More and more forex brokers are adding crypto payment options for their clients. USDT has become the preferred token for brokerage deposits — it's stable, fast, and available 24/7. But implementing crypto payments comes with unique challenges that traditional payment processors don't have.
Why USDT?
USDT (Tether) is the dominant stablecoin for brokerage deposits for several reasons: it's pegged to USD so there's no volatility risk, it's available on multiple chains with low fees, transfers settle in minutes rather than days, and it works across borders without banking restrictions.
The two most popular networks for USDT transfers are TRON (TRC20) and BSC (BEP20). TRON is the most widely used for USDT, with very low transaction fees. BSC offers EVM compatibility and fast confirmations.
How deposits work
The standard flow for crypto deposits: generate a unique deposit address for each payment via API, the client sends USDT to that address, the system detects the deposit and confirms it on-chain, then automatically sweeps the funds to the broker's main wallet. A webhook notification is sent to the broker's system with transaction details.
The key challenge is the auto-sweep mechanism. Each deposit address needs gas/energy to execute the sweep transaction. On TRON, this means managing energy resources. On BSC, it means funding gas. A good payment gateway handles this automatically.
Non-custodial payouts
For payouts (withdrawals), the most secure approach is non-custodial — the broker signs each payout transaction with a hardware wallet. The payment gateway prepares the unsigned transaction, the broker reviews and signs it with their Ledger or Trezor, and the signed transaction is broadcast to the network.
This means the payment gateway never holds the broker's private keys. Even if the gateway were compromised, payout funds remain secure in the broker's hardware wallet.
What we built with Traxvo
Traxvo handles the entire crypto payment lifecycle: unique address generation, on-chain deposit detection, automatic sweeping with gas management, HMAC-signed webhook notifications, and non-custodial hardware wallet payouts. Brokers get a 0.5% fee on deposits and zero fees on payouts.