If you’re a small business in Africa, choosing the best crypto payment gateway comes down to three questions: where do you need to settle, what do you sell through, and how much of the transaction do you keep. Most comparison guides answer these for merchants in the US or EU. Few answer them for a fashion brand in Lagos, a hotel in Accra, or a WhatsApp seller in Nairobi.
At a Glance
| Provider | Best for | Settlement | Fees | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tender | African & emerging-market merchants and platforms needing local currency settlement | 16+ currencies, direct to bank | 2%, capped at $100 | Online, social, and in-person checkout plus APIs — all on one infrastructure |
| BitPay | US-based consumer checkout | Bank settlement in USD, EUR, and a handful of other currencies | 1–2% + $0.25, tiered by volume | Long-standing consumer wallet with a large existing user base |
| NOWPayments | Businesses wanting maximum coin variety, non-custodial control | Crypto-to-crypto by default; fiat off-ramps available in some regions | 0.5–1.5% depending on conversion | 300+ supported assets |
Tender
Choose Tender if your customers are in Africa or the diaspora, you sell across more than one channel — website, chat, in person — or you’re a platform that wants to offer crypto payments to your own users without building the infrastructure yourself.
Tender is a crypto payment gateway built in Nigeria, for businesses and platforms accepting crypto anywhere and settling in their local currency. It supports over 300 crypto assets across 20+ blockchains, with settlement available in 16+ currencies. Rather than being a single checkout button, Tender gives merchants several ways to get paid on the same infrastructure:
- Online Checkout — API, hosted checkout, plugins, or embedded checkout for websites and product flows (live on Shopify and WooCommerce).
- Social Payments — generate a payment request or QR code and collect crypto directly inside a conversation, wherever a customer already buys, including a dedicated WhatsApp flow.
- In-Person POS — a physical device that accepts both QR scans and NFC tap-to-pay.
- APIs & Infrastructure — for SaaS platforms, marketplaces, and fintechs that want to build payments, payouts, subscriptions, or embedded checkout directly into their own product instead of bolting on a separate provider.
That last point is aimed at a different kind of buyer than the other two gateways on this list are built for: product teams. A marketplace or SaaS platform can use Tender’s APIs, SDKs, and webhooks to build crypto acceptance, payouts, and settlement into what they’re already building, rather than stitching together multiple tools.
On the money side, merchants aren’t locked into one settlement path — funds can be settled to a local currency, held in crypto, swapped between assets, or paid out automatically on a schedule, all managed from one dashboard alongside reporting. Fees are 2% per transaction, capped at $100, which works in a merchant’s favor on larger transactions compared to a flat, uncapped percentage. KYC approval takes about 24 hours.
Tender is already built into real businesses: Smileys Africa added crypto checkout to their WooCommerce store and settle locally, and Ashluxe accepts crypto in person through Tender’s POS without changing how their checkout already runs. Tender is also integrated with Catlog, giving its 50,000+ merchants across Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya a direct path to accepting crypto without a separate integration.
Where it’s less of a fit: if a business operates entirely in the US or EU with no interest in chat-based or in-person crypto acceptance, Tender’s African-market focus won’t be the main draw.
BitPay
Choose BitPay if you’re a US-based merchant serving consumers who already hold crypto and expect a familiar checkout experience.
BitPay has been processing crypto payments since 2011, which makes it one of the longest-running providers in the space. It offers online checkout, payment links, and point-of-sale integrations for physical stores, plus a consumer-facing wallet app that many US crypto holders already use. Merchant fees are tiered by monthly volume — roughly 2% + $0.25 per transaction for businesses under $500,000/month, dropping as volume increases.
Where it’s less of a fit: BitPay isn’t built around African settlement currencies, and it doesn’t have anything equivalent to a WhatsApp-native checkout — its point-of-sale tools assume a traditional in-store setup.
NOWPayments
Choose NOWPayments if coin variety matters more to you than local settlement, and you’re comfortable with a non-custodial model where more of the conversion and payout process sits with you.
NOWPayments supports over 300 cryptocurrencies and 30+ stablecoins, with fees starting around 0.5% for same-coin transactions and rising for auto-conversion. It’s a strong option for businesses with a globally scattered, crypto-native customer base who might want to pay in less common tokens.
Where it’s less of a fit: NOWPayments isn’t built with African settlement rails or emerging-market merchants specifically in mind, and it doesn’t offer a WhatsApp-based outlet.
How to Choose
Four questions determine which gateway actually fits:
- Where do you need the money to land? If you need it in Naira, cedis, or another local currency without extra conversion steps, that narrows the field fast.
- How do you actually sell? Online-only merchants have more options. If chat-based or in-person sales matter, far fewer providers support that natively.
- What’s your transaction size? A capped fee (like Tender’s 2%, capped at $100) favors merchants with larger average transactions. A low flat percentage with no cap favors merchants with many small transactions.
- Are you a merchant, or building a product for other businesses? If you’re a platform, marketplace, or SaaS product, look for a gateway with real APIs, SDKs, and webhooks — not just a merchant checkout button.
FAQ
What’s the best crypto payment gateway for accepting payments through WhatsApp?
Tender is currently the only one of these three built for chat-based selling — its Social Payments option includes a dedicated WhatsApp flow where the merchant’s own number becomes the point of sale, with no separate app needed for either side.
Do I need to hold cryptocurrency to use a crypto payment gateway?
No. All three providers listed here let merchants settle payments without holding crypto long-term — the difference is how automatic and local that settlement is. Tender settles directly to a bank account in local currency; NOWPayments’ default flow is crypto-to-crypto, with fiat off-ramps available in some regions.
How fast is crypto payment settlement?
It depends on the provider and the blockchain used. Tender’s in-person payments confirm between 1 minute and 2 hours depending on chain, with fiat payouts available on request or automatically through Auto-Payout.
Ready to accept crypto payments and get settled in your local currency? Create your free Tender account to get started.
Read more from Tender
- Crypto Adoption in Nigeria and Africa: What the 2026 Data Actually Shows
- How to Choose a Crypto Payment Gateway: 5 Things to Check Before You Sign Up
- How to Start Accepting Cryptocurrency in Your Business
- 10 Real-Life Use Cases of Crypto Payment Gateways in Businesses
- The Best Crypto Payment Gateway for Small Businesses in Africa (2026)
