Coldtill vs BitPay

BitPay is one of the oldest crypto payment processors: a regulated US money transmitter that converts crypto payments and settles merchants in fiat or crypto. Coldtill is software you run on your own server, with no account, no KYB and nobody in the middle.

The short answer: BitPay suits a large, regulated company that wants crypto turned into dollars in its bank. For everyone else it means business verification, ID checks for your customers, 1%–2% plus 25¢ on every payment and an account that can be closed "without notice". Coldtill has none of that.

Side by side

	Coldtill	BitPay
What it is	Software on your own server	A hosted account with a regulated processor
Merchant KYB	None	Beneficial owners, tax ID, government ID and bank details
Customer KYC	None. Customers just pay	Email on every invoice; BitPay ID verification above certain amounts, and in some regions for any payment
Who holds incoming payments	You. Deposit contracts can only pay your cold wallet	BitPay, until it settles to you
Can settlements be held or the account closed	No. There's no account	Yes, under its terms (quoted below)
Fees	Free (2%), Standard $499 once (1%), Pro $999 once (no fee); no fee on Bitcoin or auto-converted payments	2% + 25¢ under $500k a month, down to 1% + 25¢ over $1M; higher for high-risk industries
Coins	200+ coins on 35+ chains	18 tokens in its official list
Business types	Yours to decide	Prohibited and restricted lists, at "our sole discretion"

In BitPay's own words

From BitPay's terms of use:

"We may delay settlement or restrict access to settlement funds… We will not be liable."
It may "immediately suspend or close your Account, without notice, in our sole discretion."
Accounts with no paid transaction for 12 months can be suspended.
On the refund reserve, if BitPay became insolvent merchants "would only have an unsecured claim".

And for your customers: invoices ask for the buyer's email, and above certain amounts BitPay requires ID verification through BitPay ID, "in some regions, for any transaction". Every extra step at checkout loses sales.

Why Coldtill can't freeze you

Coldtill is software, not a service. Customers pay into deposit addresses that belong to you: on Ethereum-style chains, Tron and Solana they're contracts that can only ever send to your cold wallet, and Bitcoin goes straight to your own wallet's addresses. There's no settlement to delay, no reserve and no account to close. Your customers never show ID to anyone.

With auto-convert you still get paid in dollars, as USDC or USDT in your own wallet, so your books stay in dollars without handing your money to a processor first. One thing no gateway can change: Tether and Circle can freeze USDT and USDC at the token level.

Where BitPay is stronger

Fiat to your bank, daily, in supported countries.
Regulated, which some large merchants and auditors require.
Nothing to run.

Which should you choose?

Choose BitPay if you must have fiat in a bank account through a regulated processor and can accept the checks and fees that come with it.

Choose Coldtill if you want customers to pay without ID checks, to keep every payment in your own wallet, and to stop paying a percentage of every sale. Download Coldtill free.