Major retailers and corporations are slowly coming to realization that cryptocurrencies have the potential to transform the way businesses operate. We’re not talking about some mom-and-pop shops here – Tesla, Twitch, Starbucks, PayPal, Microsoft, ExpressVPN, AT&T and numerous other giants have taken a crypto-friendly stance to grow their already staggering earning potential.
According to a Deloitte study from 2022, 3 out of 4 retailers plan to accept cryptocurrency payments over the next two years. Are you in the same camp? If you’re still sitting on the fence, let me explain in simple terms why adopting crypto as a business owner is a no-brainer.
I’m going to pitch some good reasons to jump on the crypto bandwagon now. Let’s get started!
Reason #1 – Crypto Is Borderless
A truly shocking statement, right?
Well, it is the truth. Unlike banking, crypto is accessible around the world – all you need is an internet connection and a bit of effort to set up crypto gateway payments.
Those enable merchants to significantly increase their international potential and reach wider markets that would be left aside without crypto. 77% of merchants who choose to accept crypto as a payment medium observe an increase in cross-border sales!
It’s a smart way to unlock global coverage, as in traditional finance you would have to cover payments in 200 fiat currencies and deal with their conversions, which create additional delays and increase costs.
That is simply too much hassle, a task too burdensome to partake in when you can choose an alternative that will give you less headache.
Reason #2 – Reduced Processing Costs
Rule number 1 – never lose money. Rule number 2? Never forget the first rule.
It is one thing to multiply your income by reaching distributed international audiences, but keeping fee expenditure on the low side is almost as important. In the cold and soulless fiat world merchants expect to pay over 3.5% of each transaction.
To put it into different numbers, In 2022, US merchants paid a record $160.70 billion in processing fees to accept $10.589 trillion in payments from credit, debit and prepaid cards, according to the Nilson Report.
Now when we talk about crypto fees, those could be as low as 0.8%. As cryptocurrencies are decentralized, they do not require a bank to verify every transaction, which means that your business will eliminate those fees, saving 2 to 5 percent on each transaction.
Because why would you share your hard-earned revenue with greedy financial institutions?
Reason #3 – No More Chargeback Fraud
About ‘never losing money’… you can actually cover your financial backside if you implement crypto payments for your business!
There’s a thing called chargeback fraud, a scheme when a customer makes a purchase online with their own credit card, and then later requests a chargeback from their bank after receiving the goods or services. This type of fraud wouldn’t fly with crypto transactions, because those are final by default thanks to mining. System verifies funds and makes it next to impossible to spend more than you actually own, making chargebacks a non-factor!
It is ironic that vocal crypto critics cite the volume of fraud in the industry as very off-putting, forgetting all about various fraudulent schemes that have always been around when they chose to do business through the banks.
Fake invoices, CEO fraud, BEC scams – the list is as long as the day. You can read about different types of fraud in my ‘Art of Email Security’ book, because there’s no such thing as too much knowledge!
Reason #4 – It Can Be Waaaaay Faster
Waiting for funds to drop on the account can be a pain in a place where the sun doesn’t shine…
Banking inefficiency, where payments can take days to process between various banks, are simply slowing businesses down, leading to a drop in revenue. Aside from the agonizingly slow processing time, you should also consider the decline rate of transactions. The decline rate with fiat processors is roughly 15%, and a high decline rate increases the customer drop-off rate.
Now what about crypto transactions? Those can be fast and in some cases almost instant, which also makes profit forecasting much easier. Top providers offer 99% acceptance rate while maintaining the instancy and cost-efficiency of the transactions. That is certainly something both companies and consumers can get behind!
Furthermore, no central authorities are needed for the purpose of verification. Crypto operates around the clock and around the globe, in stark contrast to rigid banking hours. Nobody likes to wait, especially not when it comes to goods and services.
Reason #5 – Crypto Appeals To Wealthy Audiences
It’s all about the people, in the end, the need to understand your customers.
While the common folk only have a distant understanding of the blockchain concepts, the real shakers and movers who spend BIG are educated males under the age of 34. That may sound like a niche demo, but it has the most spending power among all consumers and consumerninos, plus they own the largest share of decentralized wealth globally. Allowing them to spend that wealth with you may significantly increase the overall volume of sales and revenue.
40% of customers who choose to pay with crypto are first-timers to the merchant. Additionally, blockchain-friendly customers tend to spend twice as much money than those paying with credit cards.
On top of all that, adopting crypto helps the brand be perceived as cutting-edge and helps you to stand apart from other businesses in the marketplace. By offering crypto payments, businesses demonstrate commitment to innovation and their willingness to embrace new technology.
Reason #6 – Protection Against Pesky Inflation
Businesses that operate in countries with high inflation rates might want to look at crypto.
Cryptocurrencies have a limited supply, which offers a way to protect against inflation. As the value of cryptocurrencies is not tied to any specific government or central bank, but rather to supply and demand in the market, businesses get a viable alternative to consider.
Recently I bought an ice cream in one shop, and the cashier asked me to look for some smaller bills. I mimicked ‘the pocket search’, shrugged, and said ‘sorry, blame the inflation’.
Paper options will slowly become a thing of the past, and it makes sense for businesses to become early adopters of cryptocurrencies. If you resist the change now, you’ll just delay the inevitable.
Get the head start! Not sure where to start? Okay, let’s make a detour.
Reason #7 – Integrating Crypto Payments Is Not That Hard
The whole process is actually similar to setting up with a credit card processing company.
First, you must decide whether to use a processor to accept payments or accept them manually. Processors simplify the process for you, as you only have to register with a company like BitPay or PayPal to start accepting such payments.
For manual crypto acceptance, you must do a li
ttle bit more.
- You must create an account on a crypto exchange so customers have somewhere to send your payment. Setting up a merchant wallet account takes only a few minutes, offers customization, and conversion of cryptocurrency to your base fiat currency.
- After opening a merchant wallet account you need to integrate the address into each of your points of sale. Add user friendly functionality to your website or app, so that customers could send crypto to your exchange account by simply scanning a QR code.
- Withdraw your crypto from the exchange account.
- Profit!
In most cases, businesses can greatly benefit from adopting cryptocurrency.
If you want to keep your business competitive and gain new customers, it’s time to embrace the changes with open arms. Industries of wild variance are benefitting from crypto adoption, so I doubt your line of work would not find a way to get some positives out of this ‘hip’ method.
Tesla sells items for Dogecoin, Starbucks accepts crypto for coffee, and AMC allows you to buy money tickets with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
We live in a brave new world, and it’s time to embrace it!
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