Bitcoin Cash (BCH) came out of a 2017 split in the Bitcoin community over how to scale. The BCH side chose larger blocks so that ordinary payments could stay cheap on the main chain. The result is a coin that looks and feels a lot like Bitcoin, with a similar wallet model and 10-minute block target, but with fees that are usually tiny.
Why accept Bitcoin Cash alongside Bitcoin?
Because the two are pitched differently. Many people treat BTC as savings and hesitate to spend it, while the Bitcoin Cash community has long promoted BCH as money for everyday spending, and its low fees support that. If your store sells lower-priced items where a Bitcoin fee spike would hurt, BCH gives crypto customers a cheap on-chain alternative that still feels familiar.
BCH is volatile like BTC. Price in your own currency and let Payfim convert at the locked rate.
How much does a BCH payment cost, and how long does it take?
Cost: BitInfoCharts reported a median Bitcoin Cash transaction fee of well under one US cent in late September 2026. The customer pays it; Payfim charges nothing.
Time: blocks target roughly 10 minutes, with natural variation. Payfim's default of 2 confirmations means an order usually completes in about 20 minutes, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. The checkout moves to confirming as soon as the payment is detected, so the customer is not left wondering.
If you sell instant digital goods and want faster delivery, you can lower the confirmation count per coin, weighing speed against the small risk of a reversal. Confirmations explained covers that trade-off.
Understanding BCH address formats
Bitcoin Cash supports two address styles:
| Format | Looks like | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| CashAddr | bitcoincash:qr… or just qr… (scripts start with p) | Use this |
| Legacy | Starts with 1 or 3 | Accepted, but avoid |
Legacy BCH addresses are formatted exactly like legacy Bitcoin addresses. That creates real risk: a customer could send BTC to your BCH address, or you could paste a BTC address into the BCH row by mistake, and the format check cannot catch it. CashAddr exists to prevent exactly that, and Payfim accepts it with or without the bitcoincash: prefix.
Picking a wallet
Choose a BCH wallet that shows CashAddr by default and where you write down the recovery phrase yourself. Several hardware wallets support Bitcoin Cash, and there are established non-custodial mobile and desktop wallets for it. Keep your BCH wallet separate in your mind, and ideally in its labeling, from your BTC wallet.
Configure BCH in Payfim
- In Wallets & coins, paste your CashAddr address into the Bitcoin Cash row.
- Keep confirmations empty for the default of 2.
- Enable it, click Save wallets, and use Test to check connectivity.
Payfim reads BCH payments from the Blockchair API. No key is needed, although the keyless tier has daily and per-minute request limits. A store that often has many BCH invoices open at once can add a Blockchair key under Blockchain APIs → Blockchair key (BCH).
The QR code on the checkout page uses a bitcoincash: payment link with the exact amount, so most wallets fill in everything when the customer scans.
What happens between checkout and a paid order?
- The customer chooses Bitcoin Cash on your branded checkout page. Payfim converts the order total at the live rate and locks it for 30 minutes.
- The page shows the exact BCH amount, your address, copy buttons and a QR code.
- Once the transaction reaches the mempool, the invoice moves to confirming.
- After 2 blocks, the gateway marks the invoice paid and sends an HMAC-SHA256 signed webhook to your store.
- Your store module re-checks the invoice with the gateway before it updates the order, so a forged notification cannot mark anything paid.
If the customer pays after the 30 minutes are up, the payment is still detected and recorded against the invoice. You then decide whether to accept it at the old rate or ask for a top-up.
Want to nudge customers toward cheap coins like BCH? The gateway settings include an optional price adjustment; a negative value, such as -5, gives crypto payers a discount.
Mistakes to avoid
- BTC sent to a BCH address (or the reverse). Not detected by the invoice and potentially hard to recover. CashAddr on your side and clear labeling at checkout reduce the chance.
- Using an exchange deposit address. It may rotate, and exchanges can be slow to credit unusual deposits.
- Short payments. A shortfall beyond the 0.5% tolerance makes the invoice underpaid; see handling underpayments.
- Expecting instant finality. Ten-minute blocks mean a physical-goods order may wait a while before it moves to paid. Set expectations in your checkout copy.
Finally, keep your cron job running every minute (see the cron guide). It is what checks open invoices in the background, so BCH orders keep updating even when the customer closes the payment page.
Related
Compare with Bitcoin and Litecoin. BCH works in every Payfim module, including Zen Cart and CubeCart.
Sources
Third-party facts were checked on the date shown above. Prices and features of other services change - always confirm on their official pages.