For payment ops teams and developers: how Lightning-powered settlement infrastructure is changing the economics of business payments.
The problem with card payments today
Card payments cost merchants 2–5% per transaction, settle in one to five business days, and put chargeback risk on the seller for every dispute, including fraudulent ones. For most businesses, that has been the accepted cost of getting paid. Speed was built on the premise that it doesn’t have to be.
Founded by Jayneel Patel and Niraj Patel, Speed is a Bitcoin and stablecoin payment infrastructure company serving more than 10,000 businesses across 100+ countries. It’s not a crypto wallet with a checkout button; it’s a full payment stack covering how money comes in, goes out, and moves between fiat and digital assets on one platform.
The pricing math of a crypto payment processor
Speed runs on two pricing tiers, both structured differently from card networks.
Speed Wallet payments carry a 0% transaction fee. When customers pay from Speed Wallet, merchants pay nothing- no fees, no caps, no limits, with free payouts back to Speed Wallet users included.
External wallet payments settle at 1% flat. Any Lightning or on-chain Bitcoin and stablecoin payment from any other wallet settles at 1%, with no monthly fees or setup costs.
| Metric | Speed Wallet payments | External wallet payments | Traditional cards |
| Transaction fee | 0% | 1% flat | 2–5% + hidden fees |
| Settlement time | Under 3 seconds | Under 3 seconds | 1–5 business days |
| Setup cost | None | None | Setup + monthly fees |
| Chargebacks | None | None | 2–3% on disputes |
What that difference looks like at scale:
- A business processing $10M annually pays $200K–$500K in card fees. Via Speed Wallet, that same volume costs $0 in processing, a saving of $200K–$500K per year.
- At $100M in annual volume, card fees run $2M–$5M annually. Speed Wallet: $0.
Card settlement delays (1–5 business days) also carry hidden operational costs beyond the stated rate, working capital tied up waiting to clear, and reconciliation overhead tracking pending transactions. Speed settles in under three seconds. Full details at the pricing page.
The product stack
- Payments – Accept Bitcoin and stablecoins online and in-person
- Payouts – Real-time cross-border transfers that settle in seconds
- Onramp & Offramp – Fiat-to-crypto conversion without separate infrastructure
- Connect – Embed Lightning capability into existing fintech and PSP stacks via API
- Terminals – Browser-based, works on any device without new hardware
- White Label – Run Speed’s payment rails under your own brand
- Agentic Payments – Machine-to-machine transactions for AI agents paying for API access
How Speed works in practice
Steak ‘n Shake
Steak ‘n Shake became the first major U.S. quick-service restaurant chain to deploy Bitcoin payments nationally, rolling out Speed across 393 locations. COO Dan Edwards said, “Transactions became instant, processing costs dropped by close to 50% compared to card payments, and operational efficiency improved across the board”. The rollout drew enough attention that the chain became a Bitcoin Conference sponsor.
Maxim
Maxim, the globally recognized lifestyle media brand, wanted to add Bitcoin to its subscription billing without rebuilding the SimpleCirc infrastructure it already had. Speed connected through hosted checkout links, keeping subscriber records, renewals, and plan data automatically in sync. The full rollout, including Lightning Network support, was live in two weeks.
Bitcoin payments accounted for roughly 20% of new sign-ups after launch, particularly strong in markets where card decline rates and foreign exchange friction reduce conversion, and among readers already holding Bitcoin in Lightning wallets such as Speed Wallet. Subscription revenue improved by an estimated 15%.
VP of Marketing and Creative Services Greg Zimny described, “The shift is going from card-only billing to a Bitcoin-first experience, with less time spent chasing payments and reconciling subscriptions”.
THNDR Games
In gaming, payout speed is a retention variable. THNDR Games CEO Desiree Dickerson put it directly: “From withdrawal to deposit, our players are getting lightning-fast payouts.” Those payouts settle into Lightning wallets within seconds. Speed Wallet, available on iOS, Android, and the web, is among the more widely used globally. Speed’s gaming and entertainment infrastructure is built around exactly that requirement: instant payouts, wallet integrations, and no delays that erode player trust.
What Speed means for developers
Speed’s API documentation is built for teams that want to reach production quickly. Clean REST APIs and SDKs handle Bitcoin and stablecoin integration in minutes, with a sandbox that simulates on-chain, Lightning, and bank flows before going live.
Monetizing APIs without credit cards
Speed’s Agentic Payments layer is built for AI agents and developers who want to monetize APIs per request, no credit card, no subscription, no human approval needed.
An AI agent calls a protected endpoint. Speed’s L402 SDK responds with HTTP 402 Payment Required; the agent pays via Lightning and gets access in milliseconds. Developers set which routes to protect, define a price in any currency, and configure access duration per request, per hour, or per day.
npm install @speeddev/l402-express
The minimum charge is as low as $0.0001 per API call, practical for data APIs, AI tools, and any service pricing access by query rather than by month.
The Speed advantage: Why merchants switch
- Pricing that works at scale
- 0% on Speed Wallet eliminates processing costs entirely
- 0.5% flat on alternatives is 4–10x better than cards
- No hidden fees, no monthly minimums, no surprises
- Speed that matters operationally
- Under 3-second settlement vs. 1–5 business days
- Eliminates working capital delays
- Reduces reconciliation overhead
- Reliability merchants can trust
- 99.99% uptime
- Bitcoin finality (no chargebacks)
- Transparent, predictable infrastructure
- Flexibility that enables growth
- Accept Bitcoin, stablecoins, or both
- White-label under your own brand
- Embed into existing fintech stacks via API
- Scale from one merchant to millions
- Developer experience that ships fast
- REST APIs and SDKs in production hours, not months
- Sandbox environment for safe testing
- Comprehensive documentation and support
Speed: The future of payments
Speed’s infrastructure serves fintech and PSP platforms, ecommerce and marketplaces, restaurants and hospitality, and gaming and entertainment businesses, including verticals that traditional processors routinely decline to serve.
With 10,000+ businesses live and infrastructure extending to AI agent transactions, Speed has moved past the crypto-payment-gateway category into core payment infrastructure.
Ready to eliminate payment processing costs?
Contact the Speed team to see how your business can join 10,000+ others already saving millions on payments.
