Buying XLM and USDC - Volta Circuit

What this is for

A new vault has no assets in it, and the usual way to fix that — buy on an exchange, then withdraw — runs into the problem described in creating a vault: most exchanges cannot pay a contract address. Buying through Volta Circuit avoids that. You pay by card, and the assets arrive in the vault you chose.

Look for Buy in the top bar. If it is not there, on-ramp purchasing is not enabled for your environment.

What you need

A Stellar vault on the public network. Checkout can only pay one of your own vaults, and only a Stellar mainnet one. Testnet vaults and other chains are not eligible, because the assets being bought are real.
A US mobile number. Our payment provider verifies it by SMS before the purchase, and the code has to be entered in the drawer.
Apple Pay. The card payment runs through Apple Pay, so no account with the provider is needed — but see the browser note below.

Buying

Open Buy from the top bar.
Enter your mobile number and verify it. Request the code, then type the six digits you are sent. Verification expires, so if you leave the drawer sitting open you may be asked to request a fresh code.
Accept the provider's terms.
Choose the destination vault, the asset, and the amount. Only your own Stellar public vaults are listed.
Press Buy and complete the payment in the sheet that appears.

Apple Pay needs Safari or an iPhone. In other browsers the checkout shows a QR code to finish the payment on your phone instead. That hand-off is less reliable than paying directly, so if you have the choice, start the purchase in Safari or on an iPhone.

How the money reaches your vault

Payment providers can only pay a classic Stellar address, and a vault is a contract. So the purchase is delivered to a Volta Circuit forwarding account, which then forwards it to your vault. That account is dedicated to your purchase for the duration of the checkout, and the forwarding happens automatically — there is nothing for you to approve, and no vote is required to receive funds.

The drawer shows this as it happens: waiting for the provider to send the funds, delivering to your vault, and finally delivered. Delivery normally follows the payment within a minute or two.

If delivery seems stuck, the funds are not lost — they are sitting on the forwarding account until the transfer succeeds. Contact [email protected] with the time of the purchase and the destination vault, and we can see exactly where it stopped.

Limits and fees

The provider sets both, shows them before you commit, and enforces its own per-purchase and per-period caps on guest checkout. Large purchases are better made through an exchange account and sent onward from a Stellar wallet you control.