The short version
You can take crypto on Shopify two ways. Start with USDC if three conditions hold at once — Shopify Payments active, a store in a supported region, and an account representative living in a USDC-eligible region: there is no app to install, and it is turned on in Settings › Payments. Otherwise, or for other coins, add one of the nine third-party processors Shopify lists under Additional payment methods.
Processor refunds are manual, USDC refunds can't exceed the order amount minus any cashback, and the last check before launch is one real low-value order, or a processor's own test mode where it has one.
Two Crypto Routes: Where You Switch Them On and How You Get Paid
Key takeaway
Whether you can accept crypto at all has its own short answer; this guide sets it up. Find your column, then follow its steps.
Two crypto routes on Shopify, side by side
| USDC through Shopify Payments | Third-party crypto processor | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it's for | Stores in the US (excluding Alaska, New York and Texas), Mexico, 29 European countries, or Asia-Pacific through Shopify Payments Hong Kong | Stores outside those regions, or wanting other coins |
| What you need first | Shopify Payments active; account representative living in a USDC-eligible region | An account with the processor, verified on its side |
| Coins | USDC on Base, Ethereum L1, Optimism, Polygon or Arbitrum | Set by the processor |
| Where you switch it on | Settings › Payments › Shopify Payments › Manage › More actions › Manage payment methods › Crypto | Settings › Payments › Additional payment methods › Add payment methods |
| How you get paid | Your payout currency, or in some regions a USDC balance you claim manually | Through the processor, on its own settlement terms |
| Refunds | Capped at the order amount minus any USDC cashback | Manual, through the processor |
| Disputes | Customers can't open them | Shopify's cryptocurrency page lists "No chargebacks" among crypto's advantages to merchants |
| Shopify fees | No separate USDC rate on the pages we read | Shopify's third-party transaction fee might apply, at an amount set by your plan |
Shopify Help Center (USD Coin (USDC); Cryptocurrency; Activating additional payment methods), read September 24, 2026.
Find Your Crypto Route in Five Questions
Not sure which column is yours — or whether you need both? Five answers give you the route, the exact setting to change and a line for your refund policy.
Which crypto route fits your store?5 questions → your route, the settings to change and a refund-policy lineStart the quiz
How Do You Turn On USDC in Shopify Payments?
Key takeaway
USDC is a payment method inside Shopify Payments, so there is nothing to install — but Shopify Payments must be active first. If it isn't, activate it before anything else.
- From your Shopify admin, go to Settings › Payments.
- In the Shopify Payments section, click Manage.
- Click More actions, then Manage payment methods.
- In the Crypto section, activate the USDC option.
Shopify's USDC page ends the procedure at that switch, but you might need to provide more information about your business first: in that case, click Verify identity to enable USDC in the Crypto section, and your account might remain in a Pending onboarding state during verification. When we read that page on September 24, 2026, it gave no activation time and no separate USDC rate (see the search block below).
Choose How USDC Sales Are Paid Out
Getting USDC on the checkout and getting paid in USDC are separate gates. You can receive USDC sales in your chosen payout currency as part of your Shopify Payments payout, so you don't hold crypto. The option to receive payouts in USDC isn't available in all regions; where it is, Payouts in USDC displays in the Crypto transactions section of your Shopify Payments settings.
How Do You Add a Third-Party Crypto Processor?
Key takeaway
Shopify's cryptocurrency page lists nine processors you can activate as additional payment methods: Solana Pay, Crypto.com, BitPay, DePay, OpenNode, Strike, Lunu, Bit2Me Commerce and IBEX Pay. Coinbase Commerce wasn't among them when we read the list on September 24, 2026.
Shopify asks you to verify that cryptocurrencies are acceptable as a form of payment in your region first. And the processor's fee isn't the whole cost: Shopify's third-party transaction fee might apply, and the amount depends on your plan.
Choosing Among the Nine Processors
Key takeaway
We haven't tested these processors, so the cards are not a ranking: they hold what each one's Shopify documentation states. Each sets its own fee — read its pricing before you connect.
Three processors, from their own Shopify documentation
- How you're paid
- Settled in USD, EUR, GBP and more directly to your bank account; you never have to hold crypto
- Before going live
- Confirm your email, get verified for payment processing, add your settlement information
- Coins
- More than 20, including BTC, ETH, CRO, USDC and TUSD
- How you're paid
- Crypto or fiat — your choice
- Before going live
- A Crypto.com Pay account on its Merchant Dashboard
- Coins
- USDC and 100s of digital currencies, including stablecoins, SOL, BTC and ETH
- Before going live
- A KYB check — real-time, up to 48 hours
BitPay's Shopify App Store listing, Shopify plugin guide and pricing page, Crypto.com Pay's Shopify setup guide and Helio's Solana Pay plugin guide, read September 24, 2026. Not tested by us.
The other six — DePay, OpenNode, Strike, Lunu, Bit2Me Commerce and IBEX Pay — are named here only; read their own terms before choosing one.
Connecting a Processor in Its Dashboard and in Shopify
Key takeaway
- Open an account with the processor and pass its verification.
- In your Shopify admin, go to Settings › Payments; under Additional payment methods, click Add payment methods and search by provider.
- Connect or activate it — Crypto.com Pay installs an app and authorizes through its Merchant Dashboard; Solana Pay uses Activate Now.
- Where offered, choose crypto or fiat settlement on the processor's side.
Shopify keeps the processor apart from your card setup:
These are separate from the credit card provider configured through the Shopify Payments or Payment providers sections of Settings > Payments.
How Do You Refund a Crypto Payment on Shopify?
Key takeaway
USDC refunds have a ceiling. Customers who pay with USDC on Base might receive USDC cashback — capped at 100 USDC per transaction and sent to their wallet 30 days after purchase — and once paid, it comes off what you can return:
If your customer received USDC cashback on their order, then you can't issue a refund that exceeds the original order amount minus the cashback amount.
The line for your refund policy: "Refunds on USDC orders can't exceed the order amount minus any USDC cashback; refunds on other crypto payments are made manually through our processor." Customers also can't open disputes on USDC orders.
Processor payments are refunded manually: Shopify issues no automatic refunds for cryptocurrency payments, so you refund through your payment gateway. Crypto.com Pay's guide adds: request the refund on Shopify admin so the refundable amount stays current. Follow your processor's guide for the mechanics.
What Crypto Orders Can't Do on Shopify
Key takeaway
The four, one by one:
- No partial capture of funds on a USDC order.
- No subscriptions: customers can't pay for subscription products with USDC, so keep another payment method for them.
- No disputes: your refund policy carries the whole answer.
- No post-purchase upsells when a customer pays with USDC.
The USDC page, read September 24, 2026, doesn't mention POS, B2B or draft orders either way — treat them as unconfirmed until your own admin shows the option.
For NFTs, Shopify lets approved NFT sellers add a cryptocurrency payment processor; whether PayPal Seller Protection covers NFT sales has its own answer.
Shopify pages read on September 24, 2026. The absence is the finding; this block is where it gets rechecked.
- A separate USDC processing rate: the USD Coin (USDC) page, the cost of Shopify Payments page and shopify.com/payments.
- A USDC activation time or terms step: the USD Coin (USDC) page and the Shopify Payments overview.
- USDC in POS, B2B or draft orders: the USD Coin (USDC) page.
- A USDC test mode, or a crypto processor named among test-mode providers: the payments test-mode, USD Coin (USDC) and Cryptocurrency pages.
- Coinbase Commerce: the processor list on the Cryptocurrency page.
What to Check Before Your First Crypto Order
Key takeaway
Shopify's payments test-mode page names Braintree and PayPal Payflow Pro only as examples of providers with a test mode in the admin; when we read it on September 24, 2026, it named no crypto processor and no USDC test mode.
If your processor has no test mode in the admin, one option Shopify gives is to ask the provider's support team how to place a test order; Crypto.com Pay's own Shopify guide includes a test-mode step. For USDC, or a processor with no test option, follow one real low-value order through as a customer would.
Orders paid with cryptocurrency can sit in Payment pending, where some order actions are restricted.
Steps one, five and six apply to every route; two and three change with your route; four matters only for USDC.
Before your first crypto orderWork the steps in order; progress is saved in this browser.Open the checklist
Before your first crypto order
Work the steps in order; progress is saved in this browser.
Shopify's cryptocurrency page asks merchants to verify that cryptocurrencies are acceptable as a form of payment in their region before accepting them.
Before you tick this off
- Checked the rule for each region you sell to
- Noted what you checked and when
Activate USDC in the Crypto section of Manage payment methods — if Shopify first asks for more business information, click Verify identity to enable USDC there — or add a verified processor under Additional payment methods.
Before you tick this off
- USDC: activated in the Crypto section
- Processor: account verified, method added and active
USDC sales can go to your payout currency or, in some regions, to a USDC balance you claim manually; a processor settles on its own terms.
Before you tick this off
- USDC: payout currency or USDC balance chosen
- Processor: settlement currency checked (crypto or fiat, where offered)
USDC orders can't be partially captured, can't pay for subscription products, can't be disputed and can't be offered post-purchase upsells.
Before you tick this off
- Subscriptions keep a non-USDC payment method
- Upsells planned for other payment methods
USDC refunds can't exceed the order amount minus any USDC cashback; processor refunds are made manually through the processor.
Before you tick this off
- Policy states the USDC cashback limit
- Support knows where each refund is issued
Pay with the method you just enabled — a real order for USDC or for a processor without a test mode, or the processor's own test mode where it has one (Crypto.com Pay's Shopify guide documents one) — then follow the order's payment status and issue the refund the way you would for a customer.
Before you tick this off
- Payment status read, including any Payment pending
- Refund issued through the route's own process
The Bottom Line
Key takeaway
The route decides where you click, how you're paid and how refunds work — choose it first and the settings follow.
Frequently Asked Questions
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