MyCryptoCheckout (MCC) is a crypto gateway for WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads. It offers a simple and secure solution for businesses looking to integrate cryptocurrency payments. Launched in Jan 2018, MCC was the first peer-to-peer gateway for Ethereum and ERC20 tokens, and later the first to integrate defi wallets such as Metamask.
Key Features & Highlights:
- 0% transaction fees
- Peer-to-peer transactions
- Use any crypto wallet you want
- No redirection to 3rd parties or iframes
- 1-Click payment buttons: MetaMask, Trustwallet, Phantom, etc.
Two primary components:
1. Plugin:
- Self-hosted and open-source: Full control over accepted cryptocurrencies and wallet destinations.
- All transactions are peer-to-peer: direct between customers and your shop, eliminating transaction fees altogether.
- Privacy Assurance: We don’t have any access to your shop or crypto.
2. API:
- Payment Monitoring: When a customer places an order, your shop instructs the API to monitor X blockchain for Y payment.
- Payment Detection: Every 15 seconds, the API scans/crawls relevant blockchains for the specified amount and promptly notifies you when a transaction is detected.
- Hands Off: The API never touches any crypto.
- Data Privacy: The API only monitors blockchain payments without capturing sensitive details like products sold or customer identities. It only knows to look for X coins on Y blockchain.
Security
- Decentralized Security Model: By eliminating the middlemen and enabling direct peer-to-peer transactions, MCC keeps payments private and secure, embodying the true spirit of cryptocurrency. Your funds and data stay protected from external interference.
- Resilience: In the rare event of an MCC API outage (which has only happened once in six years!), no payments would be lost, stalled, or frozen because transactions flow directly to your wallet. Even the API can’t interfere with your crypto! The only temporary effect would be that orders might not immediately be marked as paid in your shop’s system until the API resumed operation.
How Other Crypto Gateways Act as Middlemen
The ethos of crypto centers on decentralization, financial freedom, and direct ownership. However, many crypto payment gateways act like traditional intermediaries, similar to PayPal or credit card processors, undermining these principles by controlling access to funds, imposing high fees, and introducing third-party risks. Here’s how:
- Transaction Fees: Middlemen typically take a percentage of each transaction as a fee, reducing your revenue and burdening customers with extra costs.
- Fund Freezing: Like traditional financial institutions, these intermediaries can freeze your funds, leaving you unable to access your own crypto assets.
- Data Collection: Centralized gateways often collect transaction data, exposing sensitive financial information to unnecessary risks.
- “Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins”: The well-known adage in the crypto world holds true: if you don’t control your wallet keys, you’re effectively entrusting your assets to a third party that can restrict your access at any time.
In Conclusion
MyCryptoCheckout empowers businesses to maintain complete control over their cryptocurrency payments, providing a transparent, secure, and fee-free experience that aligns with the original ideals of crypto.