A real flow of funds, not a wrapper.
The buyer pays the cart total. No surcharge, no wallet to set up.
A licensed operator charges the card as a crypto purchase, coded to MCC 6051, and does the KYC.
The card payment buys USDC, a US-dollar stablecoin issued by Circle, on Base.
USDC settles directly to the merchant. Arcana never takes custody of the funds.
Every charge is a genuine purchase of USDC at a licensed on-ramp. The buyer pays face value, the on-ramp does the KYC and card processing under MCC 6051, and the resulting USDC settles to the merchant. Arcana coordinates the session and records the settlement, it never touches the funds.
All four hold at once, or it isn't clean.
You are told here, in the terms, and on your receipt that your card buys USDC.
The charge is a crypto purchase at a registered on-ramp under crypto MCC 6051.
Card → licensed on-ramp → genuine USDC → merchant. A true transfer, not a wrapper.
The on-ramp holds the money-transmitter / MSB licenses. Arcana orchestrates only.
Non-custodial by design.
The license sits with the operator
A licensed on-ramp holds the applicable MSB / money-transmitter licenses and performs the card processing and KYC. Arcana orchestrates the session, it does not transmit money.
Funds never rest with Arcana
USDC settles merchant-direct, or through an immutable on-chain split contract. No custody, no float, no commingling in transit.
Coded to the real activity
Every charge is a genuine USDC purchase under MCC 6051, disclosed to the buyer in copy, terms, and receipt.
Nothing taken on trust.
Backend-minted sessions
A server-side signed request mints every session before it reaches the browser. The merchant's secret API key stays server-side; only a scoped, per-session client token is exposed.
Scoped CORS
API and token endpoints respond with no wildcard cross-origin header. Only the surfaces that must be embeddable are.
Signed webhooks
Every settlement event is HMAC-SHA256 signed with a per-merchant secret, so a merchant can prove it came from Arcana.
Append-only ledger
Settlements write to an immutable, trigger-protected ledger. Full reconciliation and CSV export via the operator API.
No card data at rest
With a live provider, the card is collected on the provider's PCI-scoped surface. Arcana receives a token or a settlement event, never the card number.
Idempotent and risk-screened
Idempotency keys prevent double charges; amount caps, velocity limits, and a blocklist screen every session before it is created.
Infrastructure, not a plugin.
Non-custodial settlement
USDC settles straight to the merchant's wallet. Arcana never takes custody; the fee is billed or split on-chain.
Embedded checkout
The buyer pays without leaving for a third-party gateway dashboard. The licensed provider's PCI-scoped surface embeds inline where framing is allowed, and opens securely otherwise.
Apple Pay & Google Pay
One-tap wallet checkout alongside card entry, so the buyer chooses the fastest path to pay.
Multi-rail resilience
The integration is built to route across multiple licensed operators, so a provider outage doesn't have to take settlement down.
On-chain fee split
An immutable split contract can route the merchant share and the Arcana fee atomically, with no party holding funds.
Operator-grade reconciliation
Refunds, receivables, per-merchant settlement ledgers, and CSV export through a signed operator API.
Built to route around failure.
Arcana is built to hold the licensing relationships and put multiple regulated operators behind one integration. You connect once and get paid in USDC. No operator to manage, no money-transmitter license to hold, and settlement designed to route around a provider outage.
One integration is designed to cover the whole settlement network.
If an operator is unavailable, settlement is designed to continue on another.
Regulated partners run KYC and hold the licenses. You receive USDC.
Two calls. Server session, drop-in embed.
curl -X POST https://arcanapayments.com/api/v1/sessions \
-H "authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
-H "content-type: application/json" \
-d '{"amountUsd": 42.50, "reference": "ORDER-1123"}'<div id="arcana-checkout"></div> <script src="https://arcanapayments.com/embed.js" data-session="cs_..." data-cs="cs_secret_..."></script>
Sandbox settlements, as they clear.
Plainly answered.
What is Arcana Payments?
Arcana Payments is card-to-USDC settlement infrastructure. It is a disclosed, inline checkout where a buyer's card genuinely purchases USDC (a US-dollar stablecoin) through a licensed on-ramp, and that USDC settles to the merchant. The card authorization is coded to the real activity, MCC 6051.
How does a card payment 'buy USDC'?
The merchant's server creates a checkout session. The buyer completes payment on the licensed on-ramp's secure, PCI-scoped surface, embedded in the checkout where the provider allows framing. The on-ramp charges the card as a crypto purchase under MCC 6051, runs KYC, and mints the corresponding USDC, which settles to the merchant's wallet.
Is Arcana Payments custodial? Who holds the funds?
Arcana is non-custodial. The licensed on-ramp delivers USDC directly to the merchant's wallet; Arcana never takes custody of the funds. Arcana's fee is either billed as a receivable or routed on-chain by an immutable split contract, so no party holds the money in transit.
Who holds the money-transmitter license?
The licensed on-ramp operator holds the applicable MSB / money-transmitter licenses and performs the card processing and KYC. Arcana orchestrates the session and records settlement; it does not itself act as the money transmitter.
What is MCC 6051 and why does it matter?
MCC 6051 is the merchant category code for quasi-cash and cryptocurrency purchases. Because the card payment is genuinely a purchase of USDC, the authorization is coded to that real activity rather than being miscoded, and the buyer's statement reflects a crypto purchase.
Is the purchase disclosed to the buyer?
Yes. The buyer is told, in the checkout copy, the terms, and the receipt, that their card is purchasing USDC which settles the order, and that their statement will show a crypto purchase. Disclosure is a required part of the flow, not a footnote.
What stablecoin and network does it settle in?
Settlement is in USDC on the Base network. USDC is a US-dollar stablecoin issued by Circle. Base is a low-fee Ethereum layer-2 for fast, inexpensive on-chain settlement.
How is the integration secured?
Sessions are minted server-side; a backend signs a request before any client session token is issued. Settlement webhooks are HMAC-SHA256 signed with a per-merchant secret so a merchant can verify authenticity, and the settlement ledger is append-only and trigger-protected. API responses carry no wildcard cross-origin header.
How does a merchant integrate it?
Two calls: the merchant's server creates a session with its secret key, then drops a one-line embed script onto the checkout page. The checkout embeds on the merchant's page and the buyer completes payment on the licensed provider's secure surface; settlement arrives by signed webhook.
Does the checkout store card numbers?
No. With a live provider the card is collected by the provider's own PCI-scoped element; Arcana receives a token or a settlement event, never the raw card number.