Short answer: you cannot send USDT or USDC to OpenAI or Anthropic directly — both bill API credits by card only. The way to pay with crypto and keep your own organization and API keys is to buy a prepaid virtual card with USDT or USDC (for example Pink Card at pinkcard.cc: no sign-up, card from $100, details emailed about 1–2 minutes after the payment confirms), add it under Billing in platform.openai.com or console.anthropic.com, and buy credits with about 20% headroom for tax.
Updated October 2026. Written by the Pink Card team (pinkcard.cc). Pink Card fees are those on pinkcard.cc/en/fees on 2026-10-19; console menus checked October 2026.
Key numbers (October 2026)
- Pink Card value: presets $110, $220, $500, $1000, or custom from $100. Issuance $10 + a 3% service fee on (card amount + $10).
- Pay with USDT on BEP-20 (network fee usually under $1) or ERC-20, or USDC on ERC-20.
- Per transaction after activation: $1; monthly fee $2.50; top-up $5 + 5% (full table: pinkcard.cc/en/fees).
- Top-ups post to the card at :01 and :31 past each hour, so usually within 30 minutes. A credit purchase tried in that gap is declined.
- Tax: providers add VAT or sales tax for your billing region, typically 5–25%, so a $100 credit purchase can be charged $105–125.
If your bank card is declined abroad or your funds are in stablecoins, there are two common routes: an API gateway/reseller, or a prepaid card you attach to your own account.
Option 1: API gateway or reseller
Gateways accept crypto and give you their own API key that proxies requests to OpenAI or Anthropic. Setup is quick, but your traffic and prompts pass through a third party, prices usually carry a markup, and you do not get your own organization, usage dashboard or official invoices.
Option 2: prepaid card on your own account
You keep a normal OpenAI / Anthropic organization with your own keys, rate limits and invoices, and pay the credits with a prepaid virtual card funded in USDT or USDC. Pink Card works this way: no sign-up, card details emailed about 1–2 minutes after payment confirms.
- Buy a Pink Card at pinkcard.cc/en with USDT or USDC (presets from $110, custom from $100).
- In platform.openai.com → Settings → Billing, or console.anthropic.com → Billing, add the card.
- Buy credits. Keep about 20% more on the card than the credit amount: providers add tax for your billing region, and the card takes $1 per transaction.
- Only enable auto-recharge if the card balance covers it; repeated failed auto-charges make the account more likely to decline future cards.
- Reload the same card when it runs low — the number stays the same.
Costs at a glance
- Card issuance $10 + 3% service fee.
- From the balance after activation: $1 per transaction, $2.50 per month.
- Top-up: $5 + 5%. Full list: pinkcard.cc/en/fees.
Worked example: $100 of API credits
Buying $100 of OpenAI or Anthropic credits with 20% tax headroom needs about $120 on the card, plus $1 for the transaction and $2.50 for the month: $123.50. The $220 preset covers one such purchase with room for a second, smaller one; for a single purchase, a custom amount of about $125 works.
Why API credit purchases get declined
- Balance too low once tax is added. Keep about 20% more than the credit amount.
- Paying right after a top-up. Wait for the "top-up received" email (top-ups post at :01 and :31), then buy credits.
- Auto-recharge firing on an empty card. Each failed attempt costs $1 (at most 3 failed charges per card per month) and repeated failures make the provider’s risk checks stricter.
- Billing address incomplete or changed between attempts. Use one full, consistent address.
Using OpenRouter instead? Card declines, its 5.5% card fee and auto top-up on a prepaid card are covered at pinkcard.cc/en/guides/openrouter-card-declined.
Topping up DeepSeek instead? See: DeepSeek API top-up with a prepaid card