An __onramp__ is a payment gateway that lets you convert traditional money (sometimes called fiat) into cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
They serve as an easy way to get into crypto because often all you need is a credit or debit card. However, the best onramps accept a wider range of payment methods. MoonPay, for example, accepts wires, Apple Pay, Google Pay, SEPA, and more.
If you’re wondering how an onramp might help your business, let’s run through an example.
Say you have a user who wants to swap some USD for BTC. With a crypto onramp like MoonPay, you can offer a way to do that straight from your website or app. All your user would need to do is specify the amount of BTC to purchase, and then pay using their preferred payment method. The onramp service would handle the rest and deliver the BTC to their crypto wallet. Easy.
You mostly see onramps being used on centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs).