Pay for the Claude and GPT APIs with crypto (USDC)

Neither Anthropic nor OpenAI lists crypto as a way to pay for its API: Anthropic's help center describes buying Claude Console credits with a card, and OpenAI's limits API credit purchases to US dollars and names no crypto method (both read October 3, 2026). You can still pay for the Claude and GPT APIs with crypto through a gateway. Kunavo's Stripe checkout offers crypto (stablecoins) on top-ups shown in US dollars. Per Stripe's docs, that means USDC on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base or Tempo, plus USDP and USDG for US buyers. Bitcoin, ETH and USDT are not in those docs. The minimum top-up is $10, Kunavo adds no crypto surcharge, and the prepaid balance never expires. That balance pays per token for Claude and GPT models, including Claude Code and Codex on an API key. It does not pay for Claude Pro, Max or ChatGPT Plus.

This is for developers without a card that pays abroad, and for teams that keep working money in stablecoins and would rather not route it through a bank to buy API credits. Not covered: Bitcoin, ETH, USDT or any coin outside Stripe's stablecoin docs; crypto auto-recharge; and any subscription. Payment methods and prices checked October 3, 2026.

Short answer: do Anthropic and OpenAI take crypto?

No crypto option appears on either vendor's billing pages. That is what their help centers list, not a stated refusal:

• Anthropic, Claude Pro and Max: for subscriptions bought on the web, “we only accept credit or debit cards” (paid plan billing FAQ, read October 3, 2026). On mobile, the App Store or Google Play bills the plan.
• Anthropic, Claude API and Console: credits are bought with a card, organizations set up for invoicing pay a Stripe invoice, and credits expire one year after purchase and are not refundable (How do I pay for my Claude API usage?, read October 3, 2026). A search of the help center for “crypto” returned no billing article.
• OpenAI, API credits: purchases are limited to US dollars (multicurrency billing), the minimum is $5, and credits expire after one year and are non-refundable unless law, contract or an approved exception says otherwise (prepaid API billing, both read October 3, 2026). The payment-method list in that same multicurrency article, written for ChatGPT plans, names cards and regional methods and no crypto.
• Through Kunavo: yes, for the APIs. The Claude and GPT APIs, and Claude Code or Codex on an API key, can be paid with stablecoins through Kunavo. You pay Kunavo, not Anthropic or OpenAI, and the balance is spent per token. Claude Pro, Claude Max and ChatGPT Plus are separate products that this route does not pay for.

What Kunavo's crypto checkout accepts

Top-ups run on Stripe Checkout, and the crypto option is Stripe's stablecoin payments. Kunavo's checkout has offered it since October 3, 2026. Stripe's stablecoin payments docs (read October 3, 2026) list the accepted tokens:

• USDC on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base and Tempo.
• USDP on Ethereum and Solana, and USDG on Ethereum: US buyers only.

Stripe's merchant help article gives a slightly different list: it leaves out Tempo and adds USDP on Base. This page follows the docs. The same article also lists “all exchange-supported tokens on Crypto.com”. Whether that option appears on Kunavo's checkout is unverified, so don't plan around it.

No Bitcoin, no ETH, no USDT. None of them is in the token list of Stripe's stablecoin docs. If you hold USDT, plan to swap it for USDC on a supported network before paying. Your wallet or exchange sets the cost of that swap.

A few rules come with the method, all from Stripe's docs:

• US-dollar checkouts. Stripe presents stablecoin payments in USD, and its Checkout integration guide requires dollar line items. Kunavo prices top-ups in dollars, so paying in dollars costs face value and skips the 2–4% conversion fee Stripe charges when it converts to a local currency.
• Your wallet connects at crypto.stripe.com. When you pick crypto, Stripe redirects you there to connect a wallet and choose the token and network. Stripe publishes no list of supported wallets, so we don't name one either.
• $10,000 per payment. That is Stripe's per-transaction cap. Kunavo's largest top-up tier is $5,000.
• Buyer location: Stripe lists it as global, excluding sanctioned countries.

How to pay for the Claude or GPT API with USDC

1. Create an account

Sign up for Kunavo with an email address or a Google account. No card is asked for at sign-up.

2. Pick a top-up amount

Open Billing and choose a tier. The smallest is $10. Larger tiers carry a bonus, and the bonus is the same whichever method you pay with: pay $100, get $110; pay $1,000, get $1,200; pay $5,000, get $6,250.

3. Choose crypto in Stripe Checkout

The button opens Stripe's hosted checkout. Pick Crypto from the payment methods. Crypto is offered when the checkout is in US dollars. If Stripe shows your local currency instead, Stripe's Adaptive Pricing article says buyers “still have the option to pay in the original currency”, which here is US dollars. We have not yet watched crypto appear after that switch from outside the US, so if it doesn't, cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Link are on the same page.

4. Connect your wallet and confirm

At crypto.stripe.com, connect your wallet and choose the token and network you hold. Expect to pay a network fee from the wallet: Stripe's own testnet walkthrough on Polygon notes that you need POL alongside USDC to pay transaction costs. Stripe publishes no fee figure per chain. Check the amount and the network before you confirm, because a stablecoin payment cannot be charged back.

5. Wait for Stripe to confirm

The balance is credited when Stripe confirms the payment. Refresh Billing before paying again. Each checkout is a separate top-up, so a second payment adds more balance; it does not replace the first.

6. Create a key and make the first call

Create a key under API keys. It starts with sk-kn- and is shown once, so copy it before closing the dialog. Then:

# After the top-up is credited, this is the first call.
curl https://api.kunavo.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KUNAVO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-sonnet-5",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "One line: did the payment work?"}]
  }'

Code already written for the OpenAI SDK needs only a new key and base_url. The same key reaches GPT and Claude models:

# Existing OpenAI SDK code: change the key and base_url, nothing else.
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="sk-kn-...",                    # create at kunavo.com/app/keys
    base_url="https://api.kunavo.com/v1",
)

for model in ["gpt-6-sol", "claude-sonnet-5"]:   # GPT and Claude, same key
    resp = client.chat.completions.create(
        model=model,
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}],
    )
    print(model, resp.choices[0].message.content)

For Claude Code, set these variables. The Claude Code integration docs cover the rest:

# Claude Code on a metered API key, paid from the same balance.
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.kunavo.com   # an origin: no /v1
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=sk-kn-...
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-sonnet-5
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL=claude-opus-5
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL=claude-haiku-4-5
claude

Crypto routes compared: Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter and Kunavo

Every row comes from the provider's own page, read on the date shown. “Not checked” means we did not verify it, not that it does not exist.

OpenRouter states its crypto terms in its FAQ, though not which networks it takes, and it is a fair choice. The differences are in the table: its 5% fee on crypto, crypto payments that are never refundable, and credits it reserves the right to expire. More on the two side by side in Kunavo vs OpenRouter and OpenRouter alternatives. AI/ML API's homepage says “Crypto payments available” but does not name coins or networks (aimlapi.com, read October 3, 2026).

Two more routes appear in search: prepaid or virtual cards topped up with crypto, and relays that sell Claude or GPT keys for USDT. We have left both out of the table. A crypto-funded card still has to be accepted by the vendor's billing page, and neither vendor's help center addresses that. A relay's keys come from an operator whose terms we could not verify.

What a top-up buys

An illustrative example, not a quote: one coding-agent style request with 20,000 input tokens and 1,000 output tokens, no prompt caching, at Kunavo's per-token rates. Caching lowers the cost of repeated input, so real agent sessions usually come in under this.

Claude sits under Anthropic's own prices: Claude Sonnet 5 is $1.40 / $7.00 here against $2.00 / $10.00 from Anthropic. Rates for every model are on the pricing page, and the Claude token cost calculator works it out for your own traffic. Failed requests are not billed.

Limits to know before you pay

• Manual top-ups only. Auto-recharge needs a saved card or Link, so a crypto balance is refilled by hand each time.
• No chargebacks. Stripe's docs list dispute support for stablecoin payments as “No”.
• Refunds come back as stablecoins. Kunavo handles refunds case by case at support@kunavo.com, as wallet credit by default. A refund through Stripe goes to the original wallet in stablecoins, and Stripe supports partial refunds.
• $10,000 per payment, Stripe's cap. Every Kunavo tier is below it.
• Network fees are yours. Expect the chain's transaction fee to come from your wallet (on Polygon, Stripe's testnet walkthrough pays it in POL). Kunavo adds nothing on top.
• No tax invoices. Kunavo issues no VAT invoice for any country. Billing lists each top-up with its date, amount and status.
• Not a subscription. The balance pays for API calls per token. It cannot pay for Claude Pro, Claude Max, ChatGPT Plus or any vendor's own console.
• If crypto doesn't appear, the same checkout still has cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB, UnionPay) and Link everywhere, plus Apple Pay or Google Pay on devices that support them. In the US it also has Cash App Pay, Klarna, Afterpay and ACH bank debit, plus Affirm and Zip on top-ups of $100 and up. The no-card options for each country are in paying for the Claude API without a credit card and the billing docs.

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