Bitcoin payments

An account can hold a BTC balance next to its USD balance and pay for requests in sats. Bitcoin is a separate currency end to end: you fund it with Bitcoin, spend it with BTC keys, and nothing is converted between USD and BTC. If Billing shows no Bitcoin row, Bitcoin funding isn't available for your account.

How the BTC currency works

• Separate balance. The BTC balance is never added to, converted to or used as a fallback for the USD balance.

• BTC keys. Only an inference key created with Currency set to BTC spends it. The choice is permanent; see API keys.

• Sats. For BTC keys, every price and cost in the API is in sats: 1 is one sat. Charges are exact decimals; payments on the Bitcoin network are whole sats.

• BTC offers only. A BTC key routes only to offers priced in BTC. A model with only USD offers doesn't appear in its GET /models list.

The dashboard writes sats with the ₿ sign: ₿25,000 is 25,000 sats, and ₿120/M is 120 sats per million tokens. Amounts are never shown as fractional BTC.

Add Bitcoin credits

1. 1

   Open the dialog

   In Billing, choose Add Bitcoin on the Bitcoin row. In an organization, only owners and administrators can do this.

2. 2

   Choose a payment method

   Method	Dashboard label	Use it when
   Bitcoin address	Any amount · needs confirmations	Paying from an on-chain wallet or exchange, or sending several payments
   Lightning invoice	Exact amount · settles in seconds	Paying from a Lightning wallet

3. 3

   Enter the amount

   Enter sats in Amount (sats), or switch the unit to USD. Presets are ₿10,000, ₿25,000, ₿50,000 and ₿100,000, or $10, $25, $50 and $100. If the amount is outside the deposit limits, the dialog shows the minimum or maximum under it.

4. 4

   Create the payment request and pay

   Choose Create payment request. The receipt shows a QR code and the address or invoice, with Copy address or Copy invoice, plus the platform fee and the credits you'll receive. Pay from your wallet; the receipt updates until the payment is credited.

Entering a USD amount

A USD amount is a convenience for choosing how many sats to request. It's converted once, at the current BTC/USD reference price, and the request is in sats from then on:

• You're credited the bitcoin actually received, not a dollar value.

• The USD balance is never read or changed.

• If the converted amount is outside the deposit limits, the dialog shows the minimum or maximum under the amount.

• If no reference price is available, the dashboard asks you to enter sats instead.

Lightning

The dashboard creates a fixed-amount Lightning invoice for exactly the requested amount. A paid invoice is usually credited within seconds. The receipt shows when the invoice expires; after that it reads This invoice expired and can no longer be paid. Create a new request.

On-chain

The dashboard creates a Bitcoin address for this one funding request. The QR code includes the requested amount, so most wallets prefill it.

• Any amount. The entered amount is a suggestion. The amount actually received is credited, whether less or more.

• Several payments. Partial and repeated payments to the address are each credited once they confirm.

• Confirmations. A payment is credited after sufficient network confirmations. Unconfirmed payments are never credited.

• Network fee. The network fee for receiving the payment is deducted from the credit. Until then the receipt shows estimated credits; once credited it shows the actual Network fee.

• Limited watch period. The receipt shows how long the address is watched. After that it reads This address has expired. New payments to it won't be credited automatically. Don't reuse an old address; create a new request.

Receipts and fees

Every deposit appears in Funding history and opens its receipt. The receipt shows Credits added, Platform fee and, for on-chain payments, Network fee and Confirmations. The QR code and address or invoice appear only while the request can still be paid.

The platform fee on Bitcoin funding is taken from the amount you send; there's no fee on requests themselves. Partial or repeated payments don't change the total fee.

Processing can occasionally be delayed. A delay doesn't mean a payment failed: keep the existing request and check its receipt before paying again.

Pay for requests in sats

Create an inference key with Currency: BTC and use it like any other key. Everything money-related is then in sats:

• pricing in GET /models and the endpoints list, for example sats per token;

• usage.cost and cost_details.upstream_inference_cost on every response;

• provider.max_price;

• limit, usage and limit_remaining on the key.

{  "usage": {    "prompt_tokens": 812,    "completion_tokens": 164,    "total_tokens": 976,    "cost": 2.831647,    "cost_details": { "upstream_inference_cost": 2.831647 }  }}

This request cost about 2.8 sats. Reservations, spending limits and 402 responses work as for USD; see Credits and payments.

USD-indexed Bitcoin prices

A provider can price a BTC offer in one of two ways:

For a USD-indexed offer, the sat rate is USD per unit × 100,000,000 / USD per BTC, calculated exactly from a regularly refreshed BTC/USD reference.

The reference uses the median of fresh quotes from Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp and Bitfinex. At least two exchanges must agree within the configured price range. If an exchange is unavailable, the remaining quotes can keep indexed prices available. A missing or expired reference still prevents new indexed requests.

• Locked per request. The reference is locked when the request is routed and doesn't change while it runs.

• History. Logs show Locked · USD-indexed with the reference that applied.

• API fields. In GET /models and the endpoints list, USD-indexed prices carry pricing_basis: "usd_indexed", the reference used (including usd_per_btc) and the provider's usd_rates. The pricing values are the sat rates.

• No reference, no route. Without a current reference, USD-indexed offers drop out of discovery and routing; fixed-sat offers are unaffected.

You still pay in sats from your BTC balance; no dollars are involved.

What isn't offered

• No currency conversion. A BTC key with an empty BTC balance fails with 402, even if the USD balance is funded.

• No automatic Bitcoin top-up. Auto top-up is card-only and USD-only.

• No amountless invoices. Lightning funding uses fixed-amount invoices.

• No refunds or self-service withdrawal of customer credit. To ask about returning bitcoin, contact support.

Provider earnings in BTC are withdrawn separately; see Earnings and payouts.

Next steps