Quickstart · ~5 min read

Make your first API call

This guide walks you through authentication, fetching live rates, and understanding the payment lifecycle. Everything below uses the production base URL.

Step 1

Get your API key

All requests require a secretkey header. Contact api@bitmessa.com to request production credentials. Never expose your key in client-side code.

Required header

secretkey: your_api_key_here

API version: 2.0.0 · Base URL: https://api.bitmessa.com

Step 2

Fetch live exchange rates

The GET /get/rate endpoint requires no authentication and returns current BTC/USDT rates and platform status. Use it to verify connectivity before integrating payments.

cURL

curl -X GET https://api.bitmessa.com/get/rate

Example response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "rate fetched",
  "result": {
    "bitmessa": 1372,
    "usdt": 0.999129,
    "ngn": 1372,
    "usd": 61054,
    "bot": true,
    "site": true,
    "message": "The minimum deposit for BTC is $12..."
  }
}

Full Get Rates documentation →

Step 3

Understand the payment flow

Converting crypto to Naira is a multi-step process. Most integrations follow this sequence:

1 · Request Payment ID Create a payment session and receive a deposit address POST

2 · Monitor payment Poll payment data until crypto is received and confirmed GET

3 · Assign bank account Link the user's Nigerian bank account for Naira payout POST

4 · Finalize payment Complete the transaction and trigger bank transfer GET

Start with Request Payment ID →

Step 4

Make an authenticated request

Once you have an API key, include it on every protected endpoint:

Create a payment

curl -X POST https://api.bitmessa.com/payment \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "secretkey: your_api_key_here" \
  -d '{"coin": "BTC", "amount": 0.001}'

Request Payment ID docs →

Next steps

Go deeper

Full API reference 32 endpoints generated from OpenAPI with cURL, JS, and Python examples Payment endpoints Create, monitor, and finalize crypto-to-naira payments OpenAPI specification Download the machine-readable API spec (v2.0.0)

Need help integrating?

Our team supports production deployments and custom integrations.

Open API Reference Contact API Team