Alza
Shopping & Retail
Major Central European electronics and general retailer accepting cryptocurrency.
USDCUSDT
EthereumTron
Verified
Payment network
Stablecoin payments on Ethereum
Ethereum mainnet is where most stablecoins were first issued and where the deepest liquidity still sits. Every payment gateway supports it, every wallet handles it, and no merchant will ever tell you they cannot accept it. What it is not is cheap. Transaction fees on mainnet are set by demand for blockspace and can range from a few cents in quiet periods to several dollars when the network is busy — which is fine for a $5,000 invoice and absurd for a $9 domain renewal. For payments specifically, treat Ethereum as the fallback that always works and the layer 2s as the default.
Ethereum’s role in stablecoin payments is that of the universal fallback: always supported, rarely the best choice.
When mainnet is the right call
Large payments. The fee is fixed regardless of amount, so a $4 transaction cost is 0.08% of a $5,000 invoice and 44% of a $9 one. Above roughly a thousand dollars, mainnet’s cost stops mattering and its liquidity and universal support start to.
It is also the right call when the merchant offers nothing else, which still happens with older integrations.
The gas token trap
The single most common problem people hit is a wallet holding stablecoins and no ETH. Gas is paid in the native token, so USDC cannot pay for its own transfer. The wallet will show a healthy balance and refuse to send.
Keep a small ETH balance — twenty or thirty dollars is comfortable — in any wallet you pay from. Some wallets and accounts now support paying fees in the token being sent, but it is not universal and you should not count on it at a checkout with a countdown running.
Bridged assets
Not all USDC on every chain is the same asset. Some chains carry both a natively issued version and an older bridged version from before native issuance existed. Merchants and gateways generally accept only the native one.
If your wallet shows something like “USDC.e” alongside “USDC”, they are different tokens. Check which one the merchant’s checkout expects before sending.
Merchants accepting payment on Ethereum
48 merchants in the directory support this network.
Bidali
Gift Cards
Gift cards for 4,700+ brands across 100+ countries, payable with four of our tracked stablecoins on twelve networks.
USDCUSDTPYUSD +1
EthereumBase +10 networks
Verified
Bitgild
Precious Metals
Dutch bullion dealer, crypto-native since 2013, pricing its catalogue in USDC, USDT and DAI and taking them on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base and Tron.
USDCUSDTDAI
EthereumArbitrum +2 networks
Verified
Bitrefill
Gift Cards
Gift card and mobile top-up platform built specifically for spending crypto and stablecoins.
USDCUSDT
EthereumBase +5 networks
Verified
Cherry Servers
Cloud Hosting
Lithuanian bare-metal and cloud infrastructure provider that settles USDC and DAI through CoinGate and BVNK.
USDCDAI
EthereumBNB Chain +3 networks
Verified
CryptoRefills
Travel
Amsterdam platform selling hotel stays, flights, gift cards and mobile top-ups for six stablecoins across seven networks.
USDTUSDCDAI +4
EthereumAvalanche +6 networks
Verified
Decodo
Developer Tools
Lithuanian proxy provider (formerly Smartproxy) publishing a coin-by-network table for crypto payments: USDC on seven networks, EURC on Ethereum, via CoinGate.
USDCEURC
EthereumBNB Chain +5 networks
Verified
Dynadot
Domain Names
Domain registrar and marketplace supporting cryptocurrency payment for registrations and renewals.
USDCUSDTDAI +4
EthereumBase +4 networks
Verified
eSIM-Now
Telecom
Travel eSIM seller for 100-plus countries naming USDC and USDT on Ethereum, Base, Polygon and Solana, with no ID and instant QR delivery.
USDCUSDT
EthereumBase +2 networks
Verified
G2G
Gaming
Gaming marketplace for accounts, in-game currency, items and top-ups whose payment guide lists USDC and USDT by network at a flat 0.99%.
USDCUSDT
EthereumPolygon
Verified
Genghis
Gift Cards
UK crypto-only marketplace for gift cards, game keys, eSIMs and top-ups, taking USDC on nine named networks and USDT on five, with no platform fee and no KYC.
USDCUSDT
EthereumTron +8 networks
Verified
hide.me
VPN Services
Malaysian-registered consumer VPN naming Tether and USD Coin among its payment methods, both on Ethereum (ERC-20) only, with a 30-day first-order refund.
USDTUSDC
Ethereum
Verified
Ethereum payment questions
Why is paying with USDC on Ethereum so expensive?
Because you are competing with everyone else for space in the next block, and the price is set by auction. The fee is unrelated to the amount you send — a $10 transfer and a $10,000 transfer cost the same. That is why small payments belong on a layer 2.
Do I need ETH to send stablecoins on Ethereum?
Yes. Gas is paid in ETH regardless of what token you are moving. A wallet containing only USDC cannot send that USDC anywhere. Keep a small ETH balance for fees.
How long until a merchant confirms my payment?
Usually one to five minutes. Gateways wait for a set number of confirmations before releasing an order, and the threshold is a risk decision rather than a protocol rule.