Channels How-To
Channels
Each of your customers can be assigned a channel, which is basically a permanent cryptocurrency address.
Customers can then send cryptocurrency to these addresses, which will be immediately converted to Euro or another currency of your choice.
The basic idea of a channel is that a customer is presented the cryptocurrency destination address in the Cashier for the first time, and then they may re-use it, which is extremely handy since it allows them to deposit funds without having to go to the Cashier or even signing in.
Customers receive the exchange rate when transactions are confirmed on the network, rather than when they are first sent, as a trade-off with this approach. The transaction takes place as soon as the money is received. As a result, clients may receive slightly more or less than they might expect.
The benefit of channels for you is that customer support is minimal as there are no such payment exceptions as over or underpayments or even delays. E.g. in payments, if a customer sends cryptocurrency to the previously used address or even sends less/more, you'll have to reconcile it and probably communicate with the customer.
One thing to keep in mind: once a customer's channel has been created (when they've made their first deposit request through the Cashier), it's important that if they return to the Cashier and request another deposit, you show them the same channel address rather than creating a new one - this provides the best user experience.
Channel Payments
The actual payment made by a customer is referred to as Channel Payment. When a user sends cryptocurrency to the channel address, a Channel Payment transaction is automatically created in your account. Coindirect sends webhooks to your Webhook URL whenever a Channel Payment is created or its status changes.
We create a new Channel Payment with a DETECTED status every time a new transaction is detected at the channel address. This indicates that the payment has been detected, but the network has not yet confirmed it. The payment status changes to COMPLETE when the transaction has been fully validated and confirmed by the Network.
Please note that channel payments inherit their parent channel reference.
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