I’ve recently been playing around with the latest BTCPay Server update 1.4.x and found something that I believe is a MAJOR game changer for folks who have been running into a bit of friction when it comes to accepting payments from clients who use alt coins.
Previously BTCPay Server has accepted direct integrations for a handful of alt coins, but as they continue to ship new versions this requires that the developer(s) who worked on these integrations manage any bugs that may arise. Obviously the BTCPay Server core team of devs are mainly focused on Bitcoin, so if updates to the software break compatibility with the previously supported alts these are not their primary concern to address.
In fact support for these alts had begun to be removed several versions ago no due to the aforementioned issues.
However, there appears to be a brilliantly elegant solution developed that strikes a good balance of openness, while still remaining true to one of the most important features BTCPay Server provides, which is the ability to self custody and process your own payments.
The solution being SideShift. More specificially, the SideShift plugin developed by kukks.
SideShift describes itself as:
a no sign-up cryptocurrency exchange supporting over fifty coins and tokens across multiple blockchains. Users value our focus on privacy, ease of use and minimizing third-party risk, all of which are hard to come by on traditional crypto exchanges.
The solution also leverages the plugins feature which was introduces a couple dot versions back, and I must say is quite slickly integrated into the normal pay flow that BTCPay users are already familiar with.
After a server admin enables the plugin in their server settings, there is simply an additional tab titled ‘Conversion’ on the payment screen that affords payers the ability to convert plenty of popular cryptos (including stablecoins!) that they might hold to BTC directly in the flow of a normal payment initiated from an invoice, pay button, etc.
From there, you’ll choose your conversion pair – Solana -> Bitcoin for example. Send the alt coin payment to the swap address, and wait for the transaction to settle on both chains.
After settlement, you’ll receive the equivalent of the alt coin paid with in Bitcoin in whatever wallet you have connected to your BTCPay store. Just like that.
If you’ve ever swapped a crypto you’ll be right at home here, and even if you haven’t the additional steps here are minimal, and very easy to follow.
Payers can use any wallet they normally use such as Metamask, Phantom, Rainbow Wallet, or any number of mobile, desktop, or hardware wallets that hold the supported alt coins on SideShift. In most cases you’re just scanning a QR code or copy/pasting the address you’re sending to, and waiting a couple moments like any other crypto payment.
I believe this will cover a major gap that has plagued BTCPay server from becoming a more well rounded payment processing software that gives business owners options to provide the customers they serve. I know from firsthand experience that clients I’ve worked with have still wanted to use something like Coinbase Commerce or Bitpay despite the inconveniences because their customers want to pay in the new, sexy alt coin at the time. Also to be fair, BTCPay Server has tried this with a couple of other integrations in the past, namely Shapeshift (which added KYC), and then Coinswitch (which removed the ability to exchange).
Hopefully SideShift continues to add new alts (it seems like they are), as this plugin should be a great boon to the utility to BTCPay Server that increases its ease of use, and it’s viability long term.