A merchant (merchant — trader, businessman, seller) is a trade or service business that accepts non-cash payments from customers. Classically a merchant is understood as an organization connected to the acceptance of payment cards, but in the field of digital assets the word increasingly also refers to a business ready to accept cryptocurrencies for payment.

To accept non-cash payments, a merchant enters into an agreement with an acquiring bank or a payment provider and gains access to the funds-acceptance infrastructure — terminals, payment forms on a website or special crypto gateways. In the case of cryptocurrencies, the role of such an intermediary is usually performed by a payment service that converts the received coins and credits the funds to the seller.

For the buyer a merchant is a point where you can pay for a product or service by the chosen method. For a business, merchant status means the ability to expand its audience through customers who prefer non-cash and digital payments, as well as to speed up and simplify the payment process.