Elon Musk recently announced via Twitter that Tesla will now be accepting bitcoins as payment and will not be converting any of these bitcoins into fiat.
If you were to ask the average business owner what types of payments their business accepted, you would probably hear about cash, debit cards, credit cards, or some sort of virtual wallets such as PayPal or Monzo. What you might not hear about, however, is the use of some sort of cryptocurrency payment gateway.
Cryptocurrencies are a type of decentralised currency that has become rather popular in the last few years, especially bitcoin. A handful of businesses now accept crypto payments for goods and services but many do not. However, any forward-thinking business would do well to set up such payment structures for themselves.
Why do businesses shy away from crypto payments?
Cryptocurrency has become wildly popular, with bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, having its value skyrocket in the first few weeks of 2021 and being bought by companies like Tesla. Despite all of this, it is not overly common for businesses to accept bitcoin payments for their products and services, but why?
For many, there are concerns about setting up the payment infrastructure to accept cryptocurrency. Business owners are usually aware of how to set up debit cards and PayPal payments on their websites, but no idea how to set up bitcoin payment options. This is because bitcoin and other cryptos are stored in a different way than fiat currency and many do not know where to start.
Additionally, some are concerned about accepting bitcoin as payment because of possible price fluctuation during the time that the good or service is sold and when the payment itself is collected. While all these issues are valid, there are many reasons why any business should embrace crypto payments.
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Why are they the future?
Despite whatever challenges might be involved, it would be a good idea for a business to accept bitcoin. First, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are very popular at the moment and more people are turning to them for payment. Not accepting bitcoin and other cryptos means shutting yourself out from a large potential market, and one that is very tech-forward.
As time goes on, not having a bitcoin payment gateway will be as odd as not having an option for virtual payment and will be an indicator of a business being outdated and this can turn away customers. Additionally, enabling crypto payments ahead of time will allow a business to stay ahead of the curve and secure a larger share of the market.
As a business owner, you might be concerned about how to accept bitcoin as payment with ease. An initial assumption might be that you need coding or blockchain experience in order to set up crypto payments for your business but this is untrue.
Businesses such as CoinGate allow for the setting up of crypto payment portals on any business website and allow for the seamless integration of such payment models for businesses. When a custom opts to pay for a good or service with a merchant that uses CoinGate, they are taken to a checkout page where they select what cryptocurrency they wish to pay in. For example, if it is a business where Bitcoin is accepted, it will appear on the page.
Once the payment is made, the proceeds are transferred to the merchant in either fiat currency or crypto depending on their preferences. This offers flexibility for businesses that would rather have their funds in traditional currency and those that favour crypto.
How does this benefit cryptocurrencies?
You might wonder who accepts bitcoin and if there is any benefit to doing so. Thanks to innovation from companies such as PayPal, businesses such as AT&T and even KFC in certain territories have successfully integrated cryptocurrency into their payment structure.
Cryptocurrency payments are irreversible and this reduces the instances of fraudulent transactions such as customers seeking credit card chargebacks after receiving their products. They also ensure a greater level of privacy for both the sender and the receiver due to the fact that cryptocurrency is built on distributed ledger technology.
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Finally, your business might want to allow cryptocurrency payments as a way to stock up on cryptocurrency ahead of time. Many cryptos have appreciated in value over time such as bitcoin that exceeded US$50,000 in value per token in 2021 after being worth just a few dollars years before.
Allowing crypto payments could allow your business is potentially double or triple the money received overtime should you choose to hold on to the tokens. Whatever reason you choose to allow crypto payments for, it is clear that they are the future of business and here to stay.
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