As BTC becomes more mainstream, we will see more businesses opening their doors to cryptocurrency payments. Whether you choose to accept crypto or not is up to you. However, you must at least know the basics of crypto payments and what they could do to your business. One of the most common questions business owners ask is, “How do I receive crypto payments?” Let’s try to clear the basics and answer this question in this blog.
Advantages of crypto as a payment
#1 Tap into a new crowd
If your target audience is likely to be crypto users, why not integrate a payment method they are familiar with? In addition, passionate crypto users tend to be supportive of crypto businesses. Therefore, providing crypto payments is not only a reliable way to strengthen your presence among your existing user base, but it also helps you tap into new users.
#2 Boosts your image
If you accept crypto payments, then you will look like a very hip and innovative brand – which could be important for your business.
#3 Cross-border payments
Is your business dependent on global sales? If yes, then accepting crypto payments could make transactions significantly cheaper and more efficient.
Drawbacks of crypto as a payment
#1 Regulatory Uncertainty
The biggest problem with receiving crypto payments is the regulatory uncertainty in certain countries. Regulatory sanctions may prevent you from legally taking payments for your services.
#2 Volatility
Of course, the biggest problem with accepting crypto payments is its sheer volatility. As a business owner, it doesn’t make sense for you to accept crypto if its value depreciates randomly in a few days. However, you can circumvent this by instantly converting your crypto to fiat.
So, how do I receive crypto payments?
Sending and receiving crypto payments is actually very straightforward. You first need to get a crypto wallet – a digital entity that stores your private key and public address. The public address is like your bank account. You can receive crypto payments from anyone if they send the coins to your public address. To access your coins, you will need your private key, which is like your ATM pin.
There is one thing that you need to keep in mind here.
You can only receive a coin when you use the coin-specific address. For example, you can’t use an Ethereum address to receive BTC, and vice-versa.
How do I receive crypto payments as a business?
If you are open to accepting crypto payments, then you will need to deploy a crypto payment processor like SmartPay. SmartPay allows you to invoice your customers and let them pay with crypto during their checkout process. SmartPay then uses its tech to convert the crypto to fiat automatically and shield you from volatility risks.
In a nutshell, here are all the benefits of SmartPay:
- Accept crypto payments: Let’s start with the most obvious benefit. Accept crypto payments from your customers. Save up to 2.5% compared to credit card payments. SmartPay accepts the following crypto and fiat currencies: BTC, ETH, USDC, USDT, SOL, DOGE, LTC, CAD, USD, EUR, and AUD.
- Faster payments: Stop waiting for your funds to clear and get cash wired to your bank account instantly.
- 0 chargebacks: Chargebacks are impossible in crypto payments
- Backed by CoinSmart: SmartPay is backed by CoinSmart – a fully compliant crypto trading platform.
Should I accept crypto payments for my business?
It is difficult for us to answer this question since you have to decide what is best for your business. For example, if most of your clientele is >60 years old and prefers paying with cash, crypto payments may not be the best option for you.
However, here are some numbers to keep in mind about crypto payments that may help you in your decision-making. These numbers have been taken from a report titled “Paying With Cryptocurrency.”
- 82% of the merchants who accept crypto payments said the main reason was to eliminate middlemen.
- 77% of the surveyed merchants are also drawn to accepting crypto because of lower transaction fees. As per the report, crypto transaction fees are much lower than other payment options like credit cards.
However, there was one negative in the report.
68% of the merchants who don’t accept crypto said that this is because of the barriers to entry and the challenges they face in implementing disruptive tech like crypto.
Fixing the barriers to entry in receiving crypto payments
Let’s explore that last point because that has perennially been an issue with crypto adoption. For folks unfamiliar with crypto, crypto can be quite scary. SmartPay abstracts away all these complexities with a simple plug-and-play approach. Do you want to know more? Click here,
