Can I sell cryptocurrency businesses on Stripe, Shopify Payments or PayPal?
Stripe restricts exchanges and wallets with limited availability. The critical distinction, and the one merchants ask about most, is that accepting crypto as payment for an ordinary product is not what these clauses cover. Being the exchange is the regulated activity; taking payment in it is not.
Also searched as: crypto, exchange, wallet, web3, token.
Stripe
RestrictedNamed, and allowed only on stated conditions or in certain countries.
“Cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets”
Named, restricted, limited availability. This covers operating an exchange or a custodial wallet. An ordinary store that happens to accept crypto at checkout is not an exchange and is not what this clause addresses.
Source: Stripe: Prohibited and restricted businesses. The policy states it was last updated 13 May 2026. We last read it on 27 August 2026. Check it yourself before you act on this: these lists change, and ours is a reading of theirs, not a substitute for it.
PayPal
Needs pre-approvalNamed, and permitted only if you are approved in advance. Selling first and asking later is a termination.
“Providing payment services which would fall under the definition of a money service business or an electronic money institution”
PayPal handles this through pre-approval rather than prohibition. The threshold is the money-service-business definition, so custody and exchange need approval in advance while ordinary commerce does not.
Source: PayPal: Acceptable Use Policy. The policy states it was last updated 29 October 2022. We last read it on 27 August 2026. Check it yourself before you act on this: these lists change, and ours is a reading of theirs, not a substitute for it.
Shopify Payments
RestrictedNamed, and allowed only on stated conditions or in certain countries.
No policy of its own
Inherits Stripe's limited availability for exchange and wallet businesses.
Source: Shopify: Payment processor list. The document publishes no last-updated date. We last read it on 27 August 2026. Check it yourself before you act on this: these lists change, and ours is a reading of theirs, not a substitute for it.
What actually happens
Businesses that cross into custody or exchange without saying so are closed on discovery, and the money-transmission licensing question tends to arrive at the same time, which makes it a considerably more expensive problem than a terminated merchant account. Ordinary merchants who accept crypto alongside cards generally have no issue at all.
What works instead
Decide honestly which business you are in. If you are the exchange, this is a licensing project before it is a payments project. If you sell products and take crypto as one option, you are not in this category and should not be shopping for high-risk processing on account of it.
Want the version that accounts for your actual store?
This page is about cryptocurrency businesses as a category. Approval turns on your specific catalogue, your claims and your paperwork, and we will tell you where you stand whether or not it leads to work for us.
Both are free and neither is a sales call. The check asks for your web address and nothing else; the call is thirty minutes and ends with an answer whether or not it leads to work for us. Ready to start instead? Tell us what you sell.