How Can You Start Accepting Cryptocurrencies for Your Business?

If you’re a start-up owner or a businessman who is an early adopter of the latest emerging trends, you may have considered accepting cryptocurrencies for your business. This could open a new revenue stream for a small business, help reach new customers, and embrace the latest technologies for better business. For many owners, the volatility of cryptocurrencies is one of the major challenges to acceptance. If you’re a risk-averse business owner, there are ways in which you can minimize the impact of the volatility and make sure you earn profits when you start accepting cryptocurrencies. However, remember to be prepared to adapt and embrace the periodic changes of cryptocurrency in the future.

Should Your Business Accept Cryptocurrencies?

According to experts, cryptocurrencies enable borderless, cheap, and almost instantaneous transactions. As a result, the decentralized cryptocurrency marketplace is now becoming a global service for many exchanges. Plus, with traditional money, large payments may take a really long time to clear, causing businesses a lot of wait time. With cryptocurrencies, the faster clearing time is one of the best-selling advantages for business owners. Cryptocurrencies also doesn’t get affected by foreign exchange rate so if you have a global business, this can be a great opportunity. The universally recognized digital currency can change the way you conduct business and make you more tech-savvy for your customers, employees, and the future.

Benefits of Accepting Cryptocurrencies

1. Attract New Customers

Research says that 39% of people would like the addition of Bitcoin as a payment method for many of their purchases. If you’re a small or medium business, this can be a great time to expand your horizons and add crypto-based payments to your list of accepted modes.

2. Lower Your Transaction Fees

Paying transaction fees can lead to a dent in your profits and especially after the pandemic. Businesses can eliminate their transaction costs with cryptocurrencies as it is decentralized and has no regulatory authority.

3. Minimize Fraud & Chargeback

Digital payments work on the foundation of security. Cryptocurrency is backed by blockchain technology wherein a transaction cannot be reversed or overridden. Also, it doesn’t offer debt or loan like traditional financial institutions. So, you can’t really spend what you don’t have. As a result, companies can prevent both, fraud and chargebacks.

4. Expand Your Business Globally

With the internet, it’s now possible to reach out to customers all around the world. If payment support was holding back your business, you can consider cryptocurrencies to attract international customers. There are no losses due to exchange rates, no waiting time, or any obstacles of cash flow.

5. Increase Your Brand Equity

There’s a wide community of customers who want to support businesses accepting cryptocurrencies. Plus, when you announce that you are now open to cryptocurrency payments, you also distinguish yourself from the competition.

I’m Ready for Cryptocurrency Payments. How Do I Start?

Now that you’ve heard all the benefits, it’s time to get down to business!

Step 1

The first step is to get a cryptocurrency wallet to store them safely. The most trusted and secure wallet to opt for is the hardware wallet because it keeps your coins safe from potential hacks and is also super simple and convenient to use.

You can also use a payment processor if your sales process is complicated for direct payments into your wallet. Many payment processors also give you the feature to convert your crypto assets into fiat currency instantly.

You can also use apps on a phone or a tablet which will generate a QR code for smoother payments. If you’re planning to stick to Bitcoin payments, you can use Bitcoin-specific payment terminals (hardware terminals — POS) or APIs that can be integrated into your existing point of sale terminals.

Step 2

Once you’re ready for cryptocurrency payments, it’s time to advertise it to your customers. If you have an online store, you can create a button for ‘Cryptocurrency Accepted Here’ right where you have payment options like PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, and more. Make sure you get a trusted programmer to do this task so that you ensure safe and secure online payments.

In a brick-and-mortar store, you should put up posters or stickers about your cryptocurrency payment acceptance for maximum visibility.

Step 3

Since cryptocurrencies are decentralized, they aren’t treated as money in a bank but you still need to meet the IRS requirements for legal and tax implications. IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, like stock or bond. It is like any trading security which you can sell for a profit, but you must report the gains or losses every time you sell or receive cryptocurrencies.

You can reach out to your accountant to learn all about bookkeeping and records related to Bitcoin and crypto assets. There are many specialized firms that work with businesses who deal with cryptocurrencies.

Moving Forward to a Tech-Savvy Future

As an entrepreneur or small business owner, it’s natural to be overwhelmed with cryptocurrency payments in the beginning. But if you’re prepared to adapt and pivot around the changes in the future, your business can flourish extensively. Many countries are now standardizing the use of cryptocurrencies and as a business, you can leverage its benefits. Once you learn to overcome the technical challenges and mitigate the volatility issues, there’s a lot of potential in crypto assets.

If you’re ready to begin and need a smaller start, consider getting a hardware wallet and experiment with crypto payments on a small scale before you make it big. This will give you the confidence to grow and the security about your finances.

Hodllabs offers Vault-E, one of the most secure and simple hardware wallets for cryptocurrency payments. Check us at hodllabs.io