Solana Pay ⚡

Decentralized payment protocol built on Solana. Instant, near-zero fee payments.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required
SOLANA_KEYPAIR_PATH	Path to merchant wallet keypair	Yes
SOLANA_RPC_URL	Custom RPC endpoint	No
MERCHANT_NAME	Display name for payments	No

Features

• 💸 Instant Payments - Sub-second finality (~400ms)
• 🆓 Near-Zero Fees - ~$0.00025 per transaction
• 🔗 QR Code Payments - Generate scannable payment requests
• 🛒 Point of Sale - Merchant integrations
• 📱 Wallet Support - Phantom, Solflare, Backpack

Payment URL Specification

Solana Pay uses a URL scheme for payment requests:

solana:<recipient>?amount=<amount>&spl-token=<mint>&reference=<reference>&label=<label>&message=<message>&memo=<memo>

Generate Payment Request (SOL)

RECIPIENT=$(solana address --keypair "$SOLANA_KEYPAIR_PATH")
AMOUNT="1.5"
REFERENCE=$(solana-keygen new --no-bip39-passphrase --silent --outfile /dev/stdout | head -1)
LABEL="My Store"
MESSAGE="Order #12345"

# Build Solana Pay URL
PAY_URL="solana:${RECIPIENT}?amount=${AMOUNT}&reference=${REFERENCE}&label=${LABEL}&message=${MESSAGE}"

echo "Payment URL: $PAY_URL"

# Generate QR code (requires qrencode)
echo "$PAY_URL" | qrencode -o payment_qr.png -s 10
echo "QR code saved to payment_qr.png"

Generate Payment Request (SPL Token)

RECIPIENT=$(solana address --keypair "$SOLANA_KEYPAIR_PATH")
AMOUNT="100"
SPL_TOKEN="EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v"  # USDC
REFERENCE=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
LABEL="My Store"
MESSAGE="Order #12345"

# Build Solana Pay URL with SPL token
PAY_URL="solana:${RECIPIENT}?amount=${AMOUNT}&spl-token=${SPL_TOKEN}&reference=${REFERENCE}&label=${LABEL}&message=${MESSAGE}"

echo "Payment URL: $PAY_URL"
echo "$PAY_URL" | qrencode -o payment_qr.png -s 10

Common Token Addresses

Token	Mint Address
USDC	EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v
USDT	Es9vMFrzaCERmJfrF4H2FYD4KCoNkY11McCe8BenwNYB
BONK	DezXAZ8z7PnrnRJjz3wXBoRgixCa6xjnB7YaB1pPB263
JUP	JUPyiwrYJFskUPiHa7hkeR8VUtAeFoSYbKedZNsDvCN

Verify Payment by Reference

REFERENCE="<REFERENCE_PUBKEY>"
RPC_URL="${SOLANA_RPC_URL:-https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com}"

# Find transaction with reference
curl -s -X POST "$RPC_URL" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"jsonrpc\": \"2.0\",
    \"id\": 1,
    \"method\": \"getSignaturesForAddress\",
    \"params\": [\"${REFERENCE}\", {\"limit\": 1}]
  }" | jq '.result[0]'

Validate Transaction

SIGNATURE="<TX_SIGNATURE>"
EXPECTED_RECIPIENT="<MERCHANT_WALLET>"
EXPECTED_AMOUNT="1000000"  # in lamports or token units

# Get transaction details
TX=$(curl -s -X POST "$RPC_URL" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"jsonrpc\": \"2.0\",
    \"id\": 1,
    \"method\": \"getTransaction\",
    \"params\": [\"${SIGNATURE}\", {\"encoding\": \"jsonParsed\", \"maxSupportedTransactionVersion\": 0}]
  }")

# Verify recipient and amount
echo "$TX" | jq '.result.transaction.message.instructions[] | select(.parsed.type == "transfer")'

Transaction Request (Interactive Payments)

For complex payments requiring server interaction:

# Server endpoint that returns transaction
TRANSACTION_URL="https://your-server.com/api/pay"

# Solana Pay URL pointing to transaction endpoint
PAY_URL="solana:${TRANSACTION_URL}"

Transaction Request Server Example

// POST /api/pay
// Returns serialized transaction for wallet to sign

app.post('/api/pay', async (req, res) => {
  const { account } = req.body;  // Payer's wallet
  
  // Build transaction
  const transaction = new Transaction();
  transaction.add(
    SystemProgram.transfer({
      fromPubkey: new PublicKey(account),
      toPubkey: MERCHANT_WALLET,
      lamports: LAMPORTS_PER_SOL * 0.1
    })
  );
  
  // Serialize and return
  const serialized = transaction.serialize({
    requireAllSignatures: false,
    verifySignatures: false
  });
  
  res.json({
    transaction: serialized.toString('base64'),
    message: 'Payment for Order #123'
  });
});

Point of Sale Integration

Generate Dynamic QR

#!/bin/bash
# pos_payment.sh - Generate payment QR for POS

AMOUNT="$1"
ORDER_ID="$2"
TOKEN="${3:-SOL}"

RECIPIENT=$(solana address --keypair "$SOLANA_KEYPAIR_PATH")
REFERENCE=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

if [[ "$TOKEN" == "SOL" ]]; then
  PAY_URL="solana:${RECIPIENT}?amount=${AMOUNT}&reference=${REFERENCE}&memo=Order-${ORDER_ID}"
else
  # Get token mint
  case "$TOKEN" in
    USDC) MINT="EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v" ;;
    USDT) MINT="Es9vMFrzaCERmJfrF4H2FYD4KCoNkY11McCe8BenwNYB" ;;
  esac
  PAY_URL="solana:${RECIPIENT}?amount=${AMOUNT}&spl-token=${MINT}&reference=${REFERENCE}&memo=Order-${ORDER_ID}"
fi

# Display QR in terminal (requires qrencode)
echo "$PAY_URL" | qrencode -t ANSIUTF8

# Save reference for verification
echo "$REFERENCE" > "/tmp/order_${ORDER_ID}_ref.txt"
echo "Reference saved. Waiting for payment..."

Poll for Payment

#!/bin/bash
# wait_payment.sh - Wait for payment confirmation

ORDER_ID="$1"
REFERENCE=$(cat "/tmp/order_${ORDER_ID}_ref.txt")
RPC_URL="${SOLANA_RPC_URL:-https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com}"

echo "Waiting for payment (reference: ${REFERENCE:0:8}...)"

while true; do
  RESULT=$(curl -s -X POST "$RPC_URL" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "{
      \"jsonrpc\": \"2.0\",
      \"id\": 1,
      \"method\": \"getSignaturesForAddress\",
      \"params\": [\"${REFERENCE}\", {\"limit\": 1}]
    }")
  
  SIG=$(echo "$RESULT" | jq -r '.result[0].signature // empty')
  
  if [[ -n "$SIG" ]]; then
    echo "✅ Payment received!"
    echo "Transaction: $SIG"
    echo "Explorer: https://solscan.io/tx/$SIG"
    break
  fi
  
  sleep 2
done

Fee Comparison

Network	Fee	Time
Solana Pay	~$0.00025	~400ms
Visa/MC	2-3%	1-3 days
PayPal	2.9% + $0.30	Instant
Wire Transfer	$25-50	1-5 days

Safety Rules

1. ALWAYS verify transaction signature before fulfilling orders
2. ALWAYS check recipient matches merchant wallet
3. ALWAYS verify amount matches expected payment
4. USE unique reference for each payment request
5. NEVER reuse reference keys

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
No transaction found	Payment not made	Continue polling
Wrong recipient	Spoofed payment	Reject, alert user
Wrong amount	Partial payment	Request remaining
Transaction failed	Insufficient funds	Request retry

Links

• Solana Pay Docs
• Solana Pay GitHub
• Solscan Explorer