Bitcoin is often seen as a speculative asset that sees a lot of volatility. That being said, most people interested and starting their journey with Bitcoin ask themselves where to buy, when to buy, and maybe even more important, when to sell. A second group is looking not for short-term trades but rather an asset that they can hold for the next ten years or so and profit from its value proposition.

While the market in western Europe focused on these two aspects, there is also a third one, which is interesting for consumers ánd businesses. Bitcoin is a monetary network that offers network participants to settle payments globally and at minimal costs. This is only one advantage that a company's customers can benefit from.

In today’s article, we are going to explore the benefits of accepting Bitcoin as a business and what you have to keep in mind when offering the option to your customers.

Let Bitcoiners do the marketing for you

The Bitcoin community is not a homogenous group. But people within this group identify themselves as Bitcoiners and often show strong support for people or businesses opening up to Bitcoin. This will have a great effect on your business.

Depending on how you communicate your decision and how you manage to place it on social media, your business even has a chance to go viral. Even if you don’t plan to make big announcements, chances are pretty good that Bitcoiners near your business will start recommending it because you acknowledge their choice and lifestyle by accepting Bitcoin payments.

Cryptocurrencies are community-driven, and this will contribute to your success if you play your cards clever. This is not only the case in terms of marketing. If you need help integrating Bitcoin into your business, many people are willing to help just to contribute to the Bitcoin ecosystem. And if you like to keep the costs as low as possible, there is plenty of open-source software that waits for you.

No chargeback or fees

Customers never see the actual costs of using their credit cards. But if you run a business, you might be already aware of the additional costs you’ll have to pay in order to offer credit card payments to your customers.

This is not the case with Bitcoin because maintaining a wallet comes at minimal expenditure and transaction fees have to be paid by your customers as the sending party. You are also protected from chargebacks because a customer has to pay in advance, and once the transaction is settled, the only chance to revert it is by sending it back with your specific consent.

Especially online shops have to deal with many chargebacks. While many customers have a legitimate reason to ask for their money back, a percentage is still abusing this option.

Even if you plan to accept other payment options, the reasons above favour Bitcoin. If you accept BTC, you’ll reap all the benefits with the cost of barely maintaining a wallet of your own.

Things to keep in mind

You also have to take care of a couple of things properly. One of them is accounting. Usually, businesses use software to automatically account for sales and writing invoices. You might have to look for a specific solution or ask a tax consultant for help.

Another thing is the volatility of Bitcoin. Depending on your strategy, you might want to participate in the risks and chances of the market or avoid them altogether. Avoiding means that you most likely prefer a solution to immediately cash out into Euros or Dollars once you receive the payment. This requires an exchange that accepts and serves business customers.

An even more important factor to look at is the price. How to denominate prices using a highly volatile asset and is traded for a different price on each platform? It remains open to you to decide which price feed you will integrate. Always keep in mind that your customers will compare rates and prices.

Last but not least, there is the question of how you will handle legitimate requests for chargebacks when a customer has paid in Bitcoin. Many businesses opt for paying back the price in Euros or Dollars. This avoids additional hazards with accounting and makes it a little easier to declare taxes on those transactions.