The latest articles on DEV Community by Michael_recurCrypto (@michael_recurcrypto). https://dev.to/michael_recurcrypto https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3886486%2F41e39dfe-d9f9-42ea-84c9-3eb632871f34.png https://dev.to/michael_recurcrypto en Michael_recurCrypto Sat, 18 Apr 2026 19:19:37 +0000 https://dev.to/michael_recurcrypto/most-saas-churn-isnt-real-churn-its-failed-payments-1n96 https://dev.to/michael_recurcrypto/most-saas-churn-isnt-real-churn-its-failed-payments-1n96 <p>Hey everyone 👋</p> <p>I’ve been working on subscription systems recently, and something stood out pretty quickly:</p> <p>Most SaaS “churn” isn’t actually churn.</p> <p>It’s failed payments.</p> <h2> What really happens </h2> <p>A typical subscription flow looks solid on paper:</p> <ul> <li>user subscribes </li> <li>billing runs monthly </li> <li>revenue grows </li> </ul> <p>But in reality:</p> <ul> <li>cards expire </li> <li>banks decline valid transactions </li> <li>payments fail silently </li> </ul> <p>And the worst part?</p> <p>Users don’t even know it happened.</p> <h2> The hidden problem </h2> <p>From the outside, it looks like churn.</p> <p>But internally, it’s just broken billing infrastructure.</p> <p>Even with retries, emails, and dunning flows, a lot of revenue is simply lost.</p> <h2> A different approach </h2> <p>I started exploring wallet-based subscriptions instead of cards.</p> <p>Instead of charging cards:</p> <ul> <li>users connect a wallet </li> <li>approve a subscription once </li> <li>payments execute automatically </li> </ul> <p>No card details.<br><br> No bank approvals. </p> <h2> What changes </h2> <p>The differences are pretty interesting:</p> <ul> <li>no card expiration </li> <li>no bank declines </li> <li>no chargebacks </li> <li>global by default </li> </ul> <p>It’s a completely different model.</p> <h2> Still early, but promising </h2> <p>I’m not saying this replaces everything.</p> <p>But for global SaaS / AI tools / web products, it solves a real problem.</p> <p>Less friction.<br><br> Fewer failures.<br><br> More predictable revenue.</p> <h2> Curious what others are doing </h2> <p>If you're building a SaaS:</p> <p>👉 how are you handling recurring payments?</p> <ul> <li>Stripe?</li> <li>custom billing?</li> <li>crypto?</li> </ul> <h2> More context </h2> <p>I wrote a deeper breakdown here if you’re curious:</p> <p><a href="https://www.recurcrypto.com/crypto-recurring-payments" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.recurcrypto.com/crypto-recurring-payments</a></p>