USDT, USDC, or BTC: Which Coins to Accept First

For most businesses the answer is straightforward: start with USDT on the Tron network. It's cheap, fast, and your customers already have it. Add BTC when you see specific demand, and USDC if your audience is primarily in the US.

USDT: the workhorse

USDT is pegged to the dollar, so there's no price volatility to manage. It's the most widely held settlement coin: most customers who want to pay in crypto are holding USDT. Use the TRC20 network (Tron) - transfer fees there are negligible. Add ERC20 only if a customer specifically asks for it.

USDC: same concept, different audience

Also dollar-pegged. More popular in the US market and among DeFi users. For Russian-speaking and CIS markets, USDT is significantly more common. If your customers are mostly US-based, it makes sense to add USDC alongside.

BTC: when customers ask for it

Bitcoin is slower and costlier to transfer. Confirmation takes a few minutes, longer during peak periods, and fees run higher than stablecoins. Some customers hold BTC and don't want to convert it. If the demand is there, add it. If not, there's no reason to lead with it.

A clean starting point

Enable USDT on Tron and you'll cover the majority of crypto-payment demand. After that, watch what customers ask about. A payment intent that lets the customer choose their coin removes this decision entirely: you set the list, they pick what works for them.