Pay for hosting with crypto: coins, fees and confirmation times

You can pay for a RE:NODE server in crypto. Pick "Pay with crypto" when you order or renew, and you are sent to a NOWPayments invoice page where you choose a coin - USDT, BTC, ETH, LTC and more - and send the amount it shows. The invoice is for exactly the plan's price, in dollars. Confirmation takes roughly 10 to 60 minutes depending on the network, and once the payment confirms the server is created on its own; nobody has to approve it. The things that catch people out are not the coins themselves but the edges: some coins have a minimum that is larger than a cheap plan, wallets and exchanges take fees in ways that make the amount that arrives smaller than the amount you meant to send, and sending to the wrong network can lose the money outright.

This guide covers the whole path: how the payment flows from your wallet to a running server, which coin to pick for which amount, what the fees are and who pays them, how long each stage takes, and what happens when something does not go to plan. Most of the coin and network advice applies to paying any merchant in crypto, not just us.

How crypto checkout works, step by step#

Crypto is offered in three places: the order popup on the site, the order dialog in the panel's shop, and the renewal dialog for a service you already have. It is also a way to top up your wallet balance from the billing page. The steps are the same in each case.

1. Pick the plan and the term (one month, or 3, 6 or 12 months, which are cheaper per month). The dialog shows the price.
2. Choose "Pay with crypto". The panel opens an invoice with NOWPayments for that exact figure and sends you to NOWPayments' hosted invoice page.
3. On the invoice page, pick a coin and, where a coin exists on several networks, the network. The page shows the amount of that coin to send and the address to send it to.
4. Send the payment from your wallet or exchange.
5. Come back to the panel. A status page follows the payment through "Waiting for your payment", "Confirming on the blockchain" and "Payment confirmed" and updates by itself.
6. When the payment confirms, the money lands on your account balance and the purchase is made from that balance straight away. For a new plan the server is created; for a renewal the service is extended.

That middle step - money onto the balance, then the purchase made from the balance - is deliberate. It means a crypto purchase goes through exactly the same path as paying from your balance with any other method, with the same price, the same term discount and the same provisioning. It also means that if the purchase fails after the money has arrived (a plan withdrawn, a node with no room), the payment is not lost: it sits on your balance, the status page says "Payment received and added to your balance, but the purchase could not be completed", and you can buy from the balance or open a ticket.

For the general order flow, including what happens on the panel side after a server exists, see the ordering section of the guides.

Supported coins and networks#

The invoice page lists the coins NOWPayments can accept for your amount. USDT, BTC, ETH and LTC are always the ones we name, and the page offers more - TRX among them. We do not publish a complete list because it is NOWPayments' list, not ours, and it changes. What is on the page when you open the invoice is the answer.

The important distinction is between a coin and a network. Bitcoin, Litecoin and Tron's TRX live on their own chains, so there is one way to send them. USDT is different: it is a token issued on several chains, including Tron and Ethereum, and each version is effectively a separate asset on a separate network. The same goes for some other stablecoins. The invoice page lists these variants separately, and the address it gives you is for one network only.

Exchanges make this easy to get wrong, because their withdrawal form has a network dropdown that often defaults to whatever is cheapest or whatever you used last. Before you press withdraw, check three things against the invoice: the coin, the network and the address. Copy the address rather than typing it, and compare the first and last few characters after pasting.

Coin minimums and small plans#

Every coin has a smallest payment that is worth processing once network fees are counted, and those minimums differ a lot. Roughly, USDT needs about $11 and BTC about $20, while LTC, TRX and ETH can carry amounts well under a dollar. The panel tells you this in the dialog: "Some coins have a minimum (USDT about $11, BTC about $20). For smaller amounts choose LTC, TRX, ETH or similar."

These minimums matter because many plans cost less than that. A Terraria or Counter-Strike 1.6 server starts at $3 a month, a Valheim server at $6, a Node.js app server at $4. You can pay any of those in crypto, but not in BTC for a single month. You have two options:

• Pick a low-minimum coin. LTC, TRX and ETH handle small invoices without trouble. For most people paying a few dollars, Litecoin is the simplest: one chain, fast blocks, low fees.
• Pay for a longer term. A 6 or 12 month term is cheaper per month and pushes the total over the BTC or USDT minimum. If you were going to keep the server anyway, this costs less overall.

The invoice is always for the plan's real price. An earlier version of our checkout padded every crypto purchase up to $15 so that USDT would always work, which meant a $5 plan cost $15 in crypto. It no longer does that: you pay what the shop says, and the invoice page offers whichever coins can carry that amount. There is also a floor below which crypto is not offered at all - the dialog says "Crypto is available from" and the figure - and a ceiling per payment. If a long term on a large plan goes over the ceiling, the dialog says so and suggests a shorter term or another payment method.

The minimum figures come from NOWPayments and move with network conditions, so treat them as approximate and trust what the invoice page offers on the day.

Network fees and who pays them#

There are two kinds of cost in a crypto payment, and it helps to keep them apart.

The first is the network fee (on Ethereum, gas). It is paid to the network to include your transaction, by whoever sends it - you. It is not part of the invoice and it does not reach us. How much it is depends entirely on the chain and how busy it is:

• Bitcoin fees rise and fall with demand for block space. On a quiet day they are small; on a busy day a small payment can cost a noticeable share of its value to send.
• Ethereum gas varies the same way. Sending ETH is a plain transfer; sending USDT on Ethereum is a token transfer, which uses more gas, and you need ETH in the wallet to pay it.
• Tron is cheap for USDT, but a token transfer still consumes network resources that are paid in TRX. A wallet holding only USDT on Tron and no TRX may not be able to send at all.
• Litecoin fees are usually low, which is part of why it is the default advice for small payments.

The second is the exchange or wallet fee. Exchanges charge a withdrawal fee, and some subtract it from the amount you enter rather than adding it on top. This is the single most common cause of an underpayment. You type the exact invoice amount, the exchange takes its fee out of it, and slightly less arrives than the invoice asked for.

Wallets that let you choose a fee level ("slow", "normal", "fast") are worth a moment's thought. The lowest fee on Bitcoin can mean a transaction that sits unconfirmed for a long time when the network is busy, and the invoice will not wait for ever. For a payment that is meant to create a server today, a normal fee is the sensible choice.

Confirmation times by network#

Once you send, two things have to happen: the transaction has to be seen, and then it has to collect enough confirmations for NOWPayments to treat it as final. The panel's status page shows both stages. "Waiting for your payment" means no transaction for the invoice has been seen yet; "Confirming on the blockchain" means it has been seen and is waiting for confirmations, which "usually takes 10-60 minutes".

Where you land in that range depends mostly on the chain:

Block interval is not the whole story. The processor needs a number of confirmations, which varies by coin, and a transaction sent with a low fee can wait several blocks before it is included at all. Exchanges add their own delay: many batch withdrawals or hold them for a security check before anything is broadcast, so the clock does not start when you press the button. If you are watching the status page and it still says "Waiting for your payment" twenty minutes after you sent, check the exchange's withdrawal history first. Very often the coins have not left yet.

If a payment is slower than usual, the status page says "Still processing" and that it will be credited automatically once confirmed. You do not need to do anything, and you should not send the payment again; a second send creates a different problem, covered below.

Compare this with card and PayPal, where the server is created when payment clears, usually inside a minute. Crypto is not the fast option. If you need a server for a session starting in fifteen minutes, it is the wrong method.

What happens after it confirms#

When the payment confirms, the panel credits your balance with the invoice's price in US dollars. Note what that means: you are credited the dollar figure you were shown, not the coin amount converted at some later rate. If the coin's price moves while the transaction confirms, that is not your problem and not ours.

Then the purchase runs from the balance:

• New plan. The status page shows "creating your server", then "Your server is ready" with a link to it. Game, app, web and database servers are built automatically, the same way as with any other payment method. VDS orders are prepared by hand, and cannot be paid in crypto at the moment anyway.
• Renewal. The service's term is extended and the status page says "Service renewed".
• Balance top-up. The amount appears on your balance ("Funds added") and stays there until you spend it on a purchase or a renewal.

A top-up is the most flexible way to use crypto. If your plan costs less than the minimum of the coin you hold, or you want one crypto payment to cover several small renewals, top up the balance with a larger amount and pay from it. The balance pays for plans and renewals exactly like a card would, and renewal invoices are emailed 7 days before expiry and on the day, so you have time to pay from the balance before anything lapses.

Every payment produces an invoice in your account, crypto included, so the record of what you paid sits with the rest of your billing.

When a payment goes wrong#

Most crypto payments go through without anyone noticing. These are the ones that do not, and what each state on the status page means.

Partial payments

An underpayment - usually an exchange fee taken out of the amount - is marked "Partial payment received" and nothing is credited automatically. That is on purpose. Crediting the full amount would give money away, and crediting a part of it is a decision about your money that should have a person behind it, so staff review each one and get in touch. You will not lose the amount you sent, but you will wait for a human instead of a machine. Avoiding the fee trap in the section above avoids this entirely.

Sending twice to the same address

If you send a second payment to an address you already paid - because the first looked stuck, or because you reused an address from an earlier invoice - it is not credited automatically either. A second send to an old address is valued at that day's rate for whatever was sent, which is not what any invoice asked for, so it also goes to staff for review. The rule that follows: one invoice, one payment. For a new purchase, open a new invoice and use the new address.

Expired and failed invoices

An invoice does not wait for ever. If nothing arrives before it expires, the status page says "Payment expired", nothing was charged, and you start again. If coins did leave your wallet and the page says expired or failed, do not send again - open a ticket with the reference shown on the status page and the transaction hash from your wallet or exchange, and support will look into it.

There is no refund button for any payment method; refunds go through a ticket. For crypto in particular we do not promise a refund back to a wallet, so if you are unsure whether you want a plan, a short term is a cheaper way to find out.

Choosing a coin: practical advice#

If you are paying crypto for the first time, or for the first time in a while, these are the choices that make the difference.

• Small amount, simplest route: LTC. One network, low fees, quick confirmations, low minimum.
• You hold stablecoins: USDT on Tron is usually the cheapest way to move dollars, provided the amount is over the USDT minimum and you have a little TRX for the transfer.
• You hold Bitcoin and the amount is over about $20: BTC is fine, but use a normal fee and expect the slower end of the confirmation range.
• You hold ETH: sending ETH itself is cheaper than sending a token on Ethereum. Keep enough ETH left over to cover gas.
• You are paying from an exchange: check the network on the withdrawal form, check whether the fee is deducted from the amount, and expect the exchange's own processing delay before the clock starts.
• The amount is under every coin's comfortable minimum: pay for a longer term or top up the balance with a round figure and buy from it.

And a word on why you might not use crypto. It is slower than card or PayPal, every send costs a network fee, mistakes with networks or addresses are hard to reverse, and bundles and VDS orders cannot be paid in crypto yet. If none of that bothers you, or you would rather not put a card on file with a hosting provider, it works well. If you just want a server in the next minute, a card is quicker. Choosing the plan itself is a separate question, and how much a game server costs and when to upgrade your plan cover that.

What crypto cannot pay for yet#

A few things are outside crypto checkout at the moment:

• Bundles. A bundle - an app server with its database and cache bought together - is paid by cash, wallet balance or PayPal. You can still top up the balance in crypto and then buy the bundle from the balance on the panel shop's Bundles tab.
• VDS orders. The VDS line is prepared by hand and cannot be bought in crypto directly.
• Amounts over the per-payment ceiling. A long term on a large plan can go over it; choose a shorter term or another method.

Once the server exists, it is the same server whatever paid for it. If it is your first one, the first game server checklist is a good next read, and the full catalogue is on the game servers page.

FAQ#

Which crypto coins can I use to pay for hosting?

USDT, BTC, ETH and LTC, plus others that NOWPayments lists on the invoice page, such as TRX. The page only shows coins that can carry your amount, so a small invoice may not offer BTC or USDT.

How long until my server is ready after paying in crypto?

Usually 10 to 60 minutes from when the transaction is broadcast, depending on the network and the fee you chose. Bitcoin is at the slow end. The server is created automatically once the payment confirms; exchange withdrawals can add their own delay before that clock starts.

Do I pay more in crypto than by card?

The invoice is for the same price the shop shows. What you pay on top is the network fee to send the transaction, and any withdrawal fee your exchange charges. On Litecoin or Tron those are usually small; on a busy Bitcoin or Ethereum network they can be more noticeable.

I sent slightly less than the invoice. What happens?

The payment is marked as partially paid and nothing is credited automatically. Staff review it and get in touch. The usual cause is an exchange subtracting its withdrawal fee from the amount, so check the amount received next time.

Can I top up my balance with crypto and pay later?

Yes. A crypto top-up credits your balance in dollars, and the balance pays for new plans and renewals like any other method. It is a good way round coin minimums on cheap plans, and the only way to use crypto towards a bundle.

Can I get a refund in crypto?

Refunds go through a ticket, not a button, and we do not promise a refund back to a crypto wallet. If you are not sure about a plan, start with a short term.