Advantages of Web3 Payments

Data Security: Leveraging the immutability of blockchain technology, Web3 payments ensure transparent and tamper-proof transaction records.

Instant Settlement: With smart contracts embedded in platforms like PayFi, complex financial operations can be automated and settled in real time. Unlike traditional payment systems that take days or weeks, Web3 platforms enable fund transfers within minutes or seconds. This significantly saves time for users involved in large-volume or cross-border transactions.

Lower Costs: Traditional banks often charge around 6% for international transactions, which can be prohibitively expensive for large-scale transfers. Web3 payment systems reduce transaction fees to approximately 0.1%. This is particularly cost-effective for cross-border use cases.

Transparency: Transactions on Web3 payment platforms are transparent and publicly verifiable. Every transaction is recorded on a decentralized, immutable ledger accessible to anyone.

Timeline of Web3 Payment Development

2018: Alchemy Pay is founded, becoming one of the world’s first gateways bridging crypto and traditional finance.

2020: Crypto.com launches its Visa card and brings crypto payments into real-world spending scenarios.

2021: MoonPay raises over $500 million, which significantly boosts the global influence of crypto payments.

2022: Visa announces support for compliant crypto cards and partners with providers like Crypto.com and Binance Card.

2023: Gnosis Pay launches a blockchain-based Visa debit card in Europe. It integrates Gnosis Chain to bring on-chain payments to offline environments.

2023: The concept of PayFi begins to circulate in niche discussions. It focuses on the convergence of payment infrastructure and financial utilities.

2024: The Solana Foundation officially introduces the narrative of PayFi (Payment Finance).

2024: Crypto payments surge across regions like Latin America and Africa due to local currency devaluation, positioning crypto as an alternative financial solution.

Analysis of Leading Payment Projects

Payment Gateways

Alchemy Pay

Alchemy Pay is a hybrid crypto-fiat payment gateway that provides seamless connections between blockchain assets and traditional finance. It supports a wide range of payment methods including Visa, Mastercard, local payment rails, Web3 digital banking, and even NFT checkout.

Founded in 2018, Alchemy Pay was co-founded by Shawn Shi, a managing partner at Oak Grove Ventures and former VP of Technology at ZhongAn Insurance, as well as a former marketing manager at Qihoo 360. The core team brings deep expertise from companies like PayPal, Google Pay, and Mastercard. In 2023, Alchemy Pay raised $10 million at a $400 million valuation in a round led by DWF Labs, with backing from Cryptogram Ventures, Cipholio Ventures, Binance Labs, and other notable investors.

Key Advantages (Source)

From a technical standpoint, Alchemy Pay uses a hybrid architecture that merges blockchain payments with traditional financial networks. This enables compatibility with Visa, Mastercard, and various local payment systems. While traditional payment networks charge 3–11% in transaction fees, Alchemy Pay’s smart contract settlement system reduces that to around 1%, while improving efficiency and cutting typical settlement times from 1–2 weeks to just one day. Alchemy Pay also offers a range of point-of-sale (POS) terminals with offline functionality, which allows businesses to operate without requiring constant internet connectivity. Furthermore, its compliance with payment regulations in multiple jurisdictions strengthens its competitiveness on a global scale.

Alchemy Pay introduced the $ACH token in 2019, with a total supply of 10 billion. The token incentivizes usage, rewards participation, and enhances liquidity. $ACH can be used to pay network fees and participate in staking. All businesses working with Alchemy Pay must purchase and stake $ACH tokens proportionate to their transaction volume. This ensures network security and deters fraudulent activity.

Moon Pay

Founded in 2019, MoonPay specializes in crypto purchasing and payment infrastructure. Like Alchemy Pay, it supports both on- and off-ramp functionalities, allowing users to buy crypto using various methods such as credit cards, bank transfers, Apple Pay, and SEPA. MoonPay supports over 170 cryptocurrencies and NFTs and includes a built-in wallet that allows users to complete transactions without leaving the app.

To date, MoonPay supports 170+ digital assets and operates in 180 countries. It has processed over $8 billion in transactions and owns over 3 million registered accounts.

MoonPay Official Data (Source: MoonPay)

In 2021, MoonPay raised $555 million in a Series A round led by Tiger Global and Coatue Management, pushing its valuation to $3.4 billion. Paradigm, Thrive Capital, NEA, Blossom Capital, and others participated in the round.

In 2022, MoonPay secured an additional $87 million from high-profile investors, including Palm Tree Crew Crypto, Sound Ventures, Mantis VC, Time Ventures, K5 Global, Marcy Venture Partners, and Connect Ventures (backed by CAA).

Core Advantages

Broad Integration: MoonPay integrates liquidity from major exchanges, including Coinbase, Binance, Bittrex, Bitstamp, OKX, KuCoin, and Bequant. It also features built-in KYC, AML, and fraud protection mechanisms to prevent chargebacks and malicious activity. \

Robust Security: Using advanced encryption, MoonPay safeguards user data and payment information. As a non-custodial wallet solution, it gives users full control over their digital assets, significantly reducing custodial risks. \

Streamlined Identity Verification: MoonPay offers an efficient KYC process. Users typically only need to upload a valid ID to pass verification, although additional time may be required in some cases. This user-friendly approach is ideal for first-time users entering the crypto space.

Lending

Huma Finance

Huma Finance positions itself as the world’s first PayFi network. It offers financing solutions for global payments through unsecured lending services and provides licensed financial institutions with on-demand liquidity for real-time settlement of cross-border payments. Founded in 2022, Huma’s core team comprises veterans from Google, Meta, Coinbase, and Intrepid Ventures, bringing deep expertise in blockchain and finance.

Huma Finance Funding (Source: https://blog.huma.finance/)

In 2023, Huma Finance secured $8.3 million in a seed round led by Race Capital and Distributed Global, with participation from ParaFi Capital, Robot Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Folius Ventures. In 2024, the company raised an additional $38 million in a round led by Distributed Global, with support from HashKey Capital, Folius Ventures, Stellar Development Foundation, and TIBAS Ventures (the CVC arm of Turkey’s largest private bank İşbank).

Key Strengths of Huma Finance

Global Lending: Huma is built on an income-based lending model that allows users to access loans without collateral, instead leveraging their income streams.

Modular Architecture: With an open, modular, and decentralized framework, Huma ensures composable solutions for all participants in a secure environment.
Real-World Assets (RWA): By combining RWA, payments, and DeFi, Huma enables a more efficient and accessible network compared to traditional alternatives. It allows instant on-chain settlement of real-world assets, which ensures speed and transparency in transactions.

Privacy

Privasea

Privasea is an AI + DePIN project focused on privacy protection in Web3 payments. It leverages cutting-edge privacy computing technologies to safeguard user data, including Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)—a breakthrough that enables computation on encrypted data with results identical to those generated on plaintext. Privasea ensures that sensitive information remains protected, especially during machine learning processes.

Privasea’s native token, $PRVA, has a total supply of 1 billion. The token is currently unreleased and is expected to launch in the first half of 2025.

Privasea Funding (Source: https://www.privasea.ai/blog)

Privasea’s founding team includes former IBM and Microsoft engineers as well as blockchain security experts. Its founder and CEO, David Jiao, previously served as CEO of NuLink and was a systems architect at Volvo Cars. In 2024, Privasea raised $5 million in a seed round with backing from Gate Labs, DuckDAO, and YZi Labs. That same year, it secured further investment from OKX Ventures and Oasis Labs (undisclosed amount). In January, Privasea closed a $15 million Series A round at a $180 million valuation, with participation from GSR, Amber, and Echo.

Key Strengths of Privasea

Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE): At the core of Privasea is FHE, a revolutionary encryption method that enables direct computation on encrypted data without ever exposing raw data. While traditional systems require decryption before processing—risking data leaks—FHE maintains end-to-end encryption, with only final results decrypted. This is critical for industries like healthcare and law where privacy is paramount. \

Privanetix Network: Privasea powers its AI infrastructure through Privanetix—a highly scalable, distributed computing network comprising multiple FHE-capable nodes. These nodes process encrypted data securely, thus enhancing network scalability, efficiency, and protection against malicious actors.

RWA

Sphere Pay

Sphere Pay is a next-gen decentralized payment infrastructure focused on blockchain-based payments and settlement. Tailored for digital currency transactions, its API offers a one-stop solution that connects users to stablecoins and streamlines stablecoin-based commerce. Sphere delivers a comprehensive suite of tools to facilitate money transfers over the internet. It supports a variety of payment methods, including credit cards, wire transfers, ACH, and multi-chain stablecoins. The platform also integrates compliance, accounting, and tax tools to ensure secure and transparent fund flows. Since its inception, Sphere has partnered with leading Web3 companies such as Helium, Latitude.sh, Squads, DRiP, and Helius.

Sphere originated from a global payments-focused hackathon. Co-founders Arnold Lee and Luigi Charles met in 2015 while studying at Columbia University. Both experienced financial instability firsthand, so they became close friends and software collaborators. Arnold Lee serves as CEO and has a background in software engineering. Angel Herrera, Sphere’s Chief Strategy Officer, is a serial entrepreneur and early Solana supporter. He has co-founded Duffl and Lancer.so.

Sphere Pay is currently in its early development stage. In 2024, it raised $2.8 million in a seed round led by TCG Crypto and Jump Crypto, with participation from Solana Ventures, Republic Capital, Raj Gokal, Tristan Yver, and other notable investors. Later that year, in December, Sphere Pay secured a $5 million strategic investment led by Coinbase Ventures and Kraken Ventures, joined by Pyth Network, Anagram, Anza, Temporal, Joe McCann, Rebecca Rettig, Joao Reginatto, and others.

Sphere Pay Website (Source: https://spherepay.co/en)

Key Strengths of Sphere Pay

Sphere API: The Sphere API allows developers to easily build secure and efficient payment systems. It follows REST principles and supports HTTPS transport, basic authentication, and JSON-based data exchange. Developers can leverage Sphere’s integrated banking and crypto infrastructure for seamless deployment.

Fast and Cost-Efficient Transactions: Sphere offers some of the lowest fees on the market, charging only actual network costs without markups. It supports instant settlement, with transaction times ranging from seconds to minutes. Sphere currently enables payment across 120+ countries, supporting Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, local bank transfers, and domestic/international wire transfers.

Developer Toolkit: Sphere delivers a full-stack payment suite that can be integrated within minutes via a single API or a no-code dashboard. It includes top-tier tools for compliance, accounting, analytics, and developer workflows. Its clear, intuitive SDK allows developers to focus on scaling their business while Sphere handles smart contract audits, cross-chain orchestration, and all technical, operational, and compliance needs. These ensure a secure and efficient payment process.

Visa Card

Crypto.com Visa Card

The Crypto.com Visa Card (commonly referred to as the CRO Visa Card) is a crypto debit card launched by the Crypto.com exchange and remains one of the most recognized metal cards in the market. Cardholders enjoy zero annual fees and can use the card at over 40 million POS terminals and countless online merchants globally. The card is available in five tiers, each requiring a different level of CRO token holding and staking. They offer varying levels of benefits. A standout feature is the ability for cardholders to withdraw from international ATMs and convert crypto to local fiat at market exchange rates—making it especially suitable for frequent travelers and remote workers.

Crypto.com is headquartered in Singapore and serves over 140 million users worldwide. The company also creates the Cronos blockchain. Its Co-Founder and CEO, Kris Marszalek, is a seasoned entrepreneur who previously led multiple companies to achieve over $100M in revenue. He served as CEO of Ensogo and was the founder of BEECRAZY, which he sold for $21M to iBuy Group in 2013. Co-Founder and CFO Rafael Melo brings 15 years of financial experience and previously held the CFO role at Ensogo. They secured strategic investments from VIPSHOP (NYSE: VIPS) and raised over AUD $50M from blue-chip firms like Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock. In 2017, Crypto.com raised $25 million through an ICO.

Card Tiers (Source: Crypto.com Cards)

Unlike traditional credit cards, the Crypto.com Visa Card is built with crypto in mind—enabling seamless crypto payments. While conventional banks often charge hundreds of dollars in annual fees, Crypto.com offers its card with no annual cost, as long as users stake CRO tokens on the Crypto.com App for a six-month period. In return, users can earn up to 8% cashback in CRO tokens, with no spending restrictions.

Key Benefits

Token Rewards: Earn 1% to 8% cashback in CRO tokens for every purchase. These tokens can be restaked for additional rewards, deposited into Crypto Earn for interest, or used on DeFi platforms within the Cronos ecosystem for liquidity mining, lending, and more.

Multi-Currency Support: Payments can be made in various cryptocurrencies like USDT, BTC, ETH, etc., allowing users to switch currencies based on their needs.

Global ATM Access & Auto Conversion: Withdraw cash at ATMs worldwide. The system auto-converts crypto into local fiat at real-time exchange rates. This enhances cross-border payment convenience.

Zero Annual Fees: Unlike traditional premium metal cards, CRO Visa Cards are free for users who meet the staking requirement—providing an easy entry point into high-end card services.

Gnosis Pay

Launched in June 2023, Gnosis Pay is the world’s first Decentralized Payment Network (DPN), built to seamlessly connect traditional finance with DeFi. Its flagship product, the Gnosis Card, is a self-custodial Visa debit card that enables users to spend digital assets like fiat—anywhere Visa is accepted. The platform also supports ENS domain integration and works with any crypto wallet.

(Source: Gnosis Pay)

Key Benefits

Self-Custodial Integration: Gnosis Card is integrated with Safe smart accounts. This ensures users retain full control over their funds. When registering, a Gnosis Pay Safe (smart contract wallet) is created and controlled solely by the user’s EOA (externally owned account), not by any third party.

Zero FX Spread: Offers 0% foreign exchange spread and outperforms services like Wise or Revolut.

Cashback Rewards: Users holding GNO tokens in their Gnosis Pay Safe can earn 1%–4% cashback, with OG NFT holders receiving an additional 1%.

Global Reach: Cards are currently available across multiple European countries, with plans to expand to Brazil, the U.S., Indonesia, and Mexico. It supports 80 million+ Visa merchants globally.

Comparative Analysis of Payment Models

Risks Facing Web3 Payment Platforms

Despite rapid growth, Web3 payment platforms continue to grapple with significant challenges. Regulatory fragmentation across jurisdictions, coupled with strict KYC and AML requirements, has led to mounting compliance costs. High gas fees and slow transaction speeds undermine payment efficiency, driving the adoption of Layer 2 solutions such as Polygon and Optimism. Additionally, smart contract vulnerabilities, fraud, and money laundering risks remain persistent concerns that the industry must actively mitigate.

Market Size and Future Outlook

According to Mordor Intelligence, the global payments market is projected to reach $3.16 trillion in 2025, and grow to $5.30 trillion by 2030. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to experience the fastest growth and command the largest market share during this period.

Payment Financing Market (Source: Mordor Intelligence Report)

With fiat currencies losing value in regions like Latin America and Africa, demand for crypto payments is rising rapidly—fueling broader adoption of digital assets and accelerating the evolution of Web3 payment infrastructure. Major institutions and merchants, including Visa and PayPal, have begun supporting stablecoin transactions such as USDC. Meanwhile, sustained capital inflows into NFTs and DeFi protocols are helping to mature the Web3 payments ecosystem and push it closer to mainstream use.

Conclusion

Web3 payment platforms are rapidly establishing themselves as a crucial element of the broader Web3 ecosystem. It provides secure and efficient DeFi, NFTs, and cross-border payments solutions. Pioneering companies like Alchemy Pay and MoonPay have built robust global infrastructure and continue to refine the user experience. However, challenges persist in regulatory compliance, transaction fees, and security. As regulations mature, technology advances, and traditional finance increasingly converges with blockchain, Web3 payments are positioned to become a foundational pillar within the crypto industry.