no more stolen credit card purchases or PayPal disputes undermining trust. Their Head of Finance, Martynas, emphasized that with CoinGate “we do not have to hold cryptocurrencies and get paid in fiat instead,” avoiding FX exposure and saving time that we can use to focus on growth. 

By sidestepping banking gatekeepers, companies also sped up cash flow. NordVPN’s Saulis pointed out that converting crypto to Euros “using the same [CoinGate] account” ensured financial stability without waiting for bank approvals. 

In sum, crypto payments have proven cost-effective, secure, and hassle-free, letting merchants reinvest savings and time into their core business.

4. Appealing to Crypto-Native and Tech-Savvy Audiences

Problem: As crypto adoption grows (estimated 1 billion users by 2026), businesses don’t want to miss out on this rising customer segment. 

Many companies noticed a subset of their users actively asking for crypto payments. 

For example, Ghost Galerie received “several demands since 2022” from art collectors wanting to pay in crypto. These tech-savvy investors saw crypto as a way to diversify into art, but the gallery lacked a solution initially. 

Eldorado.gg also knew “avid gamers are keen on cryptocurrencies” and didn’t want to lose those sales to competitors. 

MoreMins observed that crypto use was growing in the privacy-focused telecom space – ignoring it could mean losing innovative customers to others. 

In short, customer demand and brand positioning were at stake.

Solution: Offer crypto payments to meet your audience where they are. 

By partnering with CoinGate, these businesses signaled that they embrace innovation and care about their customers’ preferences. 

“We didn’t adopt crypto to be trendy. We did it to solve real-world payment friction for our clients,” says Squaretalk’s CEO – whose fintech clients “already transact in cryptocurrency… it’s part of how they do business”. Appealing to that crypto-native demographic gave Squaretalk a competitive edge. 

Ghost Galerie, after integrating CoinGate, marketed the new option via its website and client meetings, even creating a landing page on “buying art with crypto”. The result was overwhelmingly positive feedback from their clients: 

“The response from our collectors… has been great. We’ve had multiple enthusiastic reactions from daily crypto users. Even beginners, initially hesitant, were reassured when they saw CoinGate’s platform and its status as a trusted European leader.” This highlights how trust in our brand (active since 2014) rubs off on merchants, reassuring newcomers that the crypto process is safe and legit.

Across industries, crypto payments attracted new communities: MoreMins gained a “separate segment” of loyal users who appreciated the extra anonymity. 

NordVPN’s tech-savvy customers were “very positive as they could use their preferred cryptocurrency” to pay. 

ProxyScrape found many of its clients “run crypto-based businesses themselves and prefer to avoid the friction of fiat”, so offering crypto aligned with their values. 

And in the art world, Ghost Galerie now taps into the crypto-rich investor class looking to turn digital profits into fine art: “They mostly want to convert some of their crypto earnings into tangible artworks and treat themselves,” notes CEO Stéphane Miquel. 

This synergy between crypto and the product (whether privacy services, game items, or art) became a marketing advantage. 

CoinGate even helps promote its merchants to the crypto community: through blog features and social media, CoinGate drove 3,300 leads and 1,100 new paying users to MoreMins alone within 2024, and nearly 43,000 leads to other companies combined – boosting traffic and sales at no extra cost.

Results: Stronger brand loyalty and increased sales from crypto enthusiasts. 

Businesses report that crypto users often become some of their most engaged customers. 

MoreMins saw crypto payments double to 10% of all transactions after actively courting this segment. “Cryptocurrency users are a separate segment for us, and we were pleasantly surprised by the rapid growth,” says MoreMins’ CEO, noting how this option increased overall revenue and customer loyalty. 

Ghost Galerie’s move positioned it as a modern, adaptable player in a traditional industry, helping attract a “broader, younger demographic keen on blending art with innovative financial tools.” 

Meanwhile, companies like Surfshark (a CoinGate partner not covered in depth here) found that crypto payments “enhance service accessibility for privacy-conscious and unbanked users” – a clear competitive differentiator in VPN and tech sectors. 

By listening to their audience and embracing crypto, these businesses are future-proofing their operations. As Squaretalk’s CEO puts it: “We believe crypto is becoming a standard payment option… we’d rather lead the change than follow it.” 

In times when between 420-600 million people already own cryptocurrency globally and that number is climbing fast, catering to crypto natives is translating into real business wins.

5. Simplifying Payouts, Conversions and Treasury Management

Problem: Handling cryptocurrency internally – managing wallets, conversion, compliance – can be daunting. 

Many merchants wanted the benefits of crypto without the operational headaches. 

Coinzilla, for instance, faced a nightmare of manual processing as its advertising business grew: dozens of wallets for different coins, manual confirmations, and no easy way to convert volatile crypto into EUR for expenses. 

“Processing crypto payments across so many assets was becoming a headache,” recalls Coinzilla’s Luta Cosmin. “Our finance team spent too much time on manual transfers and reconciliations. We needed a more efficient system to keep up with our growth.” 

Many businesses shared this pain. Eldorado.gg initially accepted only Bitcoin, but it meant being exposed to price swings and managing crypto on their own. They desired a solution to “get paid in fiat” without holding crypto, yet still offer it to users. 

The treasury challenge boils down to: How to integrate crypto into accounting, avoid volatility, and perform payouts – all while staying compliant?

Solution: Outsource the heavy lifting to an all-in-one platform. 

In every case study, merchants chose CoinGate for its easy integration, automatic conversion, and payout tools. 

Instead of building their own crypto infrastructure, they plugged into CoinGate’s. “CoinGate was the perfect fit… providing a local presence and a convenient way to accept crypto and get paid in fiat,” says Eldorado.gg’s Martynas. 

Through CoinGate, merchants can instantly convert incoming crypto to stablecoins or fiat at the moment of transaction – locking in the EUR or USD value and eliminating volatility risk. “CoinGate allowed us to mitigate FX rate fluctuations… Instead of having to collect crypto ourselves and be exposed to FX risks, CoinGate saves time for us,” Martynas adds, “and we do not have to hold cryptocurrencies – we get paid in fiat instead.” 

This on-the-fly conversion acts like an instant exchange, which was invaluable for Europe-based companies managing expenses in EUR (CoinGate settles directly to the merchant’s bank).

CoinGate also offered automated payout services. Crypto payouts let businesses send crypto to others (like vendor payments or, in Coinzilla’s case, publisher earnings) in a few clicks. 

Coinzilla fully automated its weekly publisher payouts through CoinGate, replacing a manual process with scheduled crypto transfers that occur instantly. 

For even more flexibility, CoinGate’s crypto FX payouts feature enables payouts in any currency using any balance – for example, a merchant can hold revenue in Euros but pay out in Bitcoin, and CoinGate handles the conversion seamlessly in the background. This advanced tool essentially lets finance teams treat crypto like any other currency, simplifying treasury operations dramatically.

And perhaps most importantly, integration was quick and painless for all. CoinGate provides a robust API, ready-made plugins, and clear documentation (with a sandbox environment for testing). 

Squaretalk’s team had the system up “within days, tested and live – without changing any of our existing workflows,” according to CEO Elie Rubin. ProxyScrape’s developer integrated CoinGate’s API “in less than a day… it worked well with our existing checkout, with clear documentation, no major changes needed”. 

Eldorado.gg even had a new junior developer handle the CoinGate integration; it went “10/10 – would do it again,” and the crypto option was live in a week. 

CoinGate’s support team also guides merchants through setup and compliance (KYC/AML), so regulatory concerns are addressed. “CoinGate works like an extension of our compliance team,” notes Squaretalk’s CEO, praising the platform’s enterprise-grade KYC/AML checks and audit-friendly reporting. 

In short, CoinGate turned what could be a complex project into a plug-and-play solution.

Results: Night-and-day operational improvement. 

Once CoinGate took over the crypto payments pipeline, merchants saw streamlined workflows and reduced overhead. 

“CoinGate’s solution has made a night-and-day difference for us. Crypto payments used to be a source of stress – now it’s one of our strong points,” says Coinzilla’s Cosmin. His team no longer chases transactions or juggles multiple wallets – “everything is managed in one unified system,” allowing staff to focus on growth instead of back-office tasks. 

Several merchants reported similar savings in time and staffing. By automating crypto processes, CoinGate effectively became their crypto department – handling security, updates, blockchain monitoring, and compliance in the background.

Financial stability improved as well. With instant conversion, companies insulated themselves from market swings. 

Squaretalk operates with “zero exposure to price fluctuations” – every crypto sale turns into EUR immediately. This gave its finance and legal teams full confidence to proceed. 

Eldorado.gg could offer crypto without worrying about crypto – they get the best of both worlds (attracting crypto spenders, but settling in fiat). 

CoinGate’s reliability also scaled with merchant growth: Coinzilla processes over 1 billion ad impressions/month and has seen crypto volumes climb steadily with zero downtime or capacity issues. Stability was critical for them, and CoinGate delivered a robust backbone.

Finally, treasury flexibility reached new heights. By using features like crypto payouts, businesses unlocked new possibilities – paying partners or bills in crypto when advantageous, or converting revenue to different currencies on demand. 

For example, a company could pay international contractors in stablecoins (avoiding costly wire fees) or instantly swap Bitcoin sales into Euros to capture gains. CoinGate’s tools handle all these scenarios within one account. 

The result is a smoother, more agile financial operation. As Coinzilla noted, “CoinGate basically acts as an on-the-fly exchange, saving us the trouble of using external exchanges”. 

This one-stop solution approach has proven itself across these case studies – from advertising networks to art galleries – showing that any business can confidently integrate crypto with the right partner doing the heavy lifting.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Across industries and use cases, CoinGate’s merchants achieved faster payments, global reach, lower costs, happier customers, and simpler operations by embracing crypto payments. 

What began as a way to solve a specific problem (be it payment friction, customer demand, or banking limits) often grew into a strategic advantage. 

These companies are now seen as innovators in their fields – whether it’s a VPN giant serving 176 countries, a telecom boosting revenues with 10% crypto sales, or an art gallery attracting new-age investors. 

As Elie Rubin of Squaretalk aptly said: “Crypto isn’t a replacement for banking – it’s a powerful addition that makes doing business faster, safer, and more flexible.” All the evidence agrees: adding crypto options complements traditional payments and offers unique benefits with virtually no downside (extra revenue, no chargebacks, broader market appeal).

Some overarching learnings from these success stories include:

• Listen to your customers: If you have a tech-savvy, global or privacy-conscious audience, crypto payments can significantly improve their experience and loyalty. NordVPN and Ghost Galerie, for example, won praise from users for giving them their preferred way to pay.
  
• Leverage crypto’s strengths: Use crypto where it adds value – for instant global transfers, microtransactions, or serving unbanked regions – while converting to stable value when needed. Many case studies show a hybrid approach (crypto in, fiat out) yields the best of both worlds.
  
• Choose the right payment partner: A dependable, regulated processor like CoinGate ensures security, compliance, and ease of integration. “Choose a partner who prioritizes compliance and security… with the right partner, it’s a secure, traceable, and future-ready solution,” advises Squaretalk’s CEO. All these merchants credit CoinGate’s platform and support for making the journey smooth (often in days, with minimal coding).

CoinGate’s flexibility and proven success shine through these stories. From automated crypto invoicing that simplified Ghost Galerie’s tax accounting, to weekly payout schedules that fit ProxyScrape’s financial planning, to compliance-first features that satisfied Squaretalk’s auditors – CoinGate delivered a solution tailored to each business’s needs. 

The consistency of positive outcomes (higher conversions, new customers, smoother ops) across such varied sectors speaks volumes. It’s no surprise our own data labels 2024 as “The Year of Stablecoins” with stable-value crypto transactions soaring – merchants and customers alike are finding real utility in crypto payments, not just hype.

Is your business ready to unlock these benefits? Taking the first step is easier than you might think. 

You can sign up for a CoinGate account in minutes and start exploring crypto payments with no upfront cost. CoinGate provides everything you need to get started – from e-commerce plugins and invoicing to a full-featured API and crypto payout tools. 

Want to pay suppliers or contractors in crypto, or automatically convert daily crypto sales to euros? With CoinGate, you decide which currencies to accept and how you want to settle (crypto or fiat), and the platform handles the rest – securely, compliantly, 24/7.

Join the growing number of businesses embracing the future of payments. As we’ve seen, crypto payments can reduce costs, boost sales, and delight customers in ways traditional methods simply can’t. 

CoinGate’s merchants—from VPNs and hosting providers to online marketplaces—are already reaping these rewards and positioning themselves for the next wave of digital commerce. 

In 2025 and beyond, accepting crypto could be as common as accepting credit cards – and with CoinGate’s help, you can get ahead of the curve today. 

Start now by creating your CoinGate account and turn crypto payments into your company’s next success story. Every industry can find an edge with the right crypto strategy – CoinGate’s flexible, stable, and trusted solutions are the key to making it happen.