# Use Case

### Who can use CryptoPay Server?

The versatility and flexibility of CryptoPay Server attract different types of users. Anyone can use CryptoPay Server.

We're ensuring an open future for businesses and individuals regardless of geographic, political or financial barriers.

Below are the most common use cases for CryptoPay Server:

* **Merchants** who sell products and services online or person
* Self-sovereign **individuals** wanting to protect their wealth and manage their funds and full crypto node
* **Charities and non-profits** looking to accept donations or crowdfund their dream project
* **Developers** building on top of crypto and bleeding-edge payment infrastructure
* Members of **local communities** willing to onboard people to their CryptoPay instance and offer payment processing as a service or for free, creating a circular economy.
* **Exchanges** offering instant conversions for the users of CryptoPay Server
* **Hosting providers** offering CryptoPay as a cloud service or ready-to-use hardware.

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The software usage is by no means limited to the groups of users mentioned in this document.

### Merchants

Merchants accepting crypto payments online or in person are the primary user group of a CryptoPay Server.

By choosing CryptoPay Server to process payments, merchant are:

* Saving money (CryptoPay is free with no fees or subscriptions)
* Cutting out the middle-man (If self-hosted payments go directly to their wallet)
* Enhancing privacy for their customers (no address re-use, no information leaks to the third party services if they're self hosting CryptoPay Server)
* Saving time (easy integration with popular e-commerce platforms)
* Protecting themselves from interference in their business (self-sovereignty)

#### Online stores

Merchants selling goods or services over the internet, usually pick an online e-commerce plugin we offer for multiple popular e-commerce platforms WooCommerce, Shopify, or other. Install a plugin for the CMS of your choice, and connect it to a self-hosted CryptoPay or one hosted by a third party.

CryptoPay Server's checkout is no different from any other payment gateway. The customer gets an invoice. They pay it by scanning a QR code or by copy-pasting the amount and the crypto address. When their payments is confirmed, you've notified via the e-commerce software and can ship the item.

#### Physical stores

For in-person retailers, CryptoPay Server has a **web-based Point of Sale**. Similar to the online store, the customer is presented with an invoice that he can pay on the spot. The POS app can be run on any web-connected device.

Take a look at **our demo POS app**.

### Self-sovereign individuals

Privacy-minded individuals can use CryptoPay Server's internal wallet for their everyday crypto transactions without providing a private key. For self-hosted servers, the **internal wallet** relies on a full node, significantly enhancing privacy. **Hardware wallet integration** allows the usage of a hardware wallet with a **full node** and avoids leaks to a third-party server.

### Freelancers & bill pay

Freelancers can request for payment by sharing a **Payment Request**. The content and appearance of the payment request are customizable. With or without expiry, customers can pay the request at any time. CryptoPay Server automatically updates the exchange rate when the customer pays the payment request when it's convenient for them. Merchants or freelancers can use payment requests for bill pay services. Payment requests can even be used to quickly request money from friends.

Merchants can provide payment by sharing a Pull Payment. This is a long-lived payment offer that the freelancer can pull funds from at their convenience. The merchant can specify the total amount and approve a partial or full request for payment.

### Charities & non-profits

Charities, non-profits, content creators, and other organizations that want to accept crypto donations in more private way than the traditional static crypto address method can utilize by **Pay Button**, **POS app**, or **Crowdfunding app** for a better user experience.

Benefits of using CryptoPay for accepting donations:

* Saving money (no fees, no subscriptions)
* Cutting out the middle-man (Payments go directly to their wallet)
* Enhancing privacy for them and their donors (no address re-use, no IP leaks to third parties)

It's essential to mention that CryptoPay Server prevents address reuse, as many people have been reusing addresses for donations in the past. Here is why you SHOULD NOT reuse a Crypto address:

* Privacy: reusing the same address for donations not only makes it incredibly easy to link it to your identity, but it also compromises the privacy of your donors and every person that interacts with you
* Security: by compromising your privacy, address reuse increases your attack surface, as people that want to steal from your or harm you would have A LOT of information about you and your donors
* High fees: fees for a Crypto transaction are calculated according to the "size" of a transaction (which has nothing to do with the amount being sent). By reusing addresses, you are building huge transactions involving many input, that will cost you a lot in fees when you want to move them

You can read more about address reuse on the **Crypto Wiki**.

### Developers

By deploying an instance, developers get a full tech stack to develop on top of Crypto. They can build things using the **Greenfield API** or build free or premium plugins for CryptoPay users. Since CryptoPay is an open-source organization, they can also get involved and **contribute** and help us improve the software.

### Local communities

People self-hosting a CryptoPay Server instance, can enable registration for other users and become a **third-part host** for family, friends or their local community allowing them to accept Crypto by piggybacking on the host's instance. This allows motivated community members to onboard local communities and fuel hyperbitcoinization locally.

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### Cryptocurrency exchanges

The **number of merchants** using CryptoPay Server grows each day, and cryptocurrency exchanges could benefit from it by developing integrations with CryptoPay and allow offer instant conversion of payments into local fiat currencies.

### Hosting providers

Hosting providers can (and some already have) create easy 1-click CryptoPay deployment solutions for their customers. With the growing interest in CryptoPay Server, hosting companies can tap into this source of new customers and make money by hosting easily-deployable CryptoPay instances for merchants.

There are some of the many ways in which you can use CryptoPay. Unleash your creativity and feel free to build your own solutions to solve problems.

