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A payment (pay_*) moves money from your wallet to another party. Natural picks the route: a direct payment when the recipient is already on Natural, or a payment claim when they aren’t. Either way, the recipient can withdraw the funds to their bank account via ACH. Payment requests are the inverse: they bring money in. Create one with POST /payments. See Send a payment and Track a payment.

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Lifecycle

A healthy payment moves CREATED to PROCESSING to COMPLETED. It can pause at PENDING_CLAIM while it waits for a new recipient to claim the funds, or at IN_REVIEW during a compliance hold. It ends at FAILED, RETURNED, APPROVAL_DENIED, or CANCELED.

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Direct payment

Send a payment by naming the recipient with their email, phone number, handle, or party or agent ID. If that party is already on Natural, the money moves straight from the sender’s wallet to theirs. If not, Natural sends a payment claim instead.

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Payment claims

When the recipient isn’t on Natural yet, Natural emails or texts them a claim link. They onboard, then claim the funds. Before they can withdraw, they must pass KYB/KYC under Natural’s compliance program. A claim link stays valid until the recipient redeems it, the sender cancels the payment, or the payment ends in FAILED or APPROVAL_DENIED.

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Canceling a payment

Only a payment in PENDING_CLAIM can be canceled. Until the recipient starts claiming, canceling voids the claim link and the money stays in your wallet, the real-world equivalent of voiding a check nobody has cashed yet. It’s also how you handle a stale claim: cancel the payment and reissue it. A payment held at IN_REVIEW resolves through Approvals instead. The window closes the moment the recipient begins claiming; after that, the funds are theirs to collect. A direct payment can’t be canceled at all: the money lands in the recipient’s wallet the moment you send it, so there’s nothing in flight to take back.

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Best practices

Always give a full recipient identifier (email, phone number, handle, or party or agent ID) so Natural can route the payment. Specify amounts as integer cents (e.g. 12345 for $123.45). Amounts are in USD.
Write clear descriptions so recipients know who paid them and why. Include the invoice number and what it covers (e.g., “Invoice #12345 - Raw materials for Q1 2026”). These show up in the email and SMS copies and in the dashboard, and good detail also helps Natural detect anomalous transactions. Descriptions are at most 80 characters.
If a recipient hasn’t redeemed a claim, follow up with them or work with your customer on whether to reissue the payment with a fresh claim link.