Glossary · moving money
What is a deposit address?
A deposit address is a wallet address assigned to identify who is paying you. Instead of one shared address that tells you nothing about the sender, each customer or account gets their own, so an incoming transfer identifies itself.
The problem it solves, which is attribution rather than payment
If a hundred customers pay into one address, the money arrives and you have no idea who sent what. You end up asking people to email you a reference, which they forget, or matching amounts by hand, which breaks the moment two people send the same figure.
A per-customer deposit address removes the question. The address is the reference. Anything arriving there belongs to that account, with no memo field to fill in and nothing for the customer to remember.
This is the model behind exchange deposits, platform balances and any product where a user tops up rather than checking out. It suits repeat inbound payments in a way an invoice checkout does not, because there is no order to create each time.
At CoinGate these are called payment channels. The address persists, so a customer can save it and use it again.
Where this fits better than an invoice
Three shapes of business where a checkout is the wrong tool.
Repeat top-ups
A customer funding a balance rather than buying one thing. No order, no expiry, no fixed amount.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from an invoice?
An invoice is one order with an amount and an expiry. A deposit address is standing and takes any amount at any time, which is what makes it right for top-ups.
Is the address permanent?
It persists rather than being regenerated per payment, which is the point. A customer can save it. Payment channels
Do I still get a record per payment?
Yes. Each incoming transfer has its own hash, timestamp and amount, attributed to the channel it arrived on.