Business First Family Business, Accounting, Finance, Investing, Marketing And Management
If you’re a small business owner, you’ve probably heard about the cryptocurrency craze. Perhaps you’ve been approached by a customer in person or online, asking your business to accept this new digital form of currency. Getting ahead of the curve and accepting cryptocurrency now can also help you grow your business within a particular audience. Young, tech-savvy customers will appreciate the ability to pay for goods and services with their cryptocurrency holdings, which in turn may net you more repeat business from that customer demographic.
Mobile Wallets
For business owners that do business in person, a mobile wallet is often the best way to accept cryptocurrency funds from customers who want to buy using bitcoin. These wallets are no-cost solutions that allow you to take fee-free payments from your tech-savvy customers. Stop paying 3% credit card transaction fees by accepting bitcoin. Services like Coinbase, BitPay, and GoCoin can help you get started with your first mobile cryptocurrency wallet.
Point of Sale
For business owners who already maintain a store front, but still want to accept cryptocurrency without the hassle of a mobile device, a point of sale system is preferred. Many services offer a stand-alone terminal that doubles as PoS system that can be used by any of your staff. There is another PoS terminal solution that is mobile-based and accepts payments both online and in a physical location. It’s more suited to people who drive for ride-sharing services or farmer’s market attendees to collect payments from their customers.
Avoiding Fraud
Accepting cryptocurrency means you will need to school yourself on possible fraud scenarios that may arise. Educating yourself about the platform will help you better understand the risks and the benefits of accepting this new form of payment. Service providers offer online businesses a way to protect themselves from fraudulent transactions and chargebacks, and this includes protection with cryptocurrency transactions. It’s not necessary to understand the underlying process of how these transactions work, but you should be familiar with the technical terms a customer may use when referring to cryptocurrency.
Is Cryptocurrency Worth Accepting?
The short answer is yes. While cryptocurrency remains a volatile investment for investors and speculators, accepting the currency as payment with services that let you cash your what bitcoins you have out immediately. That means you can request a transfer of the funds immediately from your BTC wallet to your bank account and get the exact amount for the item that your customer paid for, without having to worry about cryptocurrency price fluctuations. Of course, you could hold the currency to ride out the price and see if it rises, but this is purely up to you as a small business owner.
Should My Business Accept Cryptocurrency?
Accepting cryptocurrency depends on the type of customer your business attracts and whether or not it would be beneficial to you to do so. If you are regularly approached by customers asking if you accept any cryptocurrency payment, it may be time to consider registering for a mobile wallet or a point of sale system.
The adoption of cryptocurrency was unthinkable a decade ago, and completely unknown a generation ago. These days you can use it going to Subway for lunch and even buying a car. The real estate industry has even seen the adoption of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Whether it’s getting and paying for a competitive home insurance quote or buying a home outright in Bitcoin, it is currently at the fringes of the industry and working its way inside. I wouldn’t say it has revolutionized the industry just yet, but it’s only a matter of time. After all, crypto transfers are incredibly less expensive than traditional bank and wire transfers. This is actually how they got their foothold in the market. The real estate and home lending industry is all about monetary transfers, so it only makes sense that they are next up on the list.
