Crypto charter payments
Charter a yacht with crypto
Pay in Bitcoin or a stablecoin. The owner receives clean fiat. You skip the liquidate-and-wire.
You are crypto-liquid and you want a week on the water without your bank sitting on the transfer for three days. We arrange the charter exactly as we always do and take your payment in crypto, so the owner is paid in fiat. The crypto never reaches the boat.
We settle every crypto payment through our crypto-payment partner Bitcashier, which has handled digital-asset settlement for luxury purchases since 2019. More than twenty yachting companies, including several of the largest houses in the industry, settle crypto payments through the same partner.
Why pay a charter in crypto
The reasons our clients ask for it.
No liquidate-and-wire
Pay a large charter balance straight from your wallet instead of selling into fiat, waiting for the exchange to release funds, then sending an international transfer that clears over several days.
The owner carries no price risk
Bitcashier converts your crypto to the contract currency at a rate locked before you send anything. The owner is paid in fiat and never holds a coin, so a market move between the quote and the payment is not their problem, or yours once the rate is set.
Lower cost than a card
The conversion runs at roughly one percent, against the three percent a card network would take on a sum this size.
Faster across borders and holidays
A blockchain confirmation does not wait for a correspondent bank or a public holiday. For a late booking or a fast-moving balance payment, that speed matters.
How it works
We agree the charter
You choose the yacht and the week. We draft the contract in your chosen currency, exactly as on any other booking, with the same charter fee, VAT and APA.
We send you a fixed quote
Bitcashier prices the amount due in the coin you want to use and locks that rate for a short window, so you know the exact figure before you send anything. At this point Bitcashier also runs its KYC, wallet screening and source-of-funds checks, before you send a coin.
Your part is done in about twenty minutes
Your payment confirms on the blockchain, usually within about twenty minutes, and from that moment your side is finished. Bitcashier converts on receipt and settles clean fiat on the normal banking rail, and the owner is paid exactly as on any other booking. That last leg is our problem, not yours.
What you can pay in crypto
Everything on the booking. The charter fee, the APA and any extra services we arrange can all run through the crypto rail. The contract stays in your chosen currency, the numbers stay the same, and each payment follows the normal instalment schedule. Tell us which payments you want to make in crypto and we set each one up the same way.
What a EUR 100,000 charter paid in USDC actually looks like
The contract is signed for EUR 100,000, exactly as any other booking. You tell us you want to pay in USDC.
We quote you the USDC amount for the first instalment, 50% of the charter fee, via our crypto payment provider. The conversion fee of around 1% is included in the quote, and the rate is locked for a short window. The owner’s side is unaffected: EUR 50,000 is EUR 50,000.
You send the USDC from your own wallet. The transfer confirms on-chain within minutes, and your part is done. Bitcashier converts on receipt and the euros settle on the normal banking rail.
Closer to the charter, the same flow repeats for the second instalment, when the remaining 50% of the charter fee, the APA and the VAT fall due. Same quote, same rate lock, same clean euros at the other end.
Crypto, wire or card
Bank wire
No conversion fee, but cross-border transfers can take days and large transfers get compliance-checked by your bank. The right choice if your money is already in the contract currency.
Crypto via Bitcashier
Around 1% conversion, your part done in minutes, KYC handled by the payment partner, owner receives fiat. The right choice if your wealth is in crypto.
Card
Typically around 3% in network costs, and card limits make it impractical for charter-sized amounts.
Compliance and identity
Crypto changes the payment rail and nothing else. Every charter is booked in the name of a named charterer on a signed contract, and Bitcashier carries out full identity, wallet and source-of-funds checks on every payment. We do not accept payment from third parties, and we do not arrange anonymous charters.
Coins we accept
Bitcoin (BTC)
Ethereum (ETH)
USD Coin (USDC)
Tether (USDT)Good to know
The questions clients ask before they pay a charter in crypto.
No. The owner is paid in fiat, exactly as on any other booking. Bitcashier converts your coins to the contract currency before the owner is paid, so the owner never holds crypto and never carries price risk.
The conversion runs at roughly one percent, on the payer’s side. That compares with about three percent for a card network on a sum this size. The owner still receives the full contracted charter amount.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC and USDT, sent from your own wallet.
Bitcashier fixes the rate when you’re quoted and holds it for a short window. As long as you send within that time, the amount the owner receives is set and so is the amount you send.
No. The charter fee, VAT and APA are the same numbers, paid on the usual instalment schedule: the first instalment at signing, the second instalment with the APA before you board. You can settle one instalment in crypto and the next by transfer if that suits you.
Yes. The charter fee, the APA and extra services can all run through the crypto rail, each on its normal due date.
Your part takes minutes: the rate is locked when you’re quoted, you send, and the on-chain confirmation usually lands within about twenty minutes. The fiat then settles on the normal banking rail, which is our side to manage, not yours.
In most countries, spending or converting crypto counts as a disposal and can trigger a capital-gains event. We’re brokers, not tax advisers, so check your own position first.
Tell us you would like to pay in crypto when we put your charter together. We handle the rest and Bitcashier sends you a fixed quote in your chosen coin. If a plain transfer is simpler, we will say so.
Ready to charter with crypto?
Want the full detail? Read how paying for a yacht charter with crypto actually works.