Pay for the Anthropic API with Bitbanker — USDT crypto checkout

The queries "pay for Anthropic API" and "how to buy Claude API" stay near the top of search results year after year. The intent is informational: people aren't looking for "where to click" — they're looking for how to actually do this without a foreign card, a KYC dance, or handing their account to a third party.

LiteAI solves this in one step: payment through Bitbanker with USDT (TRC20 or ERC20) → an API key in the sk-bf-… format arrives automatically within 30 seconds. Below: what Bitbanker is, how the integration works, and a step-by-step guide.

Why direct payment doesn't work for most people

Anthropic runs billing through Stripe. Stripe doesn't accept cards from a long list of countries, and has rejected most of those BIN codes since 2022. Mir cards, blocked Visa/Mastercard BINs — all of these are declined at the antifraud stage, before the money even tries to move. The service itself is still reachable: claude.ai opens through a VPN, an account can be created, the free tier works. The restriction is strictly on the payment side — at the processor, not at Anthropic.

LiteAI closes that gap: we buy tokens from Anthropic in USD through a normal Stripe account, and resell them in USDT crypto via Bitbanker — no VPN, no intermediary, no handing over an account.

What is Bitbanker

Bitbanker is a crypto invoice service built for online merchants. You create an invoice, Bitbanker generates a payment page with a USDT (TRC20 or ERC20) address and a QR code, the customer pays on-chain, and Bitbanker calls a webhook on your backend with payed: true plus the on-chain transaction IDs. Settlement is in fiat or stays in crypto — depends on the merchant.

For the buyer it's the same flow as paying with a card at a normal checkout: click "Pay" → see the amount and a QR code → scan it in any self-custodial wallet (Trust Wallet, Tonkeeper, MetaMask) → confirm the transaction → done. No KYC at the Bitbanker level (we don't require it either), no foreign card, no bank intermediary.

LiteAI uses Bitbanker as the USDT processor for the English version of the site. The whole checkout happens in your wallet — LiteAI never sees your private keys, and the keys only flow back from Anthropic to the email you provided.

How LiteAI uses Bitbanker

The integration follows the standard Bitbanker invoice flow:

1. The user clicks "Buy" on liteai.tech/pricing and picks a token package.
2. The backend calls the Bitbanker API (POST /api/v1/invoices) with the package amount in rubles (LiteAI keeps a single ₽30-per-1M rate), the buyer's email, and a unique external_id — our internal orderId. The request is signed with the X-API-KEY from the LiteAI env, and the signature is sha256(amount + header + description, api_key) per Bitbanker's spec.
3. Bitbanker returns a hosted invoice URL (https://app.bitbanker.ru/external/invoice/{id}) and the user is redirected there.
4. The user scans the QR code in their wallet, signs the USDT transaction, and the blockchain confirms the transfer. This usually takes 30 seconds to 5 minutes depending on the network (TRC20 is faster than ERC20).
5. Once Bitbanker sees the on-chain confirmation, it calls our webhook at https://liteai.tech/api/webhook/bitbanker with {payed: true, id, amount, currency, transactions[{external_id, tx_hash, ...}]}.
6. On the LiteAI side, the webhook matches the order by external_id, marks it as paid, creates a virtual API key in Bifrost, and sends it to the user via email and the Telegram bot.
7. The frontend on /success polls /api/order/by-payment/:paymentId and shows the key the moment Bifrost responds — usually within a few seconds of payment confirmation.

All steps are atomic: if the webhook arrives before the user lands back on /success, the polling endpoint picks up the state and the key shows up immediately. If the user closes the tab, the email + Telegram still arrive with the key.

What you get

• an API key in the sk-bf-… format, compatible with the Anthropic SDK and the OpenAI SDK;
• access to Claude Opus 4.8, Sonnet 4.6 and Haiku 4.5;
• payment with USDT (TRC20 / ERC20) through Bitbanker;
• no subscription, no monthly charge — your balance never expires.

Price: $1 per 1M tokens on any model, including Opus. Comparable to Anthropic's direct rate.
Time: the key arrives automatically within 30 seconds of payment confirmation on-chain (TRC20 is faster; ERC20 can take a couple of minutes).
Downside: this is API access, not a claude.ai subscription. If you need the chat specifically, you'll need a foreign card and a VPN.

How to pay with Bitbanker — step by step

1. Open liteai.tech/pricing.
2. Pick a token package: 1M for $1 to test, 5M for $5 to get started, 100M for $70 for production.
3. Enter the email where the key should arrive. Telegram is optional — if you provide a @username, the bot @liteaitech_bot will DM the key as well.
4. Click "Pay with crypto" — you'll be redirected to a Bitbanker invoice page.
5. The page shows the amount in USDT and a QR code. Open any self-custodial wallet (Trust Wallet, Tonkeeper, MetaMask, Phantom, etc.) and scan it. Confirm the transaction in the wallet.
6. Wait for blockchain confirmation. TRC20 confirms in 30–60 seconds; ERC20 can take 2–5 minutes.
7. Once the payment is confirmed, Bitbanker redirects you back to /success?paymentId=... on LiteAI. The page will display the key as soon as Bifrost generates it — usually within a few seconds.
8. You'll also receive the key by email and/or in the Telegram bot as a backup.
9. Plug the key into Claude Code, Cursor, opencode or your own code via ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN (Anthropic SDK) or Authorization: Bearer ... (OpenAI SDK).

Done. No VPN, no foreign card, no KYC, no handing over your account.

What to do if the payment went through but the key didn't arrive

This is rare, but possible — the Bitbanker webhook can take a moment to reach us, especially during high network congestion on ERC20. In that case:

• Wait 1–3 minutes. The key is generated automatically once the on-chain confirmation registers. TRC20 typically confirms faster than ERC20.
• Check your email (including Spam and Promotions folders). The sender is noreply@liteai.tech, the subject is "Your LiteAI API key is ready".
• Open the Telegram bot @liteaitech_bot and tap "Check balance" — the bot shows the latest transactions and your linked email. If the payment reached us, the key is there.
• Reopen the /success page by clicking the link from the Bitbanker success page again. The page polls the order for 30 seconds after payment.

If none of this works, write to support@liteai.tech with the email you used to place the order, the time of payment, and the transaction hash from your wallet. We'll trace it on-chain and reissue the key, or refund the USDT manually if anything went wrong on our side.

TRC20 vs ERC20 — which one to pick

Bitbanker invoices include both networks. For most users TRC20 is the better default:

• TRC20 (Tron) — fees are essentially zero, confirmation is 30–60 seconds. Works in every major wallet that supports Tron. Recommended for the LiteAI flow.
• ERC20 (Ethereum) — fees are $1–5 per transfer depending on gas, confirmation is 2–5 minutes. Use it if you only have ETH in your wallet and no TRX for fees.

Both networks settle into the same Bitbanker invoice, so the rest of the flow is identical.

Payment security

LiteAI never holds your crypto. Bitbanker generates a fresh USDT address per invoice, the transaction goes directly from your wallet to that address, and the on-chain hash is what we use to match your order. Our webhook verifies the payed: true flag and the transaction list before issuing the key — there's no way to spoof a paid invoice from outside.

The LiteAI API key itself is stored encrypted in Bifrost, bound to your email, and never logged in plaintext on our backend.

Bottom line

Paying for the Anthropic API in 2026 — when you don't have a foreign card — is payment with USDT through Bitbanker: TRC20 or ERC20, QR-code checkout in your wallet, key in 30 seconds.

LiteAI direct — the fastest path for developers: USDT → key in 30 seconds, $1 per 1M tokens on any Claude model, no VPN and no foreign card. If you specifically need claude.ai chat, fall back to a foreign card + VPN — for everything development-related, this closes the loop.