Is Accepting Crypto Payments a Good Idea?

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Since the inception of the first cryptocurrency in 2008, portfolio diversification and investment opportunities have expanded rapidly. As a financial asset and medium of exchange, cryptocurrency is quickly shaping how the world executes financial transactions and activities. Today, countries like El Salvador and the Central African Republic have adopted cryptocurrency as a legal tender. Additionally, more businesses now accept crypto coins for payment processing. But is accepting crypto payments a good idea for your business? Here is what you need to know.

How Do Crypto Payments Work?

Unlike over a decade ago, when crypto payments involved the programming of transactions, payment processing using crypto coins is much easier and simpler today. In its most functionality, a crypto payment would involve transferring cryptocurrency from the user’s wallet to that of your business. Essentially, that would require clients to copy your public address into their digital wallets to transfer the currency into your wallet. However, this procedure is not only complex, but it is prone to errors and difficulties that are too sophisticated to handle across a blockchain network.

The complexity of manual crypto payments has resulted in the innovation of crypto payment gateways. These are payment processors designed to accept fiat currencies and crypto coins over an exchange. Such gateways allow customers to initiate payment transactions using cryptocurrencies, which are then converted and deposited into your business in your currency of choice.

What to Consider Before You Start

Before you operationalize your business transactions with crypto payments, here are factors you might want to consider;

Types of Cryptocurrencies to Accept

There are over 19,000 cryptocurrencies in circulation today. However, payment gateways and merchant accounts only support a few of them. For instance, you can only receive payments processed in Bitcoin using a Bitcoin merchant account. However, if you are to accept other digital currencies, such as Solana or Cardano, you might want to search for a service supporting such coins.

Crypto Convertibility

The value of cryptocurrencies is subject to high volatility in very short timeframes. Receiving and holding a crypto asset means that you may lose money within a short duration should the currency’s value drop drastically. Therefore, the crypto payment service you choose should allow you to convert crypto into cash quickly and efficiently.

Operational Issues Involved

Sourcing high-risk merchant accounts for crypto payments is good for minimizing transaction costs. However, you may have to evaluate many of your business operations to fully adopt crypto payments. These include customer inquiries, complaints systems, refund processes, and staff training. Also, is your business able and ready to integrate your current financial systems with crypto payment services?

Risks Involved

Crypto payment gateways are categorized as high-risk merchant accounts by financial institutions. High-risk merchant accounts are payment accounts offered to merchants with high-risk appetites. Financial institutions take on a huge risk to allow a business to accept crypto payments.

Benefits of Accepting Crypto Payments

Individuals and businesses adopting crypto payments find digital coins appealing for various reasons. From convenience and speed to cost efficiency and security, payment processing using cryptocurrencies create great leverage for any profit-focused business. Here are the key benefits of accepting crypto payments in your business.

Lower Processing Fees

Traditional payment processors will charge you a transaction fee as a specified percentage of the amount involved, which increases with the size transacted. However, in the case of crypto payments, the fee charged to complete a transaction rarely exceeds 1%, regardless of the payment volume. As an exception, the fees only increase if high-risk merchants are involved as third parties in handling transactional flow and monitoring.

Enlarged Customer Base

Recent studies indicate that digitally-enhanced businesses integrated with crypto payments have expanded revenue streams. The idea is that individuals will go for businesses accepting the type of crypto coins they own. Interestingly, such clients tend to spend more than traditional credit card users.

Fast and Easy Payments

Most payment methods require hours to several days to settle a single transaction. Fortunately, with crypto payments, transactions are completed in minutes, if not seconds, depending on the digital currency used. You can set up a Bitcoin merchant account or any other profitable crypto for your business to enjoy fast and easy payments.

No Chargeback Frauds

Traditional payment channels, such as credit cards, are known for fraudulent chargebacks. The lack of mechanisms to verify payment-related disputes can create an unrecoverable financial burden on your business. Fortunately, crypto payments do not support reversals, relieving business owners from the risk of chargebacks.

Crypto Wallet Vs. Crypto Payment Gateways

As a matter of principle, crypto wallets and payment gateways are designed to receive cryptocurrencies. However, the procedures and applicability of both entities differ significantly. On the one hand, a crypto wallet is a digital location, offline or online, where cryptocurrencies are stored. Crypto wallets can either be hardware or software, depending on the wallet’s purpose.

On the other hand, payment gateways are processors designed to receive crypto payments from other users, with the capacity to convert the coins into fiat currencies of one’s choice. For example, a Bitcoin Merchant account allows businesses to accept bitcoin as a medium of exchange. Most crypto payment gateways are issued by high-risk merchants. This is because cryptocurrencies are considered high risk by a majority of financial institutions.

Conclusion

As the world embraces blockchain technology and digital currencies, it is obvious that businesses with crypto expertise will be at a competitive edge. Whether it is a Bitcoin merchant account or direct payment setup, accepting crypto payments is definitely a timely and profitable idea. Bitcoin owners will likely trade more in an enterprise integrated with a Bitcoin merchant account. This is true for all the other cryptocurrencies.

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