9 Reasons Why Your Business Should Accept Bitcoin

As of 2022, thousands, if not millions, of businesses accept bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments for their products and services due to its ease of use, speed of transactions, and ability to conduct commerce without relying on risky third-party intermediaries like banks or custodial payment processors. So why should your business be an exception?

It’s no secret: accepting bitcoin in your store can be a challenging decision due to price volatility, accounting issues, as well as local laws, lack of education, and related problems.

Nevertheless, choosing to accept bitcoin payments also comes with a plethora of benefits. This guide lists ten reasons why your business should accept bitcoin for payments. Let's dive into them.

1. Reducing transaction costs and speed

Credit card fees usually run around 2-3% per transaction, typically covered by the merchant. Bitcoin fees depend not on transaction size but on how quickly you want your transaction to be processed. Senders compete by paying more money to the miners to get their transactions processed on a best-effort basis.

At the time of writing, the median bitcoin on-chain transaction fee fluctuates from a few cents to a few dollars during busy times. The transaction can also take up to 10-30 minutes to confirm, based on how much fees you choose to pay.

If the fees of the Bitcoin network are too high for you, or you want to transact in smaller amounts, you can also consider setting up a Lightning Network wallet, which lets you send and receive Bitcoin transactions instantly and for a fraction of a cent!

A Lightning Network-based bitcoin payments system has already been successfully integrated into the economy of El Salvador and is gaining popularity on the web and elsewhere in the world.

The simplest way to get started with accepting Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network is to install a custodial Wallet of Satoshi on your Android or iOS phone. For more advanced merchant operations, it is recommended to dedicate some time and learn how to set up a non-custodial BTCPay Server.

2. Safety from fiat exchange rate risk

Bitcoin is volatile but many merchants who accept it bypass volatility by setting prices in their local currency and converting bitcoin into their currency of choice once the payment is complete. Bitcoin itself acts only as the medium through which the transaction takes place.

Here, a third-party-based bitcoin payment processor service with existing point-of-sale integration does all the work. Companies like BitPay, CoinGate, Coinbase Commerce, or Circle can even deposit the money in your bank account in your preferred currency once payment is complete. This helps reduce the bitcoin exchange rate risks, but these companies charge for their services by adding an extra percentage or two to the total transaction fees.

See our other guide on how to integrate Bitcoin payments into your business for more information.

3. International sales

Bitcoin transactions allow you to expand your client base wherever you can deliver your goods or services. The only limitation is where you’re willing to ship. Since you're skipping the most painful part of doing international business - banks - altogether, you don't have to wait three days for the transaction to clear. Transfer limits, ludicrous waiting times, capital controls, unwanted questions, and outrageous fees are a thing of the past.

4. No chargebacks

Every merchant knows fraudulent chargebacks can be quite a headache in traditional finance. Dealing with them takes a considerable amount of time and energy that could be spent on growing your business and improving your service.

Fortunately, once confirmed, bitcoin transactions are completely irreversible, so you skip this issue altogether. Whether the customers' claim has any merit is entirely up to you.

5. Ease of use

Using Bitcoin is relatively simple and only gets easier with time. Even so, there is no need to understand its technology to accept bitcoin payments - nobody requires you to know how backing (or lack thereof) works for fiat currencies, too. 

You need basic network knowledge, but it’s easy to come by nowadays. The only area that might need more attention is how to secure your bitcoin wallets and their backups.

6. Positive publicity

Bitcoin adoption still has a long way to go. Being the first business to accept bitcoin can earn you headlines in local news portals, and it might be beneficial to submit your website to communities like:

• Spendbitcoins.com
• Coinmap.org
• map.bitcoin.com
• Bitcoinmap.cash
• Wallet of Satoshi's Bitcoin Map

Doing so will likely gain you more customers and local exposure, as many bitcoin enthusiasts are eager to support fellow bitcoin users.

7. Forward-thinking brand identity

Suppose you’re a “cutting-edge” brand or have established yourself as a “thought leader” and “early adopter” of trendy and up-and-coming things. In that case, adopting bitcoin as a payment method sends a clear statement to your audience.

Bitcoin is a universally public, transparent, empowering, and inclusive technology designed to be impossible to corrupt and discriminate against its users. Supporting bitcoin and promoting its use is a great way to demonstrate solidarity with the world's activists, underbanked people, and other honest and hardworking individuals who are tired of the drama, infighting, and neverending corruption that leads to gross mismanagement of central bank money and markets.

One of the best examples of early Bitcoin adoption is Canadian restaurant chain Tahini's, whose owner has become an ardent Bitcoin supporter on Twitter and converted the restaurant's balance sheet into bitcoin. This, in turn, has successfully boosted its brand awareness and opened new business opportunities, including expansion of the restaurant chain.

8. Immutable savings

Bitcoin is designed to be the most durable and secure computer network on the planet. By getting your business on the bitcoin standard, you are also adopting its immutable monetary policy and energy-based network assurances.

Most Bitcoin advocates argue that this makes bitcoin an ideal long-term savings vehicle for both individuals and businesses. While there are no guarantees for BTC's future price performance, a stable supply of currency combined with growing utility and demand for bitcoin has successfully boosted bitcoin's price so far and might continue to do in the future.

9. Deep security

Most digital savings and payment options often involve a third party. When you have money in your bank account, it is the bank that has an ultimate say on your money, despite your hard-earned money being entirely yours. If they deem it necessary, they can freeze your accounts and render you moneyless.

This can result in significant losses for businesses, including numerous inconveniences like delayed orders and related repercussions. 

Bitcoin is decentralized, and this means only the buyer and seller are involved in transactions, and you can take full custody of your funds and payments infrastructure.

Continue learning about cryptocurrency by reading our Bitcoin guides. For more information about how to use Bitcoin in your store or which businesses have already integrated Bitcoin as one of their payment options.