Pay for VPN with Monero (XMR) at K1VPN

K1VPN now accepts Monero (XMR) in addition to Bitcoin On-Chain and Lightning. You can pay for any plan, from the weekly one to two years, without giving an email address and without a card.

The payment goes directly to us, through our own BTCPay Server running on our own infrastructure. No outside payment processor sits in between. To check Monero payments, our BTCPay Server connects to our own Monero node, which downloads the whole blockchain onto our own server.

Why add Monero when we already have Bitcoin? Because on-chain Bitcoin hides almost nothing. Every transaction is public, forever. Monero is built to hide the sender, the receiver and the amount. If privacy is the reason you use a VPN, it makes sense to want to pay with something that respects it too.

How to pay with Monero, step by step

The process is the same as for Bitcoin. Only the tab you pick at the end changes.

1. Choose a plan. Go to the crypto payment page and pick the plan you want. You see the price in euros.

2. Save your login details - BEFORE you pay. Once you select a plan, your username and password appear on screen. Copy them or click "Save as .txt".

3. Click "Pay with Crypto". You'll be taken to our BTCPay Server. There you'll see three tabs: Bitcoin On-Chain, Lightning and Monero. Choose Monero.

4. Send the amount from your wallet. The tab shows the amount in XMR (your euro price has already been converted) and a Monero address. Scan the QR code, or copy the address and the amount into your wallet. Send exactly the amount shown. You have 30 minutes before the invoice expires.

5. Automatic activation. Your subscription activates as soon as the transaction gets 1 confirmation. Monero produces a new block every 2 minutes on average, so you usually wait a few minutes. Then log in to the dashboard with the username and password you saved.

How much it costs

The prices are the same as for every other payment method. The XMR amount is calculated at the moment the invoice is created.

K1VPN adds no fee for paying with Monero. The only extra cost is the network fee your wallet sets for the transfer.

What Monero is, in plain words

Monero is a cryptocurrency that launched in 2014 with privacy as its main goal. Like Bitcoin, no bank or company controls it, and it runs on a network of computers that keep a shared ledger (the blockchain). The difference is that Monero's blockchain doesn't show who paid whom, or how much.

Three things make that possible:

• Stealth addresses. When someone sends you Monero, the money doesn't go to your public address. The sender's wallet creates a new, one-time address for every payment. From the outside, nobody can link those addresses to yours.
• Ring signatures. The transaction is signed together with other real transactions from the blockchain. Anyone looking sees a group of possible senders and can't tell which one actually paid.
• RingCT. It hides the amount. It has been mandatory for all transactions since September 2017.

There is also Dandelion++, which hides the IP address of the device that sends a transaction to the network.

You don't have to turn any of this on or configure it. In Monero, privacy is mandatory for everyone. That has a nice side effect: since every transaction is hidden, the "suspicious" ones don't stand out from the rest.

Monero, Bitcoin or Lightning?

Bitcoin is the most widespread and the easiest to get. As bitcoin.org puts it, all Bitcoin transactions are public, traceable and stored permanently, and addresses can hardly stay fully anonymous. Lightning improves things because payments happen off the blockchain, but research has shown that some details of the network, such as channel balances, can be estimated by third parties.

Our opinion: if you already have Bitcoin, Lightning is the fastest and most convenient option. If the privacy of the payment itself is the priority, Monero is the best one.

Is the payment anonymous?

Yes, and far more than with Bitcoin, because Monero hides the sender, the receiver and the amount.

As with any cryptocurrency you buy on an exchange that requires identification (KYC), the exchange knows you bought Monero and sent it to an address. From there on, though, the details of your payment to us are not visible on the blockchain. In other words, the exchange of course knows you bought XMR, but it can't find out where you sent it. That is Monero's huge advantage.

On our side, we don't ask for any email or personal data, and we can't know who you are. All we see is that someone created an anonymous account and sent us a Monero payment to activate VPN access. That's it. With what we know today about privacy, there is no more private way to pay for a VPN subscription.

Do I need a wallet?

Yes, you need a wallet that supports Monero. Monero doesn't work with Bitcoin wallets.

The official site getmonero.org has its own wallets and also lists some third-party ones.

Official (desktop):

• Monero GUI Wallet - graphical interface for Windows, macOS and Linux
• Monero CLI Wallet - command line, for more experienced users

Third-party wallets that sync locally on your device (better for privacy):

• Cake Wallet - easy for beginners, with built-in currency exchange (Android and iOS)
• Feather - lightweight desktop wallet (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• Monerujo - for Android

Hardware wallets: Ledger and Trezor are supported by some of the wallets above.

Three things worth knowing:

• When you create a wallet, it gives you a recovery phrase (seed phrase) of 16 or 25 words, depending on the wallet and the format it uses. Write it on paper and keep it somewhere safe. Whoever has it controls your funds, and if you lose it you lose access to them.

• The first time you open a wallet that syncs locally, it may need a while to catch up. That's not a fault, it's normal.

• Download the wallet only from the developer's own site. getmonero.org warns you to check the file hashes, because a corrupted file can mean lost funds.

How do I get Monero?

Once you have a wallet, you need some XMR. There are two routes, depending on whether you prefer convenience or not handing over your ID.

Method 1: An exchange with identification (KYC)

The easiest route if you already have an account or don't mind verifying your identity. Not every exchange supports Monero, though. Several have dropped it because of government pressure and/or laws, and availability changes by country, so check first which ones list it today in your region.

1. Log in or sign up at an exchange that supports Monero in your country.
2. Deposit euros by bank transfer (SEPA) or by card.
3. Buy Monero (XMR) with your balance.
4. Withdraw the XMR to the address of your own wallet.

What exactly the exchange sees in this case is explained above, in the section "Is the payment anonymous?".

If your exchange doesn't have Monero, buy Bitcoin (BTC) or Litecoin (LTC) there, for example on Coinbase, send it to Cake Wallet and convert it to XMR with the wallet's exchange feature (see below). It is the surest route when Monero isn't available in your country.

Method 2: Without identification (no-KYC)

If you don't want to hand over ID, you can use one of the routes below.

Swapping from another cryptocurrency. If you already hold Bitcoin or Litecoin (which you can get from an ATM, over Lightning or from P2P markets, for example), you can convert it to Monero without opening an account:

• Inside Cake Wallet. The wallet has a built-in exchange feature. You send BTC or LTC and receive XMR in the same wallet.
• Through web swap services. For example Trocador, which compares prices from many exchange services. You send your coins and the service sends XMR to your wallet's address.

Buying from other users (P2P). You buy directly from individuals, using a payment method you agree on with them:

• RoboSats - a P2P exchange over Lightning that works only through Tor and doesn't ask for identification. You buy Bitcoin and then convert it to XMR as above.
• Bisq - an open-source desktop application with a P2P network that needs no identity verification. Every node runs as a Tor hidden service.
• Haveno - an open-source platform for exchanging Monero for regular currency over Tor. It is software, not a single service, and the project states that it is under development.

Once the XMR arrives in your wallet, continue with the payment steps at the start of this guide. If you received it only a moment ago, also see the section about the 10-block lock further down.

What if something goes wrong

The invoice expired before I paid

If 30 minutes pass without a payment, the invoice is cancelled. Go back to the payment page and start again. Don't send money to an address from an expired invoice.

I sent the payment but the invoice expired, or my subscription didn't activate

Your money is not lost. Wait a few minutes, because confirmation can be delayed when the network is busy. If the subscription still doesn't activate, contact us through the contact page with your username and the Transaction ID (TxID) from your wallet. If we need further proof, we'll ask for the transaction key. How to find it is described in the official Monero guide to proving a payment.

I just received Monero and my wallet won't let me send it

This happens when the XMR has just arrived in your wallet: Monero keeps new funds locked for about 10 blocks, roughly 20 minutes, before you can spend them. If you need to pay with money you just received, allow for that time before you start the invoice, because the invoice only lasts 30 minutes.

I lost my username or password

Unfortunately they can't be recovered. K1VPN doesn't keep email addresses or personal data, so there is no way to confirm it's you. That's why we ask you to save them right away.

Frequently Asked Questions

How fast is my subscription activated? After 1 confirmation of the transaction. Monero produces a block every 2 minutes on average, so it is usually a matter of a few minutes.

Can I pay for the weekly plan (€2.99) with Monero? Yes, all plans can be paid with Monero.

Do I pay an extra fee to K1VPN? No. K1VPN adds no charge. There is only the network fee set by your wallet.

Do I need an email or an account to pay? No. Your credentials are shown on screen and you are responsible for saving them.

Do I have to send the exact amount? Yes. Send exactly the XMR amount the invoice shows, to the address the invoice shows. The amount is valid for the 30 minutes of the invoice.

Is Monero more private than Lightning? In terms of what is recorded publicly, yes. In Monero the sender, receiver and amount are hidden from the blockchain. Lightning is good for privacy compared with on-chain Bitcoin, but it isn't designed to hide everything.

Can I pay from any country? Yes, as long as you have a Monero wallet and XMR.

Do you support other cryptocurrencies? For now we support Bitcoin (On-Chain and Lightning) and Monero.

For Bitcoin and Lightning, see the guide Bitcoin & Lightning Payments.

Need more help?

Contact us through the contact page.