How to Send a Crypto Invoice and Get Paid (2026 Guide)

A crypto invoice is a payment request you send to a client by email or SMS that contains a unique link. The client opens it, scans a QR code with their wallet, and pays you in crypto. The amount you bill is denominated in dollars, and the crypto figure is calculated the moment the client clicks “pay,” so neither side gets burned by price swings between when you send the invoice and when it settles. The money lands directly in your own wallet, with no platform holding it and no chargebacks.

That is the whole model. If you bill cross-border clients, run an agency on retainers, or sell services and want to stop losing 3% to card processors and days to international wires, this is the fastest path to getting paid. Below: how to create and send one, how price-lock works, what network fees cost, and how the major tools compare.

The short version:

• What it is: a fiat-denominated payment link sent by email/SMS; client pays in crypto, you get paid on-chain.
• Best coin for invoices: USDT or USDC on TRC-20 (a dollar or two in network fees, no volatility). Use ERC-20 for clients who insist on Ethereum; BTC/Lightning for crypto-native payers.
• Aurpay fee: 0.8% flat, non-custodial. Funds settle straight to your wallet, with no payout delay and no account freezes.
• vs a $10,000 wire: a SWIFT transfer runs $125 to $350 all-in; the same invoice paid in USDC on Tron costs a dollar or two in network fees plus $80 at 0.8%.
• Zero chargebacks: blockchain transactions are irreversible, so there is no dispute fraud on delivered work.
• Reconciliation: every invoice produces a unique on-chain transaction hash you can export for your books and tax records.

What a crypto invoice actually is

A crypto invoice is not the same as pasting your wallet address into an email. A raw address has no context, no due date, and no record of what it was for. If the client sends the wrong coin or the wrong amount, you reconcile it by hand.

A proper invoice carries the client’s details, a fiat-denominated amount (you bill $1,000, not “0.31 ETH”), an expiry window, which coins you accept, and a unique link. The client opens the link, sees the exact crypto amount and a QR code, pays, and the payment is matched to that invoice with an on-chain settlement record. The dollar figure is the source of truth, which makes the accounting straightforward.

Who should use crypto invoicing

Cross-border freelancers are the clearest case. A SWIFT wire can take three to five days with FX spread on top, while PayPal can freeze a large incoming payment for review. A stablecoin invoice settles in minutes for cents.

B2B agencies and consultants on retainers are the second group. When you invoice $5,000 to $50,000 a month, card fees and wire costs add up fast, and a single chargeback on delivered work can wipe out a month’s margin. SaaS sellers and course creators that want to skip Stripe fees on large tickets fit the same profile. Cross-border B2B stablecoin payments reached $13.4 billion in 2026 and are on track for $5 trillion by 2035. For the full stablecoin selection and tax playbook, our freelancer crypto invoicing guide goes deeper; this article covers the mechanics of sending an invoice today.

How to send a crypto invoice with Aurpay

Aurpay Crypto Invoice is a dedicated product for exactly this workflow: you generate a payment link, deliver it by email or SMS, and the client pays in crypto. It takes a couple of minutes, with no contracts or banking details required to start.

• Step 1: Open Crypto Invoices. Log in to your Aurpay dashboard and go to the Crypto Invoices section.
• Step 2: Add the client. Enter the client’s name and either their email address or mobile number, depending on how you want to deliver the link.
• Step 3: Set the amount in USD. Enter the invoice value in fiat (for example, $1,000). This is the figure your accounting will reference; the crypto amount is derived from it.
• Step 4: Choose accepted coins. Select which assets the client can pay with: USDT (ERC-20 or TRC-20), USDC (ERC-20 or TRC-20), DAI (ERC-20), BTC, Bitcoin Lightning, ETH, or BNB. Limit it to stablecoins if you want zero volatility.
• Step 5: Set a due date. Add an expiry/due date so the invoice does not stay open indefinitely.
• Step 6: Send by email or SMS. Aurpay delivers the payment link to the client directly. The SMS option matters for clients who live in their phone and never check email.
• Step 7: Track in the dashboard. Watch the invoice status move from sent to paid in real time, and pull the transaction hash once it settles.

Because Aurpay is non-custodial, the payment settles straight to your wallet on confirmation — no payout schedule, no account freeze risk.

Price-lock mechanics: how volatility is handled

The single biggest worry with crypto invoicing is price movement between sending the invoice and getting paid. Aurpay handles this by calculating the crypto-denominated amount when the payment is initiated, not when the invoice is created: the fiat amount is fixed, and the crypto figure is computed fresh at the moment the client clicks to pay.

Concrete example: you create a $1,000 invoice when ETH is at $3,200. Your client pays six hours later when ETH has dropped to $3,100. The system recalculates the crypto figure at pay time, so the client sends 0.3226 ETH — still worth $1,000. You receive the full billed amount in fiat terms regardless of price movement.

Stablecoins remove this question entirely. If you bill $1,000 and accept USDC or USDT, the client pays 1,000 units at a 1:1 peg and there is nothing to recalculate, which makes both the payment and the bookkeeping deterministic. Reserve BTC, Lightning, or ETH invoices for crypto-native clients who prefer those assets. See our breakdown of USDT vs USDC for merchants to pick a default.

Choosing the right coin: network fees compared

The coin you accept determines what the client pays in network fees, and the gap is large. ERC-20 transfers on Ethereum can cost real money during congestion, while the same stablecoin on Tron costs pennies, so for invoices you almost always want the cheapest rail your client can use.

Coin / network	Typical network fee	Settlement speed	Best for
USDT TRC-20 (Tron)	~$1–5 (lower with staked energy)	Seconds to minutes	Most invoices, small to mid-size
USDC / USDT ERC-20 (Ethereum)	$3–$30+ (congestion-dependent)	Minutes	Clients who only hold Ethereum assets
BTC on-chain	Variable	~10–60 min (confirmations)	Larger BTC-native payments
Bitcoin Lightning	Near-zero	Seconds	Small, fast BTC payments
BNB	Low	Seconds	BNB-holding clients

The practical recommendation: default to USDT on TRC-20 or USDC, because the network cost is negligible and the stablecoin peg removes volatility. The fee difference between TRC-20 and ERC-20 can be the difference between roughly a dollar and $30+ on the same dollar amount. Offer ERC-20 as a fallback for clients whose wallets only hold Ethereum-based tokens, and reserve Bitcoin or Lightning for clients who ask for it.

Crypto invoice fee comparison

Processing fees vary widely across the major crypto payment tools, and the headline percentage is not the whole story, since custody matters just as much. The table below uses each provider’s published pricing.

Provider	Processing fee	Custody	Notes
Aurpay	0.8% flat	Non-custodial	Funds settle directly to your wallet; no contracts or banking details required
Coinbase Commerce	1% per transaction	Self-custodial (on-chain, Base)	Funds settle to a merchant-controlled wallet; no monthly or setup fees
CoinGate	1% flat	Processor-held until payout	Plus €0.50 + 0.5% on crypto payouts
NOWPayments	0.5% base (1% with fixed-rate)	Processor-held until payout	Extra 0.5% exchange fee if auto-converting to fiat
BitPay	2% + $0.25/tx (under $500K/mo)	Processor-held until payout	Drops to 1.5% / 1% at higher volume tiers

Sources: Coinbase Commerce, CoinGate, NOWPayments, and BitPay. The factor that does not show up in a fee column is custody. Coinbase Commerce moved to a self-custodial, on-chain model in its 2023 redesign — funds settle to a wallet you control on Base — while processors like BitPay, CoinGate, and NOWPayments hold incoming crypto and pay out on their own schedule, which adds delay and account-freeze risk. Aurpay’s 0.8% flat rate is non-custodial across every coin it supports: the payment lands in your own wallet on confirmation, and you hold the keys throughout.

If you are technical, BTCPay Server is a free, self-hosted alternative with no processing fee, but you run the infrastructure yourself and it has no native email or SMS invoice delivery (see our Aurpay vs BTCPay Server breakdown). For most freelancers and agencies, the hosted invoice with SMS delivery and zero setup is worth the 0.8%.

Zero chargebacks: why service businesses care

Card payments carry a structural risk for service sellers: a client can dispute a charge weeks after you delivered the work, and the processor claws the money back along with a dispute fee. Card networks flag a merchant as high-risk once chargebacks pass roughly 1% of transactions, against an e-commerce average near 0.6%, and disputes can run higher in some service categories — a recurring tax on doing business.

Blockchain transactions are irreversible. Once a crypto payment confirms on-chain, it cannot be reversed by the payer or Aurpay. There is no dispute button and no clawback window. Clear contracts still matter; what crypto removes is the fraud vector where a client reverses a legitimate transaction. Our stablecoin vs credit card fees comparison puts numbers on the full cost side.

Reconciliation and accounting

Every Aurpay invoice generates a unique transaction hash when it settles — your audit trail. Export it from the dashboard and match it against the fiat amount you billed. Because the invoice is dollar-denominated, reconciliation is straightforward: billed amount, payment received, date.

For US filers, crypto received as payment is taxable income at fair market value when received (Schedule C for self-employed work). If you billed $1,000 in USDC at 1:1, the income figure equals the invoice figure. One gap to know: IRS Form 1099-DA is live for the 2025 tax year, and centralized brokers now report to the IRS. Non-custodial payments like Aurpay’s will not appear on a broker’s 1099-DA, so you need to self-track. Keep your dashboard exports and pair them with crypto accounting software. Our guide to accounting for crypto receipts covers how to book them, and automating invoice generation covers doing it at volume.

GENIUS Act and regulatory clarity

The GENIUS Act, enacted in July 2025, created the first federal US framework for payment stablecoins: full reserves behind every token, redemptions honored within two business days. For B2B invoicing, that means a client’s treasury team now has a defensible reason to approve paying in USDC or USDT — stablecoins backed by a federal reserve-and-redemption rule aren’t a fringe experiment anymore. Our GENIUS Act compliance overview covers what this means for your invoicing contracts.

Handling client objections

The most common barrier is not the technology — it is client hesitation. Four objections you will actually hear:

• “I don’t have crypto.” Walk them through acquiring a stablecoin once. Aurpay’s Hosted Checkout or Payment Button gives them a clean payment page; the setup cost is a one-time effort for repeat clients.
• “It’s too complicated.” It is not. You send the link, they open it, they scan the QR code with a wallet app, and the payment is done. No account to create, no form to fill.
• “Is it safe?” Blockchain transactions are immutable and permanently auditable. The GENIUS Act now requires full reserves and redemption rights for US payment stablecoins.
• “What about taxes?” Same as any income: fair market value at receipt. Bill in USD, paid in USDC at 1:1, the math is trivial.

Automating invoices at volume (REST API)

If you send invoices at volume, Aurpay’s REST API covers payin, payout, orders, and invoices. Generate invoices programmatically from your own billing system on testnet or mainnet, with a Postman collection to get started. Webhook callbacks fire on payment confirmation, so your system can mark an invoice paid and trigger downstream actions — file delivery, access provisioning, ledger update — the moment settlement confirms on-chain. Full reference: Aurpay API documentation.

A worked B2B example

On a $10,000 retainer: paid by international SWIFT wire, the client faces a $25–$50 flat fee plus 1–3% FX spread, $125–$350 all-in, plus three to five days of float. Paid as a USDC invoice on Tron, the client pays a dollar or two in network fees, you pay Aurpay’s 0.8% ($80), and it settles in minutes. Stablecoins cross-border run 0.1%–0.5% of value versus an average remittance cost above 6%.

Frequently asked questions

What is a crypto invoice?

A crypto invoice is a payment request you send to a client by email or SMS containing a unique link. The amount is denominated in fiat (for example, $1,000), and the client pays the equivalent in crypto by scanning a QR code with their wallet. Unlike sharing a raw wallet address, it carries the client’s details, an expiry date, and an on-chain settlement record matched to that specific invoice.

How does price-lock work if crypto is volatile?

With Aurpay, the crypto amount is calculated when the client initiates payment, not when you create the invoice. So if you bill $1,000 and the price moves before they pay, the system recalculates the crypto figure so you still receive $1,000 in fiat terms. Billing in stablecoins like USDC or USDT removes the question entirely, since they hold a 1:1 peg.

Which coin should I ask clients to pay with?

For most invoices, USDT or USDC on TRC-20 is the best choice: the network fee is under a dollar and the stablecoin peg means no volatility. Offer ERC-20 as a fallback for clients whose wallets only hold Ethereum-based tokens, and reserve BTC, Lightning, or ETH for clients who specifically prefer to pay in those assets.

Are crypto invoice payments reversible?

No. Once a blockchain transaction confirms on-chain, it cannot be reversed by the payer or by Aurpay. There is no chargeback or dispute mechanism, which is a major advantage for service businesses that have lost money to card disputes on delivered work.

How do I record a crypto invoice for taxes?

Each Aurpay invoice generates a unique transaction hash you can export from the dashboard. Crypto received as payment is taxable income at fair market value when received; if you billed $1,000 and were paid in USDC at 1:1, that value is simply $1,000. Note that non-custodial, direct-to-wallet payments will not appear on a broker’s 1099-DA, so you are responsible for self-tracking.

Does Aurpay hold my funds before paying me out?

No. Aurpay is non-custodial, so payments settle directly to your own wallet on confirmation. There is no payout schedule to wait on and no account-freeze risk, which sets it apart from processors like BitPay that hold incoming crypto until a scheduled payout.

Send your first crypto invoice

If you bill clients across borders or run an agency tired of card fees and chargebacks, a crypto invoice gets you paid in minutes, directly to your wallet, at 0.8% flat. Set the amount in dollars, choose your accepted coins, and send the link by email or SMS — no contracts or banking details required. Start on the Aurpay Crypto Invoice page, or use the REST API to automate billing at volume.