Building a Cloud-Native Payment Processing Platform: Architecture & Design Decisions

At Bluerails, we build global, API-driven, developer-first solutions for cloud-native payment processing. Today, we'll share insights into our PSP architecture, revealing design decisions and technical strategies that power seamless cross-border payments, diverse payment methods, and PCI compliance.

Understanding Payment Flows in Cloud-Native Payment Processing

To effectively design payment APIs and infrastructure, we must first understand payment methods:

• Card payments (PCI-compliant/non-PCI)

• Bank transfers

• Mobile wallets (e.g., M-PESA)

• Crypto payments

Card Payments (PCI-certified Merchants)

Bluerails’ card payment flow involves creating a PaymentIntent, tokenizing card details securely, handling 3D Secure challenges if necessary, and finalizing the transaction via webhooks.

[Diagram: Card Payment Flow - PCI Merchants] SEO-friendly caption: Bluerails' secure, token-based PCI-compliant card payment flow.

Card Payments (Non-PCI Merchants)

Merchants use Bluerails' secure iframe component for card data collection, ensuring PCI compliance with reduced merchant burden.

[Diagram: Card Payment Flow - Non-PCI Merchants] SEO-friendly caption: Bluerails’ iframe integration for non-PCI merchants.

Bank Transfer Payments

Bank transfers involve asynchronous processing. Payment intents generate unique reference numbers, matching incoming bank transfers automatically.

[Diagram: Bank Transfer Flow] SEO-friendly caption: Automated bank transfer payment matching via unique references.

Mobile Wallet Payments (e.g., M-PESA)

Mobile wallets like M-PESA involve mobile push notifications, with real-time PIN authentication directly on the customer's device.

[Diagram: Mobile Wallet Payment Flow] SEO-friendly caption: Real-time mobile wallet payments powered by Bluerails.

Crypto Payments

Crypto payments involve generating unique deposit addresses, monitoring blockchain confirmations, and asynchronous payment status updates.

[Diagram: Crypto Payment Flow] SEO-friendly caption: Seamless crypto transactions via unique deposit addresses and blockchain monitoring.

Designing Scalable Payment APIs

Bluerails follows a standardized PaymentIntent lifecycle:

• initiated, processing, requires_action, expired, captured, canceled, failed

The PaymentIntent API is extensible, supporting new methods easily without major changes.

Example PaymentIntent Object:

{ "id": "pi_123abc", "amount": 2000, "currency": "usd", "status": "succeeded", "payment_method": "card", "metadata": {} }

Cloud-Native PSP Architecture Overview

Bluerails' infrastructure emphasizes reliability, scalability, and PCI compliance. Our AWS-based cloud-native setup involves multiple VPCs, containerized services, and clear separation of PCI and non-PCI components.

High-Level Architecture

[Diagram: Bluerails PSP Architecture] SEO-friendly caption: Bluerails' scalable, cloud-native payment platform architecture.

PCI Compliance in Payments

Card processing services are isolated within dedicated PCI VPCs:

• Tokenizer Service

• Card Processing Service

This isolation ensures robust PCI compliance, minimizing exposure.

Infrastructure & Networking

Bluerails' scalable infrastructure features:

• AWS ECS for container orchestration

• Multi-AZ deployments for high availability

• VPC peering, private subnets, and Cloudflare edge protection

Data Management & Disaster Recovery

Our primary databases use PostgreSQL (AWS RDS) with:

• Multi-AZ redundancy

• Cross-region replication

• Automated backups and recovery options

[Diagram: Data Infrastructure & Disaster Recovery] SEO-friendly caption: Robust multi-region data redundancy for continuous reliability.

Extensible Payment Method Integrations

Bluerails connectors provide:

• Independent provider integrations

• Standardized interfaces

• Easy scalability and extensibility

This facilitates effortless addition of new payment methods like ACH, UPI, and BNPL.

Extended Platform Capabilities

Bluerails supports additional functions on top of its scalable infrastructure:

• Merchant onboarding and KYC

• Automated merchant settlements

• Real-time analytics

[Diagram: Merchant Onboarding Workflow] SEO-friendly caption: Automated merchant onboarding with built-in KYC compliance.

FAQ

How do I build a cloud-native PSP?

Build using microservices, API-driven architecture, robust infrastructure management (AWS), and adhere strictly to PCI compliance.

What is PCI compliance in payments?

PCI compliance involves adhering to standards for handling card data securely, including network isolation, tokenization, and rigorous audits.

How do I add new payment methods to a payment platform?

Implement new payment methods via standardized connectors, ensuring integration with existing payment APIs without core changes.

Partner with Bluerails

Are you an engineer, product manager, or founder building a payment platform? Contact us at wassily@bluerails.com to learn how Bluerails can support your scalable, secure, cloud-native payment processing needs.