Should your company accept payments with cryptocurrencies?

Bitcoin, in its 10-year history, has evolved in many ways. During this period, people have started looking for creative ways to use bitcoin for more than just investment opportunities.

People use the buying and selling of bitcoins in order to have a stable income, preserve their wealth and send remittances (despite the fluctuation in the value of bitcoin). One of the most outstanding real practical cases offered by bitcoin is that making payments is much easier, especially in the case of sending money abroad. It is also very useful for electronic commerce, as entrepreneurs are beginning to accept bitcoin as a form of payment for their goods and services. Having a bitcoin wallet is like having a financial passport, since it allows those who cannot access them to enjoy banking services.

The cryptocurrencies that have appeared after bitcoin (a long list of over 2000) are also following in their wake of making payments much easier. And today more and more entrepreneurs are beginning to accept these new and exciting forms of payment. The question is, should you start accepting cryptocurrencies too?

The pros of cryptocurrencies in your company

Accepting cryptocurrencies to start online as a form of payment for your goods and services has many advantages, but also a series of disadvantages. First of all, let's go with the advantages.

1. Security

Most of the cryptocurrencies in circulation are very safe. Let's take bitcoin for example: bitcoin transactions are some of the safest in the world. Each transaction is verified by miners and then recorded in a public ledger that everyone can see. This public ledger cannot be sabotaged either, as various highly complex cryptographic hashes protect it from tampering or intrusion.

2. Expand your reach

As mentioned above, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies help tremendously when sending payments abroad. Traditional banking systems and money transfer operators tend to be more expensive, take longer, and are more difficult to find if you reside in an underdeveloped country. Additional fees and long wait times could discourage people from making purchases at a store like yours. If they find that they can pay with less commissions and at a faster rate, it could lead them to buy more goods and services.

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As you can send cryptocurrencies practically at any time and place, your market will be much larger since it can cover many different countries (and with different time zones). Barriers between countries can be broken down and, therefore, your market will expand.

3. Lower commissions

Cryptocurrency transactions avoid many of the fees incurred by most traditional forms of payment. Traditional payments carry numerous fees that often put a burden on consumers. Cryptocurrency transactions incur few or no commissions and are an extremely viable option for companies, especially those that operate mainly over the Internet.

4. Public relations

Accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment for your goods and services is a good way to generate awareness of your brand. If you start accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, you can use this fact as a milestone or reference in your company, and you could even create a whole marketing campaign around it. This is a new kind of marketing aimed at a new generation of customers: crypto enthusiasts like us who are eager to use them for more than just investing.

Allowing cryptocurrencies as a form of payment can also be positive for your brand. If you have the right product or service, and it can also be purchased with bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, it could be a perfect match. For example, if you are a technology company, accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment would be a way to show that your company is very modern and has a vision of the future. It could be an excellent sales pitch for your company, as it would serve to demonstrate your willingness to adapt to the times. Even if you're not in the tech industry, anything could make a great sales pitch if marketing is approached in the right way.

The cons of cryptocurrencies in the company

Despite the advantages mentioned above, cryptocurrencies as a form of payment also carry a number of disadvantages:

1. Price

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are known for their fluctuations in price. If you start accepting bitcoin as a form of payment and then its value drops that same day, you will incur a loss.

Since you cannot eliminate the volatility of cryptocurrencies, there are other things that can be done to counter this disadvantage. An example is the use of peer exchange platforms. If you invest continuously, the price of the currency does not matter. Let's say you just accepted 1 BTC for a certain service.

By receiving BTC in your bitcoin wallet, you can immediately trade with it on Paxful (one of the largest peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange platforms) to exchange it. In peer-to-peer exchange platforms, there are hundreds of payment methods available, so it will be up to you to decide why you want to exchange it. You can exchange it for money online through PayPal, by a bank transfer or even by a discount card.

When it comes to volatility, being well informed is essential. Make sure to keep up to date with cryptocurrency prices and events, because it will save you money.

2. Complexity

Not everyone is well versed in how cryptocurrency transactions work. For some, it can be a bit intimidating, so you should first educate your clients on how to do them. As an entrepreneur, you need to make sure that each of your clients understands how to make these transactions come to fruition. That implies a lot of study and advice on your part.

3. Regulatory uncertainty

Despite being 10 years old now, some governments remain unsure how to regulate bitcoin. If bitcoin continues to have this consideration, imagine what will happen to the other cryptocurrencies that have come after. Bitcoin is still, so to speak, in kindergarten. In this case, entrepreneurs will need to have flexibility when governments start regulating cryptocurrencies.

Knowledge of your priorities

Now that you know the advantages and disadvantages of accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, you can clearly assess the need for them. Ultimately, it all depends on what kind of business you have and what your priorities are. In most cases, accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment shouldn't be a make-it-or-leave-it-decision for businesses. If you have more pressing matters to attend to, take care of them first. You should only think about accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment if the rest of the affairs in your company are properly in order. This should be seen as a way to expand or improve your business, not to fix a problem.

If you decide to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, do not forget to study this topic well before. Don't make hasty decisions, because when it comes to cryptocurrencies, knowledge is power. Although buying and selling bitcoins is something new and exciting, rash decisions could lead to losses for you and your company. Always be extremely cautious because it is a complicated industry, although then it becomes very interesting once you get the hang of it.