Address-Based Payment

Overview

Address-based payment is the basic on-chain payment pattern: the payer receives a destination address, selects the required network and asset, enters the amount, signs the transaction, and broadcasts it. The recipient or payment service then detects the transfer and waits for the required confirmation state.

The address alone is not always enough. The payment may also require an exact amount, expiration time, memo, destination tag, or invoice reference. Sending the wrong asset to a contract or deposit address can make recovery difficult or impossible.

Address-based payments can be one-time or reusable. A payment provider may generate a temporary address for a specific invoice, while a merchant may assign a static address to a customer. The design affects privacy, attribution, and reconciliation.

A complete payment flow must also handle underpayments, overpayments, duplicate transfers, delayed confirmation, and wrong-network transactions. For merchants, the critical event is not merely seeing funds at an address, but determining that the expected payment has been received under the correct conditions.

A merchant can support address-based payment directly or through a gateway. Direct integration requires address generation, key or custody decisions, chain monitoring, fee handling, confirmation rules, and reconciliation. A gateway packages these functions into an invoice or payment request.

The model also needs a clear lifecycle. The payment may be waiting, detected, confirming, paid, underpaid, overpaid, expired, or failed. A bare address does not communicate these conditions, which is why payment pages often add QR codes, countdowns, currency selection, and status updates. For recurring customers, static addresses can be convenient, but one-time invoice addresses often provide better attribution and privacy.