Merchant onboarding
EARLY ACCESSFrom checkout to a reconciled payment.
Before you enable a new payment method, write down what a successful order looks like. The customer must know what to send. Your team must know when to release the service. Your accountant must be able to connect the invoice to the money received. These six stages turn that outcome into an acceptance checklist.
Published by Bitcoin Lawyer
In this guide4 sections
Define the order before configuring the wallet.
Map the transaction
Record the store or invoicing platform, invoice currency, typical order size and moment at which fulfilment becomes irreversible. Identify who owns customer support, accounting and technical changes. Include the customer’s usual sending method: a personal wallet and an exchange withdrawal can behave differently. Start with a narrow use case that your team can inspect from beginning to end.
Establish receiving control
Verify a receiving destination from the business’s own wallet and confirm the recovery procedure before accepting revenue. Document who can change that destination. An account-level public key may allow address generation without spending access, but it can expose address history. Use only the receiving information required for the chosen network and wallet. Lightning requires a separate review of node custody, backups and inbound capacity.
Set invoice rules
Choose the accepted asset, exact network, quote lifetime and confirmation policy. Define what happens if an exchange deducts a withdrawal fee, a payment arrives after expiry or the customer sends too much. These are decisions about fulfilment and customer treatment, not just software settings. A transaction hash supplied by a customer is a useful lead, but the system must independently confirm the actual payment.
Connect status to the order
The website should learn about payment through an authenticated provider event and a checked invoice state. Returning from checkout does not establish payment. Keep one durable order reference, record the processor’s invoice reference and make repeated notifications harmless. If a payment needs manual review, the order should remain held rather than quietly move to fulfilment. Keep payment credentials out of browser code.
Test the customer and merchant views
Use an agreed test procedure before raising volume. Check that network, amount, destination and expiry are legible on a phone. Trace the resulting payment to the intended wallet, reconcile fees and confirm that exactly one order changes state. Exercise a duplicate event, expired invoice and incomplete payment. Record the result and any remaining limitations; a screenshot saying success is not a complete acceptance record.
Hand over the operating procedure
Name the people who monitor missed events, check unsettled orders, approve refunds and contact customers. Agree how updates are tested and how records are exported. Keep a recovery plan for the server, invoice database and wallet separately: restoring the website does not necessarily restore payment history or spending access. Begin with a controlled rollout and review exceptions before expanding the number of networks or stores.
Keep a small acceptance record.
For each enabled payment method, retain the configuration version, approved receiving destination, invoice reference, transaction reference, gross amount, fees, confirmation state and fulfilment result. Give the accountant a consistent export instead of a folder of explorer screenshots. Agree how long the business will keep the records and who can access them.
Early access is useful when the implementation is treated as a specific piece of business infrastructure. It is not a promise that every store plugin, wallet or exchange has already been tested. The handoff should state what passed, what remains manual and who owns the next decision.
Before you decide
Common questions.
Do I have to replace my existing card checkout?
No. A separate Bitcoin payment path can be evaluated alongside the existing process. The implementation must still maintain one reliable order record and clearly distinguish the customer’s selected payment method.
Can you configure the system from a seed phrase?
Do not share one. Receiving configuration should use the minimum public information needed. Any arrangement that grants spending authority needs a separate security decision.
Your next step
Turn the guide into a working list.
Start by listing the records you hold, the decision you need to make, and the questions this guide leaves open. A free 15-minute screening call helps to establish eligibility.