Cryptocurrency isn’t going away anytime soon.
With more providers of goods and services accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies now than ever before, businesses just like yours, need to be thinking about what you need in order to accept it as a payment type.
Not only are large companies jumping on, but entire countries such as El Salvador are adopting cryptocurrencies to allow citizens to pay their taxes and other government services, essentially making it the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender.
First, a brief introduction of Bitcoin is needed.
Bitcoin is the first ever cryptocurrency made by someone called Satoshi Nakamoto back in 2008.
Bitcoin is just one of cryptocurrency. Consider is a just another form of payment that can be used to pay for any kind of good or service.
Bitcoin is by far the most popular form of cryptocurrency as a form of payment, using digital files instead of fiat or tangible money. (Fiat money is currency that’s centralized or “controlled” by a government while cryptocurrency is not) A Cryptocurrencies use what’s known as “decentralized” control, rather than “centralized” control.
How your business can accept it and use it.
To get started, you will first need a bitcoin wallet, which allows you to buy, store, and sell the cryptocurrency.
Accepting cryptocurrency is done through an app where you need to display a QR code that connects to your wallet, which the other person would scan to transfer Bitcoins to your account. You would not owe a fee for accepting cryptocurrency payments, though some wallets charge a fee for spending.
Bitcoin wallets come with private keys. These are a secret number that allows the holder to access their crypto. You can also get a “hardware wallet,” which requires you to either write down your keys or keep them on a hard drive or in the cloud. Once accepted, you can convert your bitcoin to cash or use it in other ways.
Now you’re ready to turn your bitcoin into cash, but how?
So you own bitcoin, and you’re ready to turn it into cash. But how and do you have to?
Luckily, now that bitcoin (BTC) has been around for over 10 years, the industry has caught up, providing several great options for converting bitcoins into cash.
The idea that bitcoin will eventually replace fiat currencies is the reason many are investing in it. The theory is that one day you will be able to use bitcoin for any type of purchase, replacing even the U.S. dollar for purchases.
For now, there are still relatively few businesses that accept payment in bitcoin. That is one reason you may want to convert your bitcoin to cash—to use the value of your bitcoin to buy actual things.
Another reason to convert your bitcoin to cash is because of market decline. If you think the price of bitcoin is going to keep sinking and you want to protect yourself from losses, it makes sense to convert bitcoin to cash while you wait for the bitcoin price to recover.
There are several ways to convert bitcoin to cash and into your bank account:
- Sell bitcoin on a cryptocurrency exchange, such as Coinbase or Kraken. This is the easiest method if you want to sell bitcoin and withdraw the resulting cash directly to a bank account. This is also the most secure.
- Sign up and complete the verification process then deposit into your account.
- Cash-out your BTC to fiat via bank transfer.
- Bank Transfer: You can ask the buyer to send you a bank transfer payment from their bitcoin account to your financial institution – also secure.
- Bitcoin ATM’s and Bitcoin Debit Cards.
How to accept bitcoin safely and securely.
As bitcoin’s value has steadily increased, so too have cyberattacks on cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets.
There are several elements that secure bitcoin from theft.
Cryptocurrency wallets are still among the best ways to secure bitcoin. These wallets should be installed on secure cloud environment or hardware wallet. This environment should be monitored and secure, with today’s latest security protocols added for extra measure. Cooperative Systems has both – we own our data center, which no other IT firm in the new England area has.
Regular backups of your bitcoin wallet is critical to protecting against theft and human error. Wallets should only be stored in the most secure facilities or offline in a cold storage service.
The relationship between technology and cryptocurrency infrastructure is a tricky one. It doesn’t have to be. We have a clear, proven process that will handle all your technology needs so you can leverage IT to drive your business and avoid the pain of typical technology infrastructure issues.