Fonbnk alternative with a published fee share on USDT trades
Fonbnk's fees vary by account, and you can add a merchant fee. Unigox, a Fonbnk alternative for sites whose users trade USDT or USDC for local money, publishes its partner share: 20% of its fee. Stay with Fonbnk for airtime.
When to stay with Fonbnk
Your users cash out to airtime or M-Pesa tills
Fonbnk pays out in airtime in most of its countries, and in Kenya to M-Pesa Paybill and Buy Goods numbers. Unigox pays out to bank and mobile money accounts only.
Crypto must land in your users' own wallets
Fonbnk sends to any address on networks such as Celo, Stellar, Base and Tron, and delivers cKES, cGHS and coins like ETH and SOL. In the Unigox widget, users trade USDT or USDC in their Unigox Wallet and can then send it to an outside wallet.
You already verify your users
Fonbnk can switch its identity checks off for a merchant that runs its own, and sells need none outside South Africa. Unigox checks every user itself before the first trade.
Fonbnk compared with the Unigox Crypto widget
| Topic | Fonbnk | Unigox |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A crypto ramp, as a hosted widget or a signed REST API. Users pay by bank, mobile money or digital wallet, and can be paid in airtime. | A widget where your users buy and sell USDT or USDC; a P2P merchant or a payment business fills each trade. |
| Tokens and delivery | USDT and USDC plus cUSD, cKES, cGHS, RLUSD and native coins, sent to the wallet address the user or your signed link gives. | USDT and USDC, held in the user's Unigox Wallet. From there either can move to an outside wallet. |
| Identity checks | Buys get a basic or advanced check by country and amount. Sells need none outside South Africa. Fonbnk can switch its checks off for merchants that verify their users. | Every user passes the Unigox check before the first trade, whatever the amount. |
| During the trade | Buy: the user pays an agent Fonbnk found, who confirms receipt before the crypto is sent. Sell: the user sends crypto and submits the transaction hash. | During a trade the crypto sits in an on-chain escrow that Unigox can release only to the buyer or the seller. |
| What you earn | A merchant fee set on your account and credited to you. Fonbnk's own fees depend on your account and the route; no public schedule. | 20% of the Unigox fee on completed buys and sells, plus a markup on sells that you set yourself. |
| Paying out from a company balance | Payouts spend a USD merchant balance that you top up with crypto, once Fonbnk enables it for your account; collections credit the same balance. | With the Payments API, payouts spend USDT or USDC in your partner wallet, and collections release USDT or USDC into it. |
UnigoxReplace the Fonbnk widget with Unigox
List the countries your Fonbnk users trade from
Book a widget call, name them, and say whether your site needs Buy, Sell or both.
Set the markup that replaces your Fonbnk merchant fee
Your widget key comes with a partner dashboard. Set a markup on sells there in place of the merchant fee on your Fonbnk account; buys carry no markup.
Swap the pay.fonbnk.com link
Put the Unigox embed code where your Fonbnk link or iframe sits. Users verify with Unigox even if Fonbnk already checked them.
Questions about Fonbnk alternatives
What is a Fonbnk alternative for USDT and USDC trades?
Unigox, if your users buy or sell USDT or USDC for local money and you want a set share of each trade. You earn 20% of the Unigox fee, plus your own markup of up to 10% on sells. For airtime payouts or tokens like cKES, Fonbnk covers more.
Who are Fonbnk's competitors for businesses?
Other ramps that pay stablecoin sellers to mobile money in Africa, such as Paychant, Kotani Pay and HoneyCoin. Unigox competes for sites whose users trade USDT or USDC under escrow, and for payouts funded from a stablecoin wallet; it does not pay out airtime.
Read the Paychant comparisonHow does Fonbnk work for a business?
You open a merchant account and test in a sandbox with simulated money. Then you send users to Fonbnk's hosted widget by link or iframe, or build your own flow on its signed REST API. Users pay by bank, mobile money or digital wallet. Airtime works only as a payout: users can be paid in it but cannot pay with it. In production, the Source value that ties orders to your account, the signed link and a fixed wallet address all need a verified merchant account.
What should a business check in a Fonbnk review?
Fees and identity rules. Fonbnk's docs name the fees on each route but not their values, which depend on your account, so ask for quotes in your markets. Buy checks vary by country and amount; sells need none outside South Africa.
Offer USDT and USDC trades through Unigox
Book a call for a widget key, set your sell markup and place the embed code where the Fonbnk widget was.
Fonbnk and other names and logos are trademarks of their respective owners. Unigox is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by them. Information about other companies comes from public sources, mainly the companies' own websites, and each company can change its products and fees at any time.