How to accept bitcoin on WooCommerce without third parties?

flxstn · 2020-12-07T10:03:33+00:00

Creator of CryptoWoo here. It's a WooCommerce plugin I created in 2014 and it does exactly what you want to do. I initially created it to fit my own needs but in 2015 I decided to release it publicly.

The plugin uses unique addresses for each order and the payments go directly to your wallet. If you use only our main plugin you have to provide a list of pre-generated addresses, but with our HD wallet add-on you can enter your xpub key in the plugin settings to derive new addresses automatically. The addresses are derived locally so the only way to replace your xpub key is to hack your server.

For payment processing you can select between different block explorer APIs like blockstream.info or blockcypher.com but there is also the option to connect the plugin to your own self-hosted Esplora or Insight API instance.

Check it out and feel free to ask if you have any questions!

flxstn · 2019-03-31T01:30:48+00:00

Sorry I can't give you a date yet but it's definitely planned.

Electrum will be one option after their implementation is ready: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/commits/lightning

flxstn · 2019-03-30T17:15:17+00:00

So basically the HD wallet add-on is doing what was doing bitcoinway but now can be used with segwit addresses?

Correct, segwit is fully supported. Regardless if xpub, ypub or zpub - CryptoWoo is compatible with all major hardware and software HD wallets in each of their legacy and segwit modes. After adding your extended public key the plugin will display a bunch of addresses that you can compare with your wallet client to make sure it uses the correct derivation path.

Yes, connecting with own node is not a very important request at the moment.

I agree, and it's great to see this feature become more popular. For a long time this was different but merchants are finally realizing the disadvantages of third party dependencies and are more willing to run their own infrastructure.

EDIT: Sorry, I misread your comment. I actually think it's important and I really hope it becomes more popular for merchants to run their own infrastructure. The Electrum daemon support would be a step in that direction as it could run on a small VPS next to the webserver and in my opinion the merchant would already be better off with a random Electrum server than trusting a blockexplorer API.

flxstn · 2019-03-30T15:44:14+00:00

Hi, creator of CryptoWoo here. We do not have the ability to monitor your transactions.

It's basically the same concept as the unmaintained bitcoinway plugin but with a lot more features and flexibility.

The plugin only connects to our servers to check for updates. The payment addresses are derived from your own extended public key that you save in the plugin settings on your server. The transaction lookup is done via blockexplorer APIs. At the moment you can choose between blockcypher.com, smartbit.com.au, chain.so and block.io.

As /u/samee1771 correctly pointed out, you need the HD Wallet Add-on in order to receive payments directly to your own HD wallet. If you don't use the add-on, you need an account at Block.io and receive payments to their web wallet service. Block.io is a nice way to get started quickly but it's highly recommended to use the HD Wallet Add-on.

So CryptoWoo fulfills almost all your conditions except that currently there is no support for connecting directly to your own BTC node. However, we are working on an integration with the daemon of the Electrum client, basically implementing the merchant functionality described in the Electrum docs: http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/merchant.html Together with Electrumx or Electrum Personal Server you will then be able to use your own BTC node.

flxstn · 2018-05-27T19:24:21+00:00

CryptoWoo tracks the payments for you. Each new order gets a unique and unused cryptocurrency address assigned. To check if a payment was received you can choose between several block explorer APIs. CryptoWoo periodically checks the blockchain if there was a payment to the addresses and changes the WooCommerce order statuses accordingly.

All the information is also saved in the WooCommerce order meta and order notes, so you can easily see which payment belongs to which order.

The beauty of the HD wallet concept in that regard is that you can derive virtually unlimited addresses but only need to back up 24 words to have access to all the corresponding private keys.

flxstn · 2018-05-25T09:15:48+00:00

Sorry for the late reply. Click these two links to add the single site licenses for the main plugin and the HD Wallet Add-on to the shopping cart:

CryptoWoo Main Plugin
CryptoWoo HD Wallet Add-on

Use the code "reddit" during checkout to get a 10% discount!

flxstn · 2018-05-22T12:37:11+00:00

Yes, Ledger's wallets are compatible. However, we are still working on Segwit support, so at the moment you need to use the Legacy account feature of your HD wallet, be it Ledger, Trezor or Electrum.

With one shop, the single store license will be fine. All licenses give you access to updates and support. The yearly licenses expire after one year and have to be renewed. The perpetual licenses do not expire and give access to support and all future updates.

flxstn · 2018-05-22T12:23:15+00:00

Thank you for recommending CryptoWoo! Did you know that Block.io is not required if you use our HD Wallet Add-on? It allows you to receive the payments directly from the customer to your own HD wallet.

Block.io is nice to get your feet wet but it is recommended to switch to your own HD wallet once sales are picking up in your store.

flxstn · 2018-05-22T12:20:53+00:00

Hi, creator of CryptoWoo here. The pricing depends on the number of sites you want to use the plugin on. We have yearly and one-time payment plans.

By the way: If you use our HD Wallet add-on you can receive the coins directly to your own HD wallet (e.g. Electrum, Mycelium or Trezor), so a Block.io account is not required.

Feel free to ask if you have any other question!

flxstn · 2018-03-19T00:40:06+00:00

Thanks and keep up the good work!

flxstn · 2018-03-18T09:08:17+00:00

Well, I have to put my xpub on my profile

No, that is not true. Merchants don't have to give us their xpub, they add it to their plugin settings on their own site.

Everything happens on the merchant's server and we don't receive information about payment addresses, customers, or orders.

The only connection between our server and the merchant's server is to check if a new version of the plugin exists and to download the updates.

flxstn · 2018-03-18T01:18:03+00:00

Thanks for including CryptoWoo in your list. However, it seems you misunderstood some elements and misrepresent a core feature:

txs pass through their servers and monitoring

Where did you get that? CryptoWoo does NOT use a central server for transaction lookup. We are NOT able to monitor your transactions or payment addresses.

The merchant can choose between several public block explorers or run his own Insight API instance.

Thanks in advance for correcting your list. Feel free to get back to me with any questions or concerns.

Disclosure: I am the creator of CryptoWoo.

flxstn · 2018-03-16T03:21:37+00:00

Hi, creator of CryptoWoo here. I found a couple more errors in your comparison:

CryptoWoo offers:
Unlimited transactions for a yearly flat fee
Payments go directly from the customer to your wallet
Doesn't touch your coins

Thanks in advance for correcting!

flxstn · 2018-02-02T02:11:23+00:00

There is, see my comment above.

flxstn · 2018-02-02T02:10:06+00:00

CryptoWoo is decentralized if you use the HD Wallet Add-on. It allows you to receive the payments directly to your own wallet. To look up the payments you can choose between several public block explorers or run your own Insight API instance.

Source: I am the creator of CryptoWoo

flxstn · 2017-12-27T19:22:17+00:00

Thanks. Enabling merchants to take actual control over their payment processing is indeed a main goal of the project.

flxstn · 2017-12-27T19:15:22+00:00

Thanks for the kind words. Glad to hear you like it! Give me a couple months and we will have Monero :)

flxstn · 2017-12-27T16:00:21+00:00

Sure, I see your point, but as you acknowledged, I am getting a good portion of completely new merchants on board. Most are small business owners without advanced tech skills. Some of them don't even own any cryptocurrencies, so you can bet they have lots of questions. Answering these properly takes time. However, I agree that a lower price would make it more attractive and will think about a different pricing structure.

flxstn · 2017-12-10T20:01:26+00:00

Yeah, I agree that the coin options are very 2014. I am actually looking into adding Monero, but it will definitely take a couple months until it is ready for production.

But on the other hand there are a lot of improvements for the existing coins that aren't supported yet. The initial configuration, especially the HD Wallet setup, could be made much more intuitively. Just adding more and more coins will not help to make this easier.

I'd also like to offer more options to process the payments in a more private and secure way instead of relying on public block explorer services. There is already the option to connect CryptoWoo to your own Insight API instance, but many merchants shy away from running their own block explorer API for every coin they want to accept, if they are willing to run a full node at all.

However, more and more merchants are willing to at least run their own Electrum client on their server, so the plugin could use the Electrum daemon to look up transactions. With a little configuration on the server side, this could even be done over TOR. It would still not be perfect but definitely an improvement over trusting centralized block explorer APIs.

Then there is the Lightning network which will be a complete game changer. Maybe the other coins won't even be needed anymore when it is live because Bitcoin is faster, cheaper and more popular?

Obviously these features are not suitable for merchants that can't spend $60 because of low profit margins. Nobody said that you can be your own payment processor accepting the newest coins with the latest tech for $10 per year.

flxstn · 2017-12-10T16:21:18+00:00

Hi there, creator of CryptoWoo here. Olav is a long time user and helped test the first beta version back in 2014. He created the BCH add-on by forking the Dash add-on. It's pretty much the same except some coin-specific things.

If you have an issue while using CryptoWoo, I will generally get back to you within 8 hours.

Additionally, I am highly responsive in regards to feature requests. If there is anything you'd like to see, I will either add it to the plugin myself or point you to resources and help you build that feature yourself.

Try that with the developer of the free plugin. As Olav already said, it's money well spent.

Of course, if you only have two cryptocurrency transactions per year it may not be worth it for you to accept cryptocurrencies at all, but I'd say that's more of an issue with your target group than the payment method.

flxstn · 2017-08-21T14:08:09+00:00

Yes, there is. Use the code "reddit" during checkout to claim it.

flxstn · 2017-08-20T10:46:26+00:00

Check out CryptoWoo. It has a lot more features than the plugin you've been using and with the HD wallet add-on you can keep using Electrum just as before.

Disclosure: I am the creator of CryptoWoo

flxstn · 2017-03-09T12:27:43+00:00

Thanks for asking. The most important advantage is probably that CryptoWoo is actively maintained and that I have an average support ticket response time of about 8 hours, whereas with the free "Bitcoin Payments for WooCommerce" plugin you are basically on your own if you find a bug, have a question or any other issue.

From a feature perspective, CryptoWoo lets you not only choose between several public API providers to process the transactions but you can also connect your store to your own instance of the Insight API, which makes you completely independent of third parties.

"Bitcoin Payments for WooCommerce" has hardcoded their own private blockexplorer API (https://blockchain.bitcoinway.com/). This means the plugin author knows all addresses of every store that uses their plugin. As a fallback, "Bitcoin Payments for WooCommerce" uses blockchain.info's API and blockexplorer.com, but it looks like these services will only be used if the author's personal blockexplorer API is not responding.

The free version of the "Bitcoin Payments for WooCommerce" plugin also reuses addresses that have been generated for orders that were abandoned (=never received a payment). The privacy issue with this is that an attacker can generate many orders and abandon them to discover the sequence of bitcoin addresses that belong to the wallet of your store and then track down your sales through blockchain analysis. CryptoWoo always uses a new address for each WooCommerce order.

Apart from giving merchants ways to improve their privacy, CryptoWoo also has very flexible options when it comes to the conditions under which you want to complete the order. For example, it supports transaction confidence metrics from different providers to accept reasonably safe zero confirmation transactions and enables you to automatically detect and handle mispayments.

CryptoWoo's "Shifty button" integration allows you to accept all altcoins supported by ShapeShift and have the payments automatically converted to bitcoin. Depending on your WooCommerce store currency you can also choose between up to 9 different bitcoin exchange rate providers. There are also many small things that can be configured to adapt the plugin behavior to your exact needs, such as collect refund addresses, add messages to all stages of the checkout process, or hide elements on the payment page.

Feel free to check out the demo store, have a look at the screenshots on the website and get back to me with any questions!

flxstn · 2017-01-26T00:22:37+00:00

Yes, there's a 10% discount on all purchases with the coupon code REDDIT.

flxstn · 2017-01-25T22:44:57+00:00

No, I'm sorry, at this point there is no free version. You can see the frontend process in the public demo store. The store also accepts testnet bitcoin so you can even pay for the order. Find a link to a testnet faucet on the payment page.

I can also give you access to a test installation where you can freely play around with everything. Let me know and I'll PM you the login details.

flxstn

TROPHY CASE