Polygon Adds Crypto Checkout to Open Money Stack

Polygon has added a crypto checkout option to its Open Money Stack, a payments infrastructure platform the company announced in a Sept. 30 blog post. The feature lets merchants add a “Pay with Crypto” option alongside existing card and bank payment methods.

Customers can pay from a wallet balance without first swapping tokens or moving funds to the merchant’s preferred network. Polygon’s cross-chain routing determines the payment path, including any token swaps, asset transfers between blockchains and network fees.

A customer could pay in USDC on Polygon while the merchant receives dollars, euros or another supported currency. Merchants do not need separate integrations for each wallet, token or blockchain supported by the service.

Polygon describes the checkout process as near-instant and says settled crypto payments are not subject to card-network chargebacks. Card payments can be reversed after a customer dispute, while completed crypto transactions are not reversed by card networks or payment processors. The feature is aimed in part at businesses with high chargeback exposure, including digital-goods, gaming, travel and ticketing companies.

The checkout option can operate alongside an existing Stripe integration. Stripe can continue processing card payments while the Open Money Stack adds crypto payments and connects stablecoin transactions to settlement on Polygon’s infrastructure.

Merchants can integrate the service through a drop-in checkout component, a headless software development kit or a direct application programming interface. They can start with checkout and add other Open Money Stack services, including wallets, compliance tools and payouts.

After a payment settles in USDC, a merchant can keep the funds onchain or use Polygon’s off-ramp to convert them into local currency and transfer the proceeds to a bank account.

The checkout launch is part of Polygon’s work on stablecoin payments. The company has also identified Visa’s use of Polygon infrastructure for stablecoin programs and payments company Oobit’s use of Polygon for transactions at Visa merchants.