How to Accept Crypto Payments Without a Payment Processor

Payment processors, banks and platforms can hold your payouts, freeze your balance or close your account, often with little warning. This video shows how to accept crypto payments yourself, and the tools we recommend for each way of getting paid. The full guide is free:
https://wiki.ezvid.com/how-to-accept-crypto-payments

It has happened across the political spectrum and around the world. In 2010, Mastercard, Visa, PayPal and Bank of America cut off donations to WikiLeaks, which then began taking Bitcoin. In 2020, a group raising money for Nigeria's #EndSARS protesters found its fundraising links shut down and turned to Bitcoin, and a court froze the bank accounts of nineteen protesters. In 2022, Canada's banks froze the accounts of people tied to the convoy protest; Canada's courts have since ruled the government's use of the Emergencies Act unreasonable. In Russia, donating to Alexei Navalny's foundation became a crime. In the UK, Coutts closed Nigel Farage's account. And Freedom House says four in ten of the world's people live in countries that are not free.

What the video covers:
- Why Bitcoin needs nobody's permission, and why a stablecoin's issuer can freeze it
- A Lightning address in minutes with Rizful (free to receive)
- A checkout on your own website with OpenReceive: free, open-source, no approval necessary; customers can pay in Bitcoin, USDT or USDC, and you receive Bitcoin
- Alby Hub, Lexe, and Megalith for people who run their own Lightning node
- Records, taxes, price swings and savings

This is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Fees and features come from each tool's own site and can change.

Chapters
0:00 Cut off from payments
1:52 The gatekeepers
2:37 What crypto changes
3:33 The guide
3:48 How customers will pay
4:10 A Lightning address: Rizful
5:01 A checkout on your website: OpenReceive
6:21 Alby Hub
6:47 Lexe
7:12 Megalith, for node runners
7:49 Before you switch
8:43 A payment no one has to approve

Tools
Rizful: https://rizful.com
OpenReceive: https://openreceive.org
Alby Hub: https://getalby.com
Lexe: https://www.lexe.app
Megalith: https://megalithic.me

Sources
The Guardian, Dec. 8, 2010: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/08/operation-payback-mastercard-website-wikileaks
The Associated Press via MPR News, Dec. 8, 2010: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/12/08/wikileaks-assange-creditcard
Blockworks, Apr. 21, 2025: https://blockworks.co/news/wikileaks-google-bitcoin-in-2011
TechCabal, Oct. 13, 2020: https://techcabal.com/2020/10/13/endsars-flutterwave-crowdfunding-links-shut-down/
Nairametrics, Oct. 22, 2020: https://nairametrics.com/2020/10/22/endsars-feminist-coalition-raise-cryptos-worth-126000/
Channels Television, Nov. 6, 2020: https://www.channelstv.com/2020/11/06/court-grants-cbns-request-to-freeze-accounts-of-19-endsars-protesters/
The Canadian Press via Global News, Mar. 7, 2022: https://globalnews.ca/news/8665522/ottawa-protesters-accounts-frozen-rcmp/
Global News, Jan. 16, 2026: https://globalnews.ca/news/11616533/freedom-convoy-emergencies-act-appeal-court/
The Canadian Press via Global News, Oct. 22, 2026: https://globalnews.ca/news/12113125/supreme-court-emergencies-act/
The Associated Press via Voice of America, June 9, 2021: https://www.voanews.com/a/europe_russian-court-outlaws-opposition-leader-navalnys-groups/6206806.html
The Moscow Times, Feb. 11, 2021: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/02/11/russian-opposition-finds-refuge-in-bitcoin-a72907
The Moscow Times, May 26, 2026: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/05/26/moscow-court-jails-hse-professor-35-years-for-navalny-donations-a92853
Sky News via Yahoo News, July 20, 2023: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/key-points-coutts-dossier-nigel-094900440.html
ITV News, Oct. 27, 2023: https://www.itv.com/news/2023-10-27/natwest-showed-serious-failings-in-nigel-farage-account-closure-probe-finds
Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2026: https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/FIW2026_final_digital%20%281%29.pdf
Freedom House country ratings: https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores
Tether, Apr. 23, 2026: https://tether.io/news/tether-supports-freeze-of-more-than-344-million-in-usdt-in-coordination-with-ofac-and-u-s-law-enforcement/
OpenReceive's guide to accepting crypto payments: https://openreceive.org/learn/how-to-accept-crypto-payments