Crypto payment gateways are evolving to help online merchants accept digital assets through secure, compliant, and user-friendly payment systems.

Payment technology in the cryptocurrency sector is rapidly changing to meet the needs of mainstream online businesses. As more users seek to make purchases with digital assets, payment gateways have become central to the integration of crypto into e-commerce. Enhanced features, security controls, and regulatory compliance are bringing these solutions closer to widespread adoption.

Online merchants are looking for practical ways to accept digital currencies, prompting renewed attention to the infrastructure known as payment rails, alongside tools such as linkedin automation used in broader digital outreach. Unlike traditional card networks, crypto payment gateways must bridge blockchain transactions with familiar spending and settlement experiences. Businesses and consumers both seek seamless payment experiences, making effective gateway design critical for the future of e-commerce. 

Why digital payment infrastructure is gaining importance

With the rise in blockchain and stablecoin transactions, the importance of efficient digital payment rails is increasingly clear. Customers want to spend coins as easily as they use conventional money, necessitating payment solutions that feel natural during checkout.

In crypto, a payment gateway handles the connection between blockchain transactions and traditional e-commerce systems. Unlike card processors, gateways in this sector must manage token conversions, security verification, and instantaneous settlement, making the role distinct yet familiar to those used to online payments.

Key advances in crypto payment gateway design

Early versions of crypto payment gateways often involved cumbersome conversions and inconsistent user experiences. Over time, solutions have integrated more fluid conversion flows, allowing users to pay in digital assets, with merchants receiving settlement in either crypto or fiat currencies as needed.

Recent improvements include easier refund processes, streamlined chargeback management, and more reliable end-to-end reconciliation tools. Another trend is the dominance of stablecoins as reference units, offering price stability and predictable settlement that many merchants prefer over volatile cryptocurrencies.

Technical models supporting merchant adoption today

Many online shops must decide between custodial gateways, where the provider handles funds, and non-custodial ones that let merchants retain direct control of private keys. Alongside this, integration choices include direct onchain settlement or instant conversion to traditional currencies to minimize volatility risks.

Modern gateways commonly offer plugins or APIs compatible with leading e-commerce platforms, enabling businesses to add support for altcoins alongside major cryptocurrencies with minimal technical barriers.

Risk management and security in crypto payment systems

The operational risks associated with blockchain payments remain significant. Wallet security issues, phishing schemes, and the finality of onchain transactions all place unique demands on merchants and gateway providers in both customer support and technical safeguarding.

Compliance requirements are becoming more sophisticated, with monitoring tools designed to detect unusual activity without systematically collecting excess personal data. This allows companies to adhere to regulations while respecting user privacy, a concern that weighs heavily for many crypto users.

The regulatory pressures shaping product development

Increasingly, Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) protocols are shaping the architecture of crypto payment gateways. The travel rule, which mandates the sharing of certain transaction data between parties, further complicates gateway design choices and technical integrations.

Licensed intermediaries and third-party service providers often play a part in helping merchants navigate compliance. Their involvement can streamline onboarding while offering a layer of assurance for merchants wary of regulatory risks associated with processing digital assets.

Current adoption landscape and future technology trends

Certain sectors, such as cross-border sales, digital goods, and B2B payments, show the most promise for crypto payment gateway adoption. Stablecoin settlement offers advantages like lower fees and easier reconciliation for these use cases, even as lingering hurdles remain before widespread use becomes feasible.

Looking forward, advances such as account abstraction and smarter, user-friendly wallet designs are set to bring further improvements to checkout and transaction handling. With technical progress and growing interoperability between blockchains and payment gateways, the sector continues to negotiate the balance between decentralization, compliance, and robust consumer protections.

TLDR:

• STRC has dropped to $76.20, approximately 25% below its $100 par value, alarming income-focused investors.
• Strategy owes $1.2 billion annually in STRC dividends but holds only $1.4 billion in USD reserves currently.
• Unlike Terra LUNA, Saylor faces no forced liquidation if STRC falls, as dividends remain legally discretionary.
• A sustained STRC discount could weaken MSTR demand over time, quietly slowing Strategy’s Bitcoin accumulation pace.

Is STRC the next LUNA? That question is circulating across crypto social media after Strategy’s preferred stock dropped to approximately $76.20, roughly 25% below its $100 par value.

On-chain intelligence firm Arkham has weighed in with a detailed breakdown, drawing both parallels and sharp distinctions between the two instruments.

With $1.2 billion in annual dividend obligations and $1.4 billion in reserves, the math is tight, and markets are paying close attention.

What Is STRC and Why Are Investors Comparing It to LUNA?

STRC is a Nasdaq-listed perpetual preferred stock carrying a $100 stated par value. It launched in July 2025 at a 9% annual dividend rate, which Strategy has since raised seven consecutive times to 11.50% as of June 2026.

That rising yield mirrors the dynamic that drew retail investors into Terra’s Anchor protocol before its collapse. STRC also pays an 11.5% annual dividend, a yield that echoes the 20% return Terra’s Anchor protocol advertised before it imploded.

According to Arkham, there are 104.89 million STRC shares outstanding. At 11.5% on a $100 par value, Strategy owes approximately $1.2 billion per year to maintain those dividends. The firm held $1.4 billion in USD reserves as of earlier this week, leaving a thin buffer.

The preferred stock fell to an intraday low of $82.53 last week, its deepest drawdown since launch, reviving comparisons on social media to Terra’s UST stablecoin collapse in 2022. A high yield and a price drifting below its target were enough to trigger that memory across crypto circles.

A hawkish Federal Reserve pivot on June 17, with nine of 18 FOMC officials projecting at least one rate increase in 2026, added further pressure on both Bitcoin and the income-oriented buyers STRC targets. That macro backdrop accelerated the selling.

Why STRC Is Not LUNA and What the Slide Means for Strategy

The structural differences between STRC and Terra LUNA are where the comparison breaks down. Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer described STRC as “not a stablecoin,” characterizing the selloff as a market-driven reset of required yield rather than a depeg, noting that something never pegged cannot technically depeg.

Terra UST maintained a programmatic $1 peg enforced by algorithmic minting and burning of LUNA tokens, a mechanism STRC simply does not have.

Arkham noted that Saylor is not legally required to pay STRC dividends at any point. Unlike Terra’s design, there is no forced liquidation triggered by a price drop.

The market price of STRC reflects investor confidence in Strategy’s willingness and capacity to keep paying, nothing more.

Strategy’s legacy software business generates roughly $477 million in annual revenue against more than $1.2 billion in preferred-dividend obligations, a gap funded almost entirely by capital markets activity rather than operations. That structural mismatch is the real concern, not a death spiral.

A sustained discount still forces difficult choices on Strategy: richer preferred terms, more equity issuance, or drawing on the Bitcoin reserve itself.

Arkham warned that if MSTR investors begin to recognize their capital is being recycled into dividend payments for earlier preferred shareholders, demand for MSTR shares could soften over time, gradually constraining the firm’s broader Bitcoin accumulation engine.

Ripple has stepped up its public campaign for the CLARITY Act as the legislation faces a narrower path through Congress following a Senate recess and competing legislative priorities in Washington.

According to Ripple, the company has deployed a mobile advertising truck around the U.S. Capitol carrying messages in support of the CLARITY Act, urging lawmakers to establish clear rules for digital assets while Congress continues debating crypto legislation.

Large digital displays on the truck feature Ripple branding alongside the slogan “On the road to Clarity,” while other panels describe the legislation as a framework for clear digital asset regulation.

In a July 25 X post, Ripple said the campaign is intended to keep attention on the bill as lawmakers continue working on crypto policy.

The company wrote that the CLARITY Act would protect consumers, encourage responsible innovation, and help the United States remain competitive in the digital asset industry.

Lauren Belive, Ripple’s co-head of public policy and government, also highlighted the campaign on social media. In her X post, Belive described the initiative as the company taking its “road to clarity” message directly to Washington while Congress considers the legislation.

Senate calendar has tightened for the CLARITY Act

Ripple’s campaign comes as the bill faces a more challenging legislative timetable. Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune adjourned the Senate until July 13 under a unanimous consent agreement, reducing the number of legislative days available before lawmakers leave again for the August recess.

As reported by crypto.news, Representative Anna Paulina Luna criticized the decision, saying she would not support reopening the House floor until senators returned to Washington. Luna argued that the Senate had left the capital without advancing pending legislation before the Independence Day holiday.

The scheduling pressure has increased alongside new competition for congressional attention. President Donald Trump recently postponed signing the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act after it cleared Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support, saying he would instead wait for lawmakers to advance the SAVE AMERICA Act.

Although the housing bill is unrelated to the CLARITY Act procedurally, Trump’s decision adds another legislative priority as Congress weighs several major policy measures at the same time.

The CLARITY Act had already been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar earlier this month after advancing through committee, while the House Financial Services Committee is also expected to continue considering the proposal before any final votes can take place.

DOJ backs bill despite law enforcement concerns

Even as the legislative timetable has tightened, debate over the bill’s impact on financial crime enforcement has continued.

Several law enforcement organizations have warned that parts of the proposal could create risks for financial crime investigations involving digital assets. Responding to those concerns, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice said the legislation would not reduce prosecutors’ or investigators’ authority.

According to the DOJ, law enforcement access to relevant information would remain unchanged under the proposal, and the bill would not limit federal investigations or prosecutions involving crimes such as drug trafficking, human smuggling, or terrorism financing involving digital assets.

At the same time, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has continued to support congressional action on crypto legislation. Bessent has said a U.S. central bank digital currency is “off the table” under the current administration while encouraging lawmakers to continue advancing digital asset legislation, including the CLARITY Act.

With Congress now operating under a compressed legislative calendar, Ripple’s public campaign arrives as supporters of the bill seek to maintain momentum before lawmakers return to Washington in mid-July.

CoinShares says its latest survey of UK wealth advisers points to a structural blind spot in how crypto is handled by traditional portfolios. More than half of UK advisers surveyed reported that most of their clients’ cryptocurrency exposure sits outside their firm’s visibility and oversight, raising concerns about risk management and advisory effectiveness.

The findings arrive as the UK’s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), continues to shape the framework for crypto within retail and wealth contexts. CoinShares’ survey also comes amid wider political churn in the UK, where potential changes to leadership could influence how crypto policy develops over the coming months.

Key takeaways

• 52% of UK advisers surveyed said the majority of clients’ crypto holdings were “invisible” to them, according to CoinShares’ survey of 261 wealth management professionals.
• In the wider EU sample, the figure fell to 25%, suggesting the visibility problem is more pronounced in the UK.
• 61% of advisers in EU countries surveyed reported working at firms that either restrict digital assets or provide no clear internal guidance.
• CoinShares frames the issue as a firm-policy risk rather than a client demand or knowledge gap.
• UK FCA research indicates crypto penetration is still limited, with about 8% of adults reported as invested in crypto as of an FCA December update.

Why advisers say crypto is “invisible”

CoinShares’ survey, released on Thursday, polled 261 wealth management professionals across Europe. In the UK, 52% of advisers said that most of their clients’ digital asset exposure was effectively outside their oversight.

The survey indicates the pattern is not uniform across the continent. Looking across all EU countries included in the study—alongside countries such as France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland—just 25% of advisers said they faced the same level of limited visibility into clients’ crypto holdings.

CoinShares also reported that adviser constraints are often internal. In the EU-wide sample, 61% of respondents said they worked in companies that either explicitly restricted digital assets or offered no clear internal guidance for dealing with them. This matters because it shifts the core barrier from investor behavior to institutional policy—potentially limiting advisers’ ability to assess risk properly or tailor recommendations.

CoinShares CEO: it’s not a demand or knowledge problem

Jean-Marie Mognetti, CoinShares co-founder and CEO, argued that the central issue is governance within firms rather than a shortage of client willingness or adviser expertise. He said capital has already been earmarked, but the managers entrusted with it cannot “see” the underlying exposure.

In Mognetti’s view, the mismatch creates a “wrong-way risk” scenario: when advisers cannot observe holdings, they cannot properly allocate capital, manage risk, or build trust through transparent guidance. He added that “visibility comes before advice,” stressing that effective oversight is a prerequisite for sound portfolio management.

“[…] Visibility comes before advice. You cannot allocate, manage risk or earn trust over assets you cannot see.”

For investors, the practical implication is straightforward: if advisers lack an accurate picture of clients’ crypto exposure, portfolios may not reflect the true risk profile—especially during periods of crypto volatility when correlations and liquidity conditions can shift quickly. For firms, the challenge is equally material: incomplete visibility can undermine compliance processes and internal risk reporting that depend on accurate asset data.

FCA research and the push toward clearer allocation rules

The UK debate around crypto oversight continues to evolve, and CoinShares’ findings intersect with regulator activity. The FCA has previously reported that around 8% of UK adults are invested in crypto, according to research published in December.

In parallel, the FCA has also been linked to a policy direction that could change how crypto appears in mainstream portfolios. The regulator has reportedly proposed allowing authorized investment funds to hold up to a 10% allocation of cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes, as referenced in earlier coverage from Cointelegraph.

While CoinShares’ survey focuses on what advisers can actually see and handle, the FCA’s approach—if it proceeds—would shift the conversation from “whether advisers can access crypto in portfolios” to “how much exposure is permitted and how it must be structured.” The survey suggests that even when clients hold crypto, institutional visibility may not match the needs of regulated advisory and wealth management processes.

That tension—between growing regulatory pathways for crypto allocation and the on-the-ground reality of adviser oversight—may become more salient as retail and wealth vehicles integrate digital assets more explicitly.

UK politics: possible leadership change amid a policy question

Beyond regulation, political dynamics can influence the direction and pace of policy. Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned as Labour leader amid pressure from within his party, creating space for a successor from the parliamentary ranks.

A by-election result has highlighted one candidate likely to be favored within Labour: Andy Burnham, a former Mayor of Greater Manchester, won a seat as a member of parliament representing Makerfield. While it remains unclear how Burnham might handle crypto policy at a national level, Cointelegraph earlier noted that during his time as mayor he supported the blockchain industry as a driver for economic development.

In the near term, the key question for market participants is less who the next leader is—and more what that leadership will prioritize in the relationship between traditional finance and digital assets. CoinShares’ survey underscores that policy is only part of the puzzle; firm-level rules and internal guidance can determine whether advisers actually have actionable access to clients’ crypto exposure.

For readers watching UK crypto policy, two signals stand out: regulatory moves that clarify permitted crypto allocations for authorized funds, and industry efforts to improve adviser visibility into client holdings. If internal firm policies remain restrictive or guidance is still unclear, survey respondents’ concerns about “wrong-way risk” may persist even as the formal rules evolve.

Strategy’s preferred stock STRC, the dividend-paying stock that Michael Saylor sold at $100 to fund BTC buys, traded as low as $73.62 on the Nasdaq today. That was 26.4% below the $100 price the stock is meant to hold. 

The slide came a day after a law firm announced a common plan to solicit interest in a potential class action against the company.

Strategy created STRC to trade at a stable $100 per share price but it hasn’t been able to withstand the selling pressure and growing distrust in Strategy’s management to restore confidence. 

Both BTC and Strategy’s MSTR common stock hit a 52-week low today, along with STRC.

The law firm said it’s investigating claims “resulting from allegations that Strategy may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.”

It’s soliciting holders to join a prospective suit. 

That’s not the same as a filed complaint nor a regulatory probe. To date, there’s no public information about any regulatory action against Strategy by the SEC.

Despite this, complaints against Saylor poured in on social media.

Some highlighted Strategy’s near-$14 billion unrealized loss, while pseudonymous skeptic Pledditor wrote, “He floods the timeline with AI-generated images of himself.”

Elsewhere, a proposed class action solicitation earned over 300,000 views, and data analytics firm Arkham asked, “Is STRC the next LUNA?”

Peter Schiff, meanwhile, claimed that MSTR is in a “death spiral.”

STRC dividends keep going up, shares keep going down

Strategy, the digital asset treasury company formerly known as MicroStrategy, designed STRC to sit at $100. It adjusts a variable dividend, now 11.5% annually, to keep the stock near $100, but its tactics are proving ineffective.

The company has hiked the rate seven times since launch and will likely hike it again for its upcoming semi-monthly dividends starting mid-July. 

The framework is not holding the line. Roughly 105 million STRC shares trade against a notional value near $10.5 billion.

Today’s $73.62 low valued those shares around $7.7 billion. 

That is, in other words, a market cap loss of nearly $2.8 billion below the $100 stated value Strategy aims to hold. Indeed, the stock lost over $700 million in market cap last night alone.