Most coins tell the whole world who paid whom. Monero doesn't, which is exactly why some people won't pay for a server any other way. We accept it. But the same privacy that protects you also means we can't see your payment arrive the way we see a USDC transfer, so the flow has one manual step. Here's how it works, start to finish.
Last verified 2026-10-04 against the EQVPS dashboard (Balance → Monero) and API.
How Monero works at EQVPS
Monero doesn't appear on the checkout page next to USDC and Bitcoin. It's a balance top-up: you add funds in XMR, we confirm them, and from then on orders and renewals are paid from your balance automatically. In practice that's one extra step before the first order and none after.
- Minimum $3, maximum $10,000 per request.
- The rate comes from CoinGecko (Kraken as a fallback), refreshed every 10 minutes, and is locked when you create the request.
- Confirmation is manual, usually within 30 minutes.
Step by step
1. Open Balance and pick Monero
Sign in (an email is all you need, no ID), go to Dashboard → Balance and choose the Monero (XMR) tab. The other tab, "Crypto (USDC, USDT, BTC…)", is the regular stablecoin and Bitcoin checkout.
2. Enter the amount in dollars
Type how much you want to add in USD. Below it you'll see the current XMR rate and roughly how much XMR that is. Plans start at $3/month, so a first top-up of $5–10 covers a small server with room to spare.
3. Get the payment details
Press Get payment details. You get two things:
- The exact XMR amount, calculated at the rate locked right now. It can have up to 12 decimal places, and that's on purpose.
- Our Monero address. Tap it to copy.
Copy the address from your dashboard every time, not from a chat, an email or this page. Clipboard-swapping malware exists, and a pasted address is worth one glance at the first and last characters before you send.
4. Send exactly that amount
From your wallet (Feather, Cake Wallet, Monero GUI or CLI all work), send exactly the XMR amount shown to the address shown. From the CLI wallet it looks like this:
transfer <address-from-dashboard> <exact-xmr-amount>
The exact figure is how we match your payment to your account. One trap catches people here: some exchanges subtract their withdrawal fee from the amount you enter, so less arrives than you asked for. If you're withdrawing from an exchange, make sure the amount that arrives is the full figure, or pay from your own wallet.
The Monero network fee itself is small, typically a fraction of a cent to a few cents, and it comes on top of the amount in your own wallet.
5. Attach the transaction ID (optional, but do it)
Your wallet shows a transaction ID (tx hash) after sending. In Feather or the GUI it's in the transaction history; in the CLI, show_transfers lists it. Paste it into the Transaction ID field under your request and press Attach. It's optional, but it makes matching faster and settles any doubt if the amount is off.
6. Wait for confirmation
The request shows Awaiting confirmation. You can close the page. Two clocks run here:
- The network. Monero locks newly received funds for 10 blocks, about 20 minutes at 2-minute blocks. That's protocol, not us.
- Us. We confirm the transfer manually once it's in our wallet, usually within 30 minutes.
When it's confirmed, the amount appears on your balance in dollars.
7. Order your server
Pick a plan, choose the OS, order. With enough balance the order is paid immediately and the server is ready in about a minute. Renewals come out of the same balance, so keep enough on it, or come back and top up again before the renewal date.
If something goes wrong
| Situation | What happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| You sent less than requested | The amount doesn't match the request | Open a ticket with the transaction ID |
| You sent more than requested | The amount doesn't match the request | Open a ticket with the transaction ID |
| You came back hours later | The locked rate may be stale | Create a new request before sending |
| Still pending after an hour | Usually a mismatch or a missing transaction ID | Attach the transaction ID, then open a ticket |
Funded balance is non-refundable and can't be withdrawn back to XMR (see Terms), so top up what you plan to spend. If you cancel a server immediately, the unused part goes back to your balance, not to your wallet.
How private is it?
On-chain, Monero hides sender, receiver and amount. Off-chain, your top-up is tied to your EQVPS account, because we have to credit it to someone. What we know is your email, the dollar amount, the time and, like any website, the IP address you connect from. We don't ask for ID or a name.
If privacy is the reason you're here:
- Use an email that isn't tied to your name.
- Pay from your own wallet, not from an exchange account that knows who you are.
- Connect your wallet to your own Monero node instead of a public one.
Our view: Monero is the right choice when privacy matters more than speed. If you just want the fastest possible checkout, a stablecoin on a cheap network settles in seconds; see paying in crypto or paying with Solana.
For agents and scripts
The same flow is available over REST with a Bearer token (see API tokens):
API=https://api.eqvps.com/api/v1/eqvps
curl -s "$API/balance/xmr-rate" -H "Authorization: Bearer $EQVPS_TOKEN"
curl -s -X POST "$API/balance/topup/xmr" -H "Authorization: Bearer $EQVPS_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"amount":10}'
# → topup_id, xmr_amount, xmr_address, rate_usd, status: pending
curl -s -X POST "$API/balance/topup/xmr/<topup_id>/txid" -H "Authorization: Bearer $EQVPS_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"txid":"<your-tx-hash>"}'
There's no MCP tool for Monero yet: topup_balance over MCP creates the regular crypto checkout. An agent that needs XMR uses the REST calls above, and a human or a wallet still has to send the coins.
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