If you’ve ever integrated crypto payments into a real system, you probably remember the moment things “worked.” An invoice was created. A transaction was sent. Your webhook fired. The order was marked as paid. It felt simple. Until it wasn’t. A webhook arrives twice. Another one arrives late. One never arrives at all. A payment shows up on-chain, but your system doesn’t reflect it. Your database says “pending” while the customer insists they’ve already paid. At that point, most teams don’t question their webhook design. They question crypto itself. That’s usually the wrong conclusion. The Problem Isn’t Webhooks, It’s How We Treat Them Webhooks are often treated as a clean, reliable signal: “Payment received → update status → done.” That assumption works fine in controlled environments. It breaks quickly in real-world payment systems, especially with crypto.…