To bill in dollars and get paid in crypto with CryptoLike, create a payment with the amount in USD — in the cabinet (Invoices → Create invoice) or with POST /v1/invoices and "currency": "USD". The exchange rate is locked when the coin is known, the customer pays on a checkout page with a timer, and the status moves from new to pending to paid.
A crypto invoice is a one-off payment for a fixed amount with a time limit. It fits B2B bills, orders placed by message and anything priced in fiat — see crypto invoicing for business for the scenario, and rate lock for how the dollar price turns into a crypto amount.
Before you start
A CryptoLike account is enough to create a USD-priced invoice in the cabinet. For the API you also need a key with the create_invoice and read permissions, its secret kept on your server, and optionally a webhook endpoint. A test key (ck_test_) with the test API URL from CryptoLike support lets you rehearse the whole flow on test networks first; on mainnet it is refused with 401 auth.test_key.
- Cabinet path: no code; you send the customer a payment link.
- API path: requests are signed with HMAC-SHA256 — see API authentication.
- Assets: BTC, LTC, ETH, USDT and USDC (ERC20), TRX and USDT (TRC20); your enabled list is in
GET /v1/currencies. Invoices offer only the coins with both switches on in Coins: Enabled and For invoices.
1. Open the invoice form and enter the amount in USD
In the CryptoLike cabinet, open Invoices and press Create invoice. Type the amount as a decimal, for example 250.00, and choose the currency in the Currency list: it starts on your Default fiat currency from Settings, and the Fiat group lists every fiat currency enabled for your account. With a specific coin selected, the form shows an approximate crypto amount at the current rate — a preview only, because the server locks the rate itself.
To bill in crypto instead, choose a ticker such as USDT from the Crypto group: no conversion happens, and either you pick the network in the Coin field or the customer picks it on the payment page.
2. Fix the coin now or let the customer choose
CryptoLike locks the exchange rate at the moment the coin becomes known, and it stays fixed for the invoice's whole time to pay. Under How the payer pays, In a specific coin means you pick the asset now: the rate is locked at creation and the deposit address is issued immediately. The payer chooses means the customer picks a coin on the payment page and the rate is locked at that moment.
With The payer chooses, the field Coins the payer can choose starts with every coin available for invoices in this currency; remove some to offer fewer. If only one coin is available, the form fixes it. On the payment page each coin shows an approximate amount marked ≈, and the exact amount and rate are fixed when the customer chooses.
| Aspect | Fix the coin | Customer chooses |
|---|---|---|
| Rate locked | At creation | When the customer picks the coin |
| Address and crypto amount | In the invoice right away | After the choice |
| Checkout page | Amount, network, address, QR | "Choose what to pay with" first, with a ≈ amount for each coin |
| Good for | You agreed on the asset with the customer | You accept several assets |
The invoice stores amount_fiat, the locked rate rate_locked (1 coin = N USD), rate_locked_at and the crypto amount due.
3. Set the time to pay and the invoice details
CryptoLike closes an unpaid invoice when its time to pay ends: the status becomes expired. In the form, choose 15 min, 30 min (the default), 1 h, 6 h or 24 h; under Advanced, Custom lifetime sets a lifetime in minutes, up to 30 days. Add an Order ID and a Description so the payment is easy to find and reconcile later.
Advanced also holds three integration fields:
- Return URL — the "back to the shop" link shown after payment.
- Webhook URL — this invoice's events are also sent there (
https, public host), signed with the secret of your oldest enabled endpoint. It needs an enabled endpoint in Developers → Webhooks; without one the invoice is refused with an error on this field. - Platform fee paid by — Merchant (deducted from what you receive, the default) or Payer (added to what the customer sends). The rates are on the pricing page.
4. Share the payment link with the customer
After Create invoice, CryptoLike opens the invoice card with a Share payment link block: copy the link, show the QR code, or copy a ready message with the amount and the expiry time that you can edit before sending. The customer opens the payment page and sees the amount, the network, the address, the time left and the live status.
An expired or cancelled invoice has no link to share: create a new payment. More ways to send a payment link: payment links from the cabinet or Telegram, and every sharing option in the payment link guide.
5. Create the same invoice through the API
With the CryptoLike API, one signed request creates the invoice: POST /v1/invoices with amount as a decimal string and currency: "USD". Add coin_id from GET /v1/currencies to fix the coin now, or omit it to let the customer choose; allowed_coin_ids (1 to 100 ids, not together with coin_id) narrows that choice for this invoice. Send an Idempotency-Key: a retry within 24 hours returns the original invoice instead of creating a second one.
# Signing lines (TS, SIG) as in the API authentication docs; CRYPTOLIKE_API_URL = the test API URL while testing
BODY='{"amount":"250.00","currency":"USD","order_id":"INV-2026-0042","description":"Consulting, September","ttl_seconds":86400,"return_url":"https://example.com/thanks"}'
curl -s "${CRYPTOLIKE_API_URL:-https://api.cryptolike.net}/v1/invoices" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Idempotency-Key: INV-2026-0042" \
-H "X-API-Key: $KEY_ID" -H "X-Timestamp: $TS" -H "X-Signature: $SIG" -d "$BODY"The response carries status: "new", the dollar amount in amount_fiat, fiat_currency: "USD" and checkout_url — the page to send the customer to. Without coin_id, the fields coin_id, address, amount_crypto and rate_locked stay null until the customer chooses. ttl_seconds accepts 60 to 2,592,000 seconds (30 days); the account default is 30 minutes. The response's allowed_coin_ids is the list CryptoLike kept: ids of coins you do not offer for invoices in this currency are dropped, and null means every coin you offer. The SDKs wrap the same call and take the same list.
6. Track the status until the invoice is paid
CryptoLike reports every status change of the invoice by a signed webhook — invoice.pending, invoice.paid, invoice.underpaid, invoice.expired — and the same status is in GET /v1/invoices/{id} and in the cabinet. Ship the order or close the bill on paid: the funds are confirmed and credited to your balance. Verify every webhook first, as in the webhook verification guide.
| Status | What happened | What to do |
|---|---|---|
new |
Created, nothing received | Wait, or cancel it (only from new). |
pending |
Transfer detected, waiting for confirmations | Wait; do not ship yet. |
paid |
Full amount confirmed and credited | Fulfil the order. |
underpaid |
Less than due confirmed | The customer sends remaining_amount to the same address before the time runs out. |
expired |
Time to pay ended, nothing confirmed | Create a new payment. |
cancelled |
You cancelled it | Create a new payment if needed. |
An overpayment is still paid, with overpaid_amount greater than zero. Funds that arrive after the invoice closed are credited too, with late_payment: true and an invoice.late_payment webhook; the status does not change, so decide with the customer whether to fulfil or refund. More in underpaid and late payments.
Errors and fixes
CryptoLike returns every API error in one envelope with a machine code, a human message and details; the field at fault is in details.field. The table lists the errors you are most likely to meet when creating a USD-priced invoice, with the fix for each.
| HTTP · code | What happened | What to do |
|---|---|---|
400 validation_error, field amount |
Not a positive decimal string, converts to zero, or outside your account's limits | Send the amount as a string such as "250.00" within the limits. |
400 validation_error, field currency |
Not an enabled fiat code nor an available ticker, or more decimals than the currency allows (2 for USD, EUR, UAH, GBP and CAD) | Use a code from GET /v1/fiat-currencies or a ticker from GET /v1/currencies. |
400 validation_error, field coin_id |
The coin is switched off, not available for invoices, or does not match currency |
Turn the coin on in Coins (Enabled and For invoices), or pick another coin_id. |
422 no_allowed_coins |
None of allowed_coin_ids is offered for invoices in this currency |
Send other ids, or turn For invoices on for one of them in Coins. |
401 auth.* |
Signature, key or timestamp problem | Check the signing steps in API authentication. |
403 auth.permission_denied |
The key lacks create_invoice |
Grant the permission in the cabinet. |
422 idempotency.mismatch |
Same Idempotency-Key, different body |
Use a new key for a new invoice. |
503 unavailable |
No fresh exchange rate, or the coin is under maintenance | Retry later, or create the invoice in crypto. |
For invoices that repeat every billing period, see crypto payments for subscriptions.
FAQ
These answers cover what businesses ask most often about USD-priced invoices on CryptoLike: whether the price moves after creation, what happens with a short payment, how long an invoice stays open, and how to fix an amount entered by mistake.
Does the crypto amount change if the market moves?
No. Once the coin is known, the rate is locked for the invoice's whole time to pay, and the crypto amount due does not change. Before the choice the payment page shows only approximate amounts marked ≈; the exact amount is calculated again and locked when the customer picks the coin.
What if the customer sends less than the amount due?
The invoice becomes underpaid, the payment page shows the remaining amount, and the customer can top it up to the same address until the time to pay ends. A small shortfall within your account's underpayment tolerance still counts as paid.
How long can a crypto invoice stay open?
From 60 seconds to 30 days. The cabinet offers presets from 15 minutes to 24 hours plus a custom lifetime in minutes; the API takes ttl_seconds. The default for your account is 30 minutes.
Can I change the amount of an invoice I already sent?
Cancel it while it is still new — nothing received yet — and create a new invoice with the right amount. An invoice with a detected or confirmed transfer cannot be cancelled.