# An LLM API you pay in crypto, per token, without an identity check

> Pay an LLM API in USDT, USDC, BTC or ETH: 12 open-weight models on one OpenAI-compatible endpoint, billed per token from a prepaid balance. No KYC.

- URL: https://llmwithcrypto.com/llm-api-crypto/
- Last updated: 2026-10-23
- Publisher: LLMwithCrypto (https://llmwithcrypto.com)

Top up a balance in USDT, USDC, Bitcoin or another coin, buy credit, and call open-weight models through the OpenAI chat completions format. Each call spends its tokens at the model's price. No card, no ID, no selfie, no documents.

**Quick answer — Can I pay for an LLM API with crypto?**

Yes. **LLMwithCrypto** takes BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC for an OpenAI-compatible API serving 12 open-weight models, with no KYC. You top up at least $25, buy credit from $25, and each call is charged per token. As of 23 October 2026, gpt-oss-120b costs $0.142 per million input tokens and DeepSeek V4 Pro $1.254.

## How much credit should I buy?

Credit is sold at face value and spent on any model. A small pack is enough to test every model; larger packs only save you top-ups.

| Plan | Quantity | Price | Price per unit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Start | $25 of API credit | $25 | — |
| Builder | $50 of API credit | $50 | — |
| Production | $100 of API credit | $100 | — |
| Team | $250 of API credit | $250 | — |
| Scale | $1,000 of API credit | $1,000 | — |

In every plan: Every model on one key · Streaming and tool calling · Failed calls not charged · Credit never expires

Prices in USD, set on 2026-10-23. Credit never expires.

**Before you pay**

- Minimum top-up $25. Top up once in crypto, then buy any plan from your balance.
- Credit on your balance does not expire and pays for tokens on any model, whenever you call the API. When a pack costs less than the minimum top-up, the part you paid only to reach that minimum comes back on request within 30 days of payment, in USDT or USDC, provided it is still unspent. The rest of a balance is not paid out unless the law requires it.
- Credited once your payment is checked on the blockchain. Typical network confirmation time: BTC ≈ 20 min · USDT TRC-20 ≈ 1 min · USDT ERC-20 ≈ 5 min · USDC ERC-20 ≈ 5 min · ETH ≈ 5 min · SOL ≈ 1 min · LTC ≈ 15 min

## How does a crypto balance pay for tokens?

In two steps that never mix. First your crypto top-up becomes a dollar balance once the blockchain confirms it. Then you buy a credit pack from that balance, and the API spends the credit call by call.

You pay per token from your balance: input and output tokens are counted by the model’s own tokenizer and charged at that model’s price per 1M tokens. A call that ends in an error costs nothing. Nothing is billed per month, and Credit has no expiry date: what you do not spend this month is still there next year.

Because the money is in place before any call runs, there is no card to charge back and no invoice to chase. That is why the account needs no identity document: Sign in with an account number; an email address is optional.

## What does a typical job cost?

Token counts are examples; your own counts appear in the dashboard after each call. Prices as of 23 October 2026.

| Job | Model | Price per 1M tokens (in / out) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Chatbot replies, high volume | [gpt-oss-120b](https://llmwithcrypto.com/models/gpt-oss-120b/) | $0.142 / $0.57 |
| Cheap summaries and classification | [gpt-oss-20b](https://llmwithcrypto.com/models/gpt-oss-20b/) | $0.033 / $0.161 |
| Long documents, 1M-token context | [DeepSeek V4.1 Flash](https://llmwithcrypto.com/models/deepseek-v4-1-flash/) | $0.285 / $1.14 |
| Coding and agent work | [GLM-4.7](https://llmwithcrypto.com/models/glm-4-7/) | $0.57 / $2.09 |
| Hard reasoning | [DeepSeek V4 Pro](https://llmwithcrypto.com/models/deepseek-v4-pro/) | $1.254 / $3.762 |

*Prices checked on October 23, 2026.*

Every price is 5% below the median of the public hosts listed in the [price index](https://llmwithcrypto.com/data/open-model-api-price-index-2026/).

## How do other LLM APIs that take crypto work?

What each seller states on its own pages, read on 22 and 23 October 2026. The [full comparison](https://llmwithcrypto.com/compare/llm-api-crypto-payment/) adds fees, minimums and refund rules.

| Service | Crypto accepted | Account and KYC | Models |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LLMwithCrypto (ours) | BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC | Account number, email optional, no KYC | 12 open-weight models only |
| OpenRouter | USDC through Coinbase, 5% fee; crypto never refunded | Account required; no KYC clause found | Closed and open models |
| NanoGPT | 29 coins including XMR, BTC and USDT | No email or account needed; no KYC | Closed and open models |
| PayPerQ | Lightning, on-chain BTC, LTC, XMR | No registration | Closed and open models |
| Venice.ai | USDC by x402 on Base and Solana | Account for most features | Closed and open models |

*Prices checked on October 23, 2026.*

## Why only open-weight models?

Only open-weight models whose licences allow serving them as an API: DeepSeek, Qwen, gpt-oss, Mistral, Llama, Gemma and others listed on the models page. We run them on GPUs we rent and operate. We do not sell access to GPT, Claude, Gemini or Grok: their makers forbid reselling API access without their approval, and we do not have it.

This keeps one promise simple: the model you call is the one named on the [models page](https://llmwithcrypto.com/models/), served under a licence that allows it, on hardware we control. Each model keeps its own licence and use policy (for example Meta’s Llama Acceptable Use Policy and the “Built with Llama” notice); using a model through us means accepting them.

## What happens to my prompts?

We do not store your prompts or the model’s answers: once a response is sent, its text is gone. Each call leaves one log line with the time, the account, the model and the token counts, deleted after 30 days. We never train or fine-tune any model on your prompts or outputs.

The [privacy policy](https://llmwithcrypto.com/privacy/) lists everything an account keeps, and the [acceptable use policy](https://llmwithcrypto.com/acceptable-use/) what no account may do.

## Paying for an LLM API in crypto

### Which coins and networks can I use?

BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC. USDT goes over Tron (TRC-20) or Ethereum (ERC-20) and USDC over Ethereum. The [crypto payments page](https://llmwithcrypto.com/crypto-payments/) walks through a top-up.

### Is there a monthly fee?

No. You pay for tokens only, from credit that never expires.

### How fast do I get an API key?

Once your crypto top-up is confirmed and a credit pack is bought, your API key is waiting in the dashboard.

### Can I get my money back?

A credit pack bought in the last 72 hours goes back to your balance if less than 20% of it was spent. If the API does not work for you and support cannot fix it within 24 hours, the unspent credit goes back to your balance. Top-ups stay on the balance and are not paid out unless the law requires it; whatever you added only to reach the minimum top-up comes back on request within 30 days, in USDT or USDC, as long as it is unspent.

## Sources

1. [OpenRouter FAQ (payments)](https://openrouter.ai/docs/faq) — OpenRouter (read 2026-10-22)
2. [NanoGPT pricing and FAQ](https://nano-gpt.com/pricing) — NanoGPT (read 2026-10-22)
3. [PayPerQ pricing](https://ppq.ai/pricing) — PayPerQ (read 2026-10-22)
4. [Venice API pricing](https://docs.venice.ai/overview/pricing) — Venice.ai (read 2026-10-22)

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LLMwithCrypto: LLMwithCrypto is an OpenAI-compatible LLM API for open-weight models — DeepSeek V4 Pro, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, DeepSeek R1, Qwen3.5 397B A17B, Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct, gpt-oss-120b, gpt-oss-20b, GLM-4.7, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct, Gemma 4 31B, Mistral Large 3, Mistral Small 4 — paid per token from a prepaid crypto balance, at 5% below the median price of the public hosts. No KYC: no ID, no selfie, no documents. Prompts and outputs are not stored.