Email Me My Crypto: NOWPayments Declares Wallet-to-Wallet Payouts Officially Dinosaur Infrastructure 🦖

Crypto payout processor NOWPayments has rolled out what it calls a zero-fee payout infrastructure that replaces traditional wallet-based transfers with email-addressed deliveries, eliminating blockchain network fees for businesses sending funds at scale. CEO Kate Lifshits framed the July 10, 2026 announcement as a direct challenge to an industry norm, asking, "Why does sending crypto still feel harder than sending an email?" and arguing, "The future of crypto payouts is not wallet-to-wallet. It is person-to-person: identified by email, delivered instantly and free to move inside the ecosystem. Anything more complicated is legacy infrastructure."

Under the new system, businesses input an email address as the payout destination rather than collecting and validating blockchain wallet addresses, removing steps including wallet validation, blockchain confirmation delays, and per-transaction network fees. Recipients automatically receive access to their funds without needing to share a public key in advance, a change Lifshits says is aimed at affiliate networks, marketplaces, gaming platforms, payroll providers, cashback programs, creator platforms, and fintech businesses handling payouts in $BTC, $ETH, and other supported cryptocurrencies.

NOWPayments positioned the release as an economic shift rather than a technical one, noting that organizations processing hundreds of thousands or even millions of payouts annually could reduce costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars each year depending on volume, network fees, and asset mix. Lifshits added, "The market has spent years competing over who can charge less per payout. We are asking a more important question: why should businesses pay per payout at all?"

To support adoption, the Amsterdam-based company has launched a Zero-Fee Crypto Payout Savings Calculator that lets companies model potential savings against their current payout stack. The release also introduces API support for integrating the email-based payout flow directly into existing finance and operations workflows, with the company stating that payouts should function as a growth and engagement tool rather than a recurring operational expense.

NOWPayments stated that the new infrastructure is designed for businesses paying out