People who are interested in cryptocurrency know that there are three different ways to get your hands on crypto: you can mine for it, buy it with traditional currencies, or get paid in cryptocurrency. For businesses, this means a decision on whether they want to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment or whether they would rather stick to traditional currencies like the dollar.
Some businesses, even massive companies like Tesla, have gone back and forth on whether they will take crypto as payment, most who do take crypto as payment are accepting the most popular currencies.
Bitcoin Remains Popular
Bitcoin has become the best-known of all the cryptocurrencies, and the fact that it was the first to truly succeed at a decentralized platform means that the currency is one that so many people are using today. Businesses need to accept it or risk losing custom in some scenarios.
Bitcoin has also become a sign of a forward-thinking business, and in the casino industry, we are seeing some of the casino brands with modern features like live dealers offering people modern ways to pay to suit their 21st-century lifestyles. Live casino games can be found on platforms that offer modern solutions for customers and are on top of modern trends such as live dealer games and the option to pay with modern currencies.
Crypto has the benefit of added security and anonymity which makes it the perfect match for gambling sites with live dealers, and it remains popular in other industries, too.
Bitcoin has 190 million users worldwide which goes to show the popularity this currency has, and though some people buy Bitcoin just to hold and hope the value increases, plenty of people like to use crypto in their daily lives.
There are many crypto analysts now who predict what may happen in the future of the currencies, and a whole investment industry surrounds these currencies with Bitcoin right at the center.
Accepting Crypto Directly
Businesses that want to accept cryptocurrency directly as a payment can do so via a crypto wallet that allows people to pay into it, so you could provide the details of this wallet on an invoice, for instance. Even small businesses can do this, they just need to make sure they use a safe and secure wallet.
The use of a certain type of crypto wallet can be a crucial decision to make, though. People should choose a wallet that accepts and handles the forms of cryptocurrency they want to take and use in their business on a day-to-day basis.
Businesses are perfectly allowed to have a cryptocurrency wallet, which can make things more straightforward for those who want to take payments in these decentralized currencies.
Accepting Crypto Through Third Parties
A subsidiary business that has cropped up off the back of crypto being so popular is that of crypto payment gateway providers, these act as the companies that process the payments on behalf of others. This means a business can sign a contract with a crypto payment gateway provider and they are then able to take crypto on their site through a simple gateway (a bit like when someone makes a credit card payment).
Another service that these crypto payment gateway providers may be able to help with is currency conversion, which means that there is an option for people who want to allow customers to pay in Bitcoin but want to receive flat currencies like the dollar. The way this works is to allow people to make a payment in their desired currency, upon which a conversion takes place, and the money gets deposited into the business account in the chosen currency (such as dollars).
BitPay is one example of a similar middleman service that lets people pay for their goods and services exactly how they want to, with businesses able to take payment how they wish, too. People often use BitPay for things like buying video games, and can even load up cards with their chosen currency to make payments using crypto.
Should Businesses Take Cryptocurrencies?
The argument for businesses taking cryptocurrencies is incredibly strong for a lot of reasons:
- Accepting more currencies gives customers flexibility to pay however they want, and proves that the business thinks about their convenience.
- Crypto has public ledgers and added security functions to help keep everyone involved in the transaction safe.
- Businesses can accept cryptocurrencies without having to hold crypto, if they want to get paid in dollars or other currencies they can simply use a third party who will process and exchange the currencies.
- Not accepting crypto risks isolating a huge basis of potential customers, with hundreds of millions of crypto users in the world today, it is the preferred method of payment by many and this means not accepting it could push certain customers away.