Pay

What a bank does here: it moves money between accounts through card networks, ACH and wires, on business days, for a fee. What you do instead: you can send stablecoins wallet-to-wallet, any time, usually settling in seconds to minutes. You also become your own payments department — responsible for the right address, the right network and the right records.

Key concepts

• Same token, different networks. USDC exists on Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Solana and others. Sending on the wrong network is one of the most common ways to lose funds.
• Gas. The network fee for a transaction, paid in the chain’s native coin. Layer 2s and Solana are typically far cheaper than Ethereum mainnet.
• Bridges. Tools for moving tokens between chains. They are convenient and historically among the most-hacked pieces of crypto infrastructure.
• Irreversibility. No chargebacks. A mistaken payment is usually gone unless the recipient sends it back.
• Records and taxes. Getting paid in crypto is generally still income. Keep dated records of every payment.

Before you hit send

1. Confirm the recipient’s address and network, ideally through a second channel.
2. Send a small test amount first.
3. Check you hold enough native coin for gas.
4. Save the transaction hash with an invoice or note.

Check your understanding

Guides in this track

• Paying and Getting Paid in USDC
• Bridges Explained — and Why They Get Hacked

Education only, not financial advice. Rates change and are not guaranteed. CoinPayBank is not a bank.