HOWTO: Choose between available wallet adapters
Bitcoin and Altcoin Wallets for WordPress is a plugin that allows your users to maintain balances of various cryptocurrencies on your site.
The plugin does not actually contain any crypto wallets per se. Instead, it communicates with one or more wallets through wallet adapters. Think of wallet adapters as drivers but for wallets instead of hardware. They are the middleware that connects the plugin with the wallet APIs.
The following wallet adapters are available for free download to anyone who signs up.
CoinPayments Wallets Adapter extension
type: custodial wallet
technical difficulty: medium
coins: listed here
The easiest way to setup a wallet back-end for most people is through the CoinPayments platform.
This is a third-party, custodial wallet service. You do not hold the private keys to the site’s funds. Choose this option if you are unable or unwilling to setup your own full-node wallets.
This wallet is a multi-wallet: It can be associated with multiple currencies.
Some of these currencies are ERC-20, BRC-20, TRC-20 or other tokens. Unlike native currencies, tokens are defined on an underlying blockchain platform as smart contracts. These typically require gas to transfer, and gas management is not done automatically by CoinPayments. This wallet adapter includes a gas management subsystem, which requires only minimal configuration. You must configure the gas manager before users can withdraw these tokens, because withdawing requires gas to be burned. Instructions are given.
For instructions on how to install this wallet adapter and how to configure gas management, see the plugin’s homepage.
Note: Some jurisdictions are blocked by the service. Check the list before deciding to use this wallet adapter.
Bitcoin core-like Wallet adapter
type: full node wallet
technical difficulty: hard
coins: Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and similar wallets.
If you want to connect to a Bitcoin core full node wallet, or to any similar wallet, you can use the build-in Bitcoin core-like wallet adapter. Similar wallets are the ones that share the same RPC-API. Examples are: Litecoin core, Dogecoin core, Bitcoin ABC (Bitcoin cash wallet), etc.
You must install the wallet on a server (this requires some Linux skills). You will need a server with enough disk space for the Bitcoin blockchain, and you might need to configure your server’s firewall to accept incoming RPC connections from your WordPress site.
The advantage of full node wallets is that you hold the private keys to your site’s funds, instead of relying on a third-party wallet.
You also have more freedom to control the fees paid to the blockchain for withdrawals, and the number of confirmations that you require for deposits.
For instructions on how to install the plugin with this wallet adapter, see the plugin’s installation instructions.
Bitcoin and Litecoin on the Lightning network via LND
type: full node wallet
technical difficulty: hard
coins: Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC)
This is the recommended way to add Bitcoin to your site. You get the option to use Bitcoin on Layer 1 and/or Layer 2.
You will have to run an LND node and maintain open channels.
The advantage against Bitcoin on CoinPayments is that there are no extra deposit fees on Layer 1, plus you can use Layer 2.
The advantage against Bitcoin core is that you don’t need disk space for the blockchain, if you use LND with Neutrino.
See the release notes and the plugin’s homepage for details.
Monero and forks
type: full node wallet
technical difficulty: very hard
coins: Monero (XMR) and many others
Monero is the most well-known and secure privacy coin. A number of other privacy-focused coins are forked from Monero.
As with other full node wallets, you will need some knowledge of Linux and system administration to set up and maintain the wallet back-end on a server.
For instructions on how to install this wallet adapter, see the plugin’s homepage.
TurtleCoin and forks
type: full node wallet
technical difficulty: hard
coins: many forks
TurtleCoin was a privacy-focused coin, originating from CryptoNote. TurtleCoin v1 has been discontinued, but this wallet adapter is made available because TurtleCoin has been forked into multiple currencies that still exist.
For instructions on how to install this wallet adapter, see the plugin’s homepage.
Developing your own wallet adapters
If you are familiar with PHP programming and you want to try to create your own wallet adapter, see the Developer reference. I have included some information on how to create your own wallet adapter. Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
Noticed that you removed the Block.io wallet adapter???
Yes, the block.io adapter has been added to the deprecated extensions (https://www.dashed-slug.net/deprecated-extensions/) for a while now.
This is because some people had problems with it and because of accusations that they had scammed people (not sure if that’s true).
Additionally, the CoinPayments solution is much better than block.io in every way.
Therefore I did not build a block.io wallets adapter for wallets 6.0.0.
Were you using the block.io coin adapter?
I just sent you an email Alex because I didnt see anyone mention the Block.io Adapter in forums.
The problem is Coin Payments just pulled out of the USA. So we cant use them over here.
Hello, thanks for letting me know about CoinPayments. I did not create a new block.io adapter. I had decomissioned the block.io adapter ages ago since some people were complaining about it. In principle all third-party services could suddenly become unavailable. I will focus my efforts on the lightning adapter which ultimately addresses all of this third-party risk. If, by that time, the rest of crypto and smart contracts are still relevant, I will continue with a full node ERC-20 adapter. In the meantime, I might re-write the block.io adapter, but it’s lower priority compared to lightning at this time.
Thank You. It really isn’t a must. I have MANY alternatives I didnt even think about until now.
The lightening will be awesome man.
The block.io really makes sense as an alternative to coinpayments some extent now.
Noted. I will see what I can do.
secondly, where is the developer doc that will guide in building a custom adapter…
See here: https://github.com/dashed-slug/wallets/blob/6.0.0-RC3/docs/developer.md#developing-wallet-adapters-wallet-adapters
Hello how can i set up Buy and Sell of crypto in my wordpress site with coinpayment
Hello. CoinPayments is used as a wallet backend, not as a way to buy or sell. Once you setup one or more wallet adapters, then you can setup the Exchange extension, and then you can setup markets and add liquidity (limit orders). Please study the disclaimers to see if the Exchange extension is right for your application. You can also contact me by email if you want to discuss this.