Glossary · moving money
What is an off-ramp?
An off-ramp turns crypto back into conventional money in a bank account. For a business it is the least glamorous and most important part of accepting crypto, because it is the step that turns revenue into something you can spend.
Why this is the step that decides whether crypto payments work for you
Accepting crypto is easy. Getting the value into your bank account, in your currency, at a predictable cost and on a schedule your finance team can plan around, is the part that either works or does not.
At CoinGate the off-ramp is built into settlement rather than being a separate service. You choose a settlement currency, incoming payments convert, and you withdraw to your own bank account. On the published rates crypto and SEPA withdrawals are free with a 50 EUR minimum amount, and SWIFT carries a percentage with a minimum fee.
That minimum fee on SWIFT is worth modelling if you withdraw small amounts, because a minimum fee and a minimum amount are different things and the two footnotes are easy to conflate.
The other thing to check with any provider is who the off-ramp pays. Ours pays your own bank account. Paying a third party’s bank account in euros is a different service and not one we offer.
What to check
Three questions that decide whether an off-ramp fits your operation.
Which currencies and rails
EUR, GBP and USD settlement, with SEPA and SWIFT withdrawal. What arrives depends on which you use.
Frequently asked questions
Is settlement the same as an off-ramp?
They overlap. Settlement converts and credits your balance. The off-ramp is the withdrawal that moves it to your bank. The three stages
What does withdrawing cost?
Crypto and SEPA are free with a 50 EUR minimum amount. SWIFT is charged at a percentage with a minimum fee of 50 EUR, so below roughly 10,000 EUR you pay the minimum whatever the size. Pricing
Can I off-ramp to someone else’s bank account?
No. EUR withdrawals go to your own account. Payouts to other people leave in crypto.
Do I have to off-ramp at all?
No. You can hold what arrives. The point is that the option exists and is priced. Holding balances