None of the major AI vendors accept cryptocurrency directly. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and the rest all bill through card processors. This page describes the category that exists because of that gap, and how to evaluate anyone operating in it.
The structural problem
Card processing and crypto settlement are separate financial systems with different regulatory obligations. A subscription vendor has no commercial reason to build the second one, because the share of customers who would use it is small and the compliance burden is not. So the gap persists, and it is not closing.
Meanwhile a real population cannot use cards at all: people in countries where the vendor does not process payments, people whose banks decline foreign subscription charges, and people who simply hold their money in crypto.
How resellers bridge it
The mechanism is the gift subscription. Most vendors sell a plan as a gift, redeemable by anyone with the link. A reseller takes cryptocurrency, converts it through an exchange or swap provider, buys the gift through the ordinary checkout with a card, and forwards the redemption link. The subscription that results is a normal one, bought at the vendor's normal price, and the vendor is not a party to the crypto side at all.
What it costs
Four components, and any honest operator will name them. The vendor's list price. Sales tax on that purchase, which for a twenty dollar plan is close to two dollars. The conversion cost, typically a flat couple of dollars. Then the reseller's margin. A reasonable total on a twenty dollar plan lands in the mid twenties.
How to assess an operator
Ask whether the list price is shown next to theirs. Ask what happens if the payment underpays or arrives late. Ask whether the deposit address is per order or shared, because a shared address means your payment is identified by a reference you have to get right. Look for a claim of affiliation with the vendor, and treat one as a warning: resellers are not partners, and any site implying otherwise is misrepresenting itself.
What you actually receive
A redemption link, delivered by email. Redeeming it creates or extends an account with the vendor under their terms. The subscription is not distinguishable from one bought with a card, because that is exactly what it is.