Cryptocurrency, created over 10 years ago, is now disrupting the payment ecosystem. The bitcoin exchange rate hit an all-high of US$33,000 in February 2021. Crypto payment is becoming mainstream, and deciding to accept cryptocurrency is not as thorny as before; it has become as simple as adding a new payment option for your customers. There were concerns over the spending and receiving of cryptocurrencies over the years. However, things started taking a turn now that the world’s largest payment service provider, Paypal, is accepting cryptocurrencies. Visa and Mastercard have also announced their shift towards embracing cryptocurrency by allowing people to load credit cards with Bitcoin and then spend it at merchants’ stores.
In this article, we will deep dive into what you are missing out on if you are not accepting crypto payments!
1) New customers and more sales
According to Coindesk, Chainlysis estimated roughly US$4 billion in Bitcoin alone was sent through payment processors in 2019. And based on our research, there are over 215 million crypto owners worldwide as of 2020. These cryptocurrency owners are young, educated, and affluent. Of the 35,000 blockchain investors surveyed by BlockCard and Bitcoin Market Journal, 70% of the respondents have spent cryptocurrency in the past 12 months. Where 11% have spent cryptocurrency on food and 12% on entertainment. From this widespread usage of cryptocurrency in today’s market, you won’t want to miss out on a ton of potential customers who are holding and spending cryptocurrencies.
2) Potential customers from all over the world
Since our establishment in 2018, over 2,480 businesses in over 120 countries have offered our crypto payment services to their customers. Crypto payment services enabled borderless and instantaneous transactions. It allows customers to purchase your company’s services or products globally—even those without access to banks, but with access to the Internet. Cryptocurrency is universally recognised, which makes them even more attractive for businesses and customers.
3) Guaranteed payment with no chargeback
Chargebacks are costing businesses billions of dollars each year and growing. Payments made with cryptocurrency cannot be reversed after a successful transaction. This makes it different from credit card payments, which can be reversed using chargebacks, a loophole often exploited by fraudsters. According to Chargebackgurus, “Crypto exchanges are carried out peer-to-peer, with the blockchain serving as an objective ledger that authenticates each transaction. In this system, there’s simply no way for chargebacks to be carried out.”
4) Lower transaction fees
For businesses relying on a lot of cross-border transactions, accepting cryptocurrency can value-add to your operation. Purchases made using cryptocurrency can be settled on a same-day basis as transactions can be carried out in minutes with our crypto payment gateway. Besides, you don’t have to worry about the typical banking fees associated with monetary transactions. The average transaction fee charged by credit card companies is around 3%, where we offer a flat transaction fee of just 0.8%, and creating a cryptocurrency merchant account with us is entirely free.
5) Winning your competitors
More and more businesses are accepting cryptocurrencies, some of the bigger players are Microsoft, Overstock, Expedia, and Shopify. Eric Lockard, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Universal Store said, “allowing people to use bitcoin to purchase our products and services now allows us to be at the front edge of that trend.” Today, we see Microsoft winning the market share—from the sales of applications, games, and other digital content on its platform—getting ahead of their competitors.
Today’s market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies is now at US$600 billion. Just in 2020 alone, the cumulative market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies grew around 300%. This phenomenal increase is attributable to the popular demand of cryptocurrencies, with an increasing number of people investing in digital currencies. What does this translate to business owners like you? It simply means there’s an increased investment and spending of cryptocurrencies. As more people are holding on to cryptocurrencies as a form of asset, they are also spending it to make day-to-day purchases.
