Crypto Payment Gateway, Merchant & Card Affiliate Programs

“Payments” covers two businesses that happen to share a category. On one side are crypto payment gateways such as CoinGate and NOWPayments, which let online shops, SaaS companies and service providers accept crypto. On the other are cards and spending apps such as Wirex and Bitrefill, which let individuals spend crypto. The affiliate programs follow the same split. Gateways pay you on what a business processes. Card and spending programs pay you on what consumers do.

If you have a B2B audience — agency clients, developers, e-commerce owners — the merchant side is one of the most underrated corners of crypto affiliate marketing. If your readers are retail crypto users, the card side is where you earn. This page covers both, starting with merchants.

How crypto merchant referral commissions work

A crypto payment gateway charges the merchant a fee on every payment it processes. A merchant referral program gives you a slice of that fee for each business you bring in. The structure is a revenue shareRevShare You earn a percentage of the revenue a platform makes from your referred users — on exchanges, usually a share of their trading fees. More, but the unit is a company rather than a person.

That changes the math. A retail trader might be active for a few months. A shop that integrates a gateway into its checkout tends to keep it, because switching payment providers means engineering work, so a single referral can keep paying for as long as the terms allow. CoinGate pays a lifetime commissionLifetime commission You keep earning from a referred user for as long as they stay active, with no end date written into the deal. More for each referred merchant and puts no limit on the number of businesses you refer. NOWPayments pays for five years with potential to extend, with no earnings cap and milestone-based commission boosts on top.

The trade-off is volume and sales cycle. You will refer far fewer accounts than a consumer affiliate, the merchant has to integrate a checkout before you see a cent, and your income depends on how much each merchant actually sells in crypto. One merchant processing steadily can outweigh hundreds of retail sign-ups; one that integrates and never gets a crypto payment earns you nothing.

Crypto payment gateway affiliate programs compared

The table above shows each program’s headline terms. This one compares the gateways on the clauses that decide what a merchant is worth to you, including two providers that are not in our catalog.

The “share of what” column is where gateways quietly differ. CoinGate’s 20% applies to the fee itself. NOWPayments’ 25% applies to its profit on fees, which is by definition smaller than the fee, so the higher headline does not automatically mean more money. Neither gateway publishes its margin, so you cannot convert the two into the same unit; ask each partnerships team for a worked example on a realistic monthly volume before you choose.

BitPay is invite-only: its developer docs list an “Affiliate Commission” ledger entry for merchants onboarded through a referral link, but there is no public application or rate, so you would need to contact its partnerships team. Cryptomus pays the highest headline numbers and daily payouts, but it carries a regulatory problem covered in the red flags below, which is one reason neither brand appears in our catalog.

Questions to ask a gateway before you refer merchants

Because merchant terms are thinner on paper than exchange terms, a short email to the partnerships team saves you from surprises later. NOWPayments offers calls via marketing@nowpayments.io; CoinGate’s application form asks about your expected referral volume and target industries, which is a good moment to ask back.

• What is the fee share worth per €10,000 processed? This converts “20% of fees” or “25% of profit” into a number you can compare.
• When does the clock start? NOWPayments’ five-year window and CoinGate’s merchant-lifetime term should be confirmed in writing.
• How are payouts made, and from what minimum? CoinGate publishes €50 in EUR, though its Referral Agreement mentions €100 and invoicing; NOWPayments pays crypto on request from 50 USDT but does not list every payout coin.
• What does the merchant need to pass? Payment providers that work with businesses verify them, the way MoonPay requires KYBKYB Know your business: company verification some programs require before paying affiliates who work through a legal entity. More before integrators earn fees. Know the checklist before you promise a fast start.
• What reporting will you get? CoinGate sends a monthly email; NOWPayments has a real-time dashboard.

Program notes for payment gateways and spending apps

CoinGate: lifetime fee share for merchant referrals

CoinGate’s Merchant Referral Program pays one-fifth of the fee it collects from each referred business, automatically and monthly, in EUR by bank transfer once you pass €50. Its linked Referral Agreement describes a share of gross margin, a €100 threshold and payment within 30 days of invoice instead, so confirm which terms apply to you. Referred merchants get 10% off processing fees for their first three months, which gives you a concrete opening line in a pitch. Reporting is a monthly email rather than a live dashboard. Ignore third-party directories quoting “1% per order, up to €1,000”: that scheme contradicts CoinGate’s current terms. CoinGate also runs a separate gift-card affiliate program for consumer audiences, with unpublished rates.

NOWPayments: profit share with milestones

NOWPayments pays 25% of its profit from referred merchants’ fees, per transaction, with no cap. The marketing says “lifetime”, the terms say five years with potential to extend. You get a real-time dashboard and branded materials, and the partnerships team takes calls. Payouts are in crypto on request, with a 50 USDT minimum; the full list of payout coins and the fiat withdrawal method are not published.

Wirex: a card program on Impact

Wirex runs its card and payment-app program on the affiliate networkAffiliate network A platform that connects many advertisers with many affiliates and handles tracking, reporting and payouts in one account. More Impact, with a hybridHybrid A payment model that combines a one-time CPA payment with an ongoing revenue share, usually at a lower percentage than pure RevShare. More commission model. At launch it advertised up to $50 per customer who signs up and uses products such as Multiply, X-Accounts or DUO, or makes a card transaction. Today the commission table is visible only inside Impact. Revenue appears by the 15th of the following month and is paid on the 29th, through Impact’s bank or PayPal options with a $10 platform minimum. AttributionAttribution The rule that decides which affiliate gets credit for a user — for example, the last link clicked or the referral code entered at sign-up. More is strict: click and sign-up must happen on the same device and browser, Brave and Tor users are not tracked, and missed referrals are never credited manually.

Bitrefill: lifetime 1%, paid in store credit

Bitrefill sells gift cards, mobile top-ups and eSIMs for crypto. Approved affiliates earn 1% of their audience’s purchases, instantly and forever, but in Bitrefill store credit rather than cash or crypto. A separate influencer track pays up to $1,000 for views on monthly content submissions. It suits communities that already spend crypto, less so anyone who needs cash income.

Which crypto cards offer affiliate commissions

Most crypto cards are not standalone affiliate programs. The card is one product inside an exchange or lending program, and you earn through that program’s rules.

Two practical points follow. First, if you already promote Crypto.com, Nexo or OKX, check whether card sign-ups count in your existing deal before chasing a separate program. Second, Nexo is invite-only, so the card commission is only available after Nexo approves your application.

B2B strategies for crypto merchant referrals

Merchant referrals need a different playbook from consumer traffic sources. You are selling an integration to a business owner, not a sign-up to a trader.

1. Pick a merchant niche you already reach. CoinGate explicitly targets agencies, developers and e-commerce consultants. Hosting resellers, SaaS founders and digital-goods sellers are natural fits.
2. Publish integration content, not banners. "How to accept crypto payments on your store" tutorials, checkout screenshots and fee comparisons answer the questions a merchant asks before signing.
3. Lead with the merchant's benefit. CoinGate's 10% fee discount for three months is a concrete reason to sign through you rather than directly.
4. Register the merchant properly. CoinGate attributes referrals by link and by the referred company domain in its form; make sure the domain matches before the merchant goes live.
5. Track volume, not sign-ups. Your income starts when the merchant processes payments. Follow up on integration, because an unfinished checkout earns nothing.

If you build sites for clients, add the gateway to your standard proposal. Agencies are the one audience that can refer several merchants a year without any content at all. For the economics of fee-share versus one-off payouts, the CPA vs RevShare vs Hybrid guide is a useful reference.

Red flags for payment and card affiliates

• "Lifetime" with a term limit. NOWPayments advertises lifetime commission but defines it as five years.
• Profit share presented as fee share. A share of profit is smaller than the same share of the fee.
• Outdated rates in directories. CoinGate's old 1%-per-order scheme still circulates.
• Payment in store credit. Bitrefill's 1% is real, but you cannot withdraw it.
• Strict device-bound tracking. Wirex loses any referral who clicks on one device and signs up on another.
• No published terms. BitPay and Cryptomus publish no dedicated affiliate T&C.

Promoting cards and payment apps also means promoting regulated financial products. Keep claims factual, disclose your relationship and respect each brand’s regional limits; our compliance guide covers the basics. If you want consumer-facing alternatives, the swap and on-ramp category and the crypto affiliate networks that host Wirex and similar brands are the next places to look, and the glossary explains any term on this page.