How to Accept Bitcoin As a Payment Method?

Any transaction with Bitcoin makes the cryptocurrency stronger. Bitcoin can also be used everywhere efficiently without the issue of geographical borders, just like the World Wide Web, nullifying country limitations, and local regulations.

Bitcoin, though, is primarily used digitally as an electronic payment processing solution, which needs an initial set-up from those who want to use it.

You will be able to start accepting bitcoin as a payment processing solution on your e-commerce website by the time you've finished reviewing this or incorporate it into your brick-and-mortar business or company.

Starting to Accept Bitcoin

Payment processors are the easiest way to start accepting Bitcoin. With a Bitpay or Coinbase account, you can also begin accepting Bitcoin on your own. Nonetheless, you will be completely exposed to the instability of Bitcoin, so beginning to accept Bitcoin via payment processing solution is advised.

Accepting Bitcoin by Yourself

If you have a not so big business and you're still unsure if the bitcoin integration fits you, you may try making your bitcoin payments by yourself. 

1. You will first have to sign up on an applicstion where you can trade Bitcoin. With one of the prevalent exchange websites, you can set up an account very easily. Blockchain.info, Bitfinex, coinbase, Bitpay, and Huobi are the best-known five exchanges.
2. The second step is to download the client software for the wallet. For example, you can use Bitpay as it's the most typical Bitcoin wallet customer, but you can also use other customers ike Electrum or Armory as it's a very similar process. 

Bitpay is an easy-to-use Bitcoin application for sending or receiving or making Bitcoin payments. Bitpays' main advantage is that you can use it without downloading the complete blockchain for the bitcoin. The installation doesn't take more than a few mins, and you can make transactions for the coinpayments payments to anybody with a bitcoin address once you've finished downloading.

3. You will have access to your wallet after the Bitpay application has been installed; here, you can search for your wallet address on the receipt page, which will allow you to be also be able to produce a few other addresses. 

We strongly advise you to be very vigilant about encryption when using a mobile application to store your assets. Take safety into consideration and use strong passwords to keep your wallet safe; or else, you will regret sooner or later.

Peer-to-Peer payments (P2P)

Peer-to-peer transfers (P2P) is an electronic system which enables users to make use of the web or a smartphones to make fund transactions to the next wallet via their bank account or credit card. The growing adoption by loyal people of online banking, mobile banking, and e-commerce has smoothened the path for this platform to be used further.

How it Works

By practice, P2P transfers function in 2 respects. One of them is premised on the Paypal strategy; individuals attach their secure accounts with a third party vendor, enabling the transfer and acceptance of funds through their bank account or credit card information. Users are usually classified through their email address and can transfer money to anyone who is a network member. Individuals will be able to send or receive funds via the website or mobile application of the third party.

Clients can also use their bank or financial institution's web portal or mobile application to transfer funds, whether their phone number or email address can be allocated to the receiver.

Payment Processors & Merchant Services

Among the first steps is to find the best appropriate payment processing solution or the best Bitcoin merchant solution/payment processing solution that allows Bitcoins to be accepted when implementing bitcoin into your business. To make the matter easy and protect yourself against Bitcoin's high volatility is to find a partner that can handle the process by enabling you to accept and make Bitcoin payments but instantly transform it into FIAT currency. That way, you'll get your payout in national currency without even having to deal with bitcoin explicitly. Below is a sample of some of the most common payment processing solutions:

• BitPay –Bitcoin payment system with a payment processing solution for smartphone checkout
• Coinbase – Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, development of shopping carts, and cash out to USD on a daily basis.
• Coinify – bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, Bitcoin In-Store Payments, and Bitcoin Recurrent Bitcoin Billing.
• Coinkite – Full-reserve banking, payment options, billing pages, POS terminals for hardware, and debit cards.

Bitcoin Point-of-Sale POS Hardware Terminals

Point-of-sale (POS) Software terminals are key to helping you handle and receive coin payments. Point-of-sale (POS) platforms for small businesses such as retail shops, cafes, and restaurants will provide retailers with the ability to recognize bitcoins as payment easily. You can incorporate operating registers and point-of-sale solutions with custom hardware. Customers will pay by QR codes if you run a small shop utilizing hardware terminals, touch screen devices, or basic wallet addresses.

The List below shows some of POS solutions for accepting Bitcoin

• BitPay – Mobile Checkout
• Coinbase – Point Of Sale for Android
• CoinPip – Bitcoin payment processing solution for Android
• Payful – Point of sale, shopping cart plugins, and API. Supports in the USA, Europe, and Canada.
• Pocket –Bitcoin Point of Sale for Canadians, with exchange integration

Most point-of-sale terminals are meant to encourage various applications to be served on the same terminal.

Having a private label gift card plan from a company that deals in this can be a workaround and provide you with an extra income path. A private label gift card provider can simply include a payment processing solution that keeps records of the available balance on your behalf, along with functionalities that enable users to check their balance by telephone or web. 

Obviously, this approach often renders the cards compatible through the card reader. If your company produces gift cards or gift certificates, then you may decide that the simple way to accept Bitcoin is to allow it for the purchasing of gift cards only. If so, then you may enable the gift cards being used for actual purchases of goods or services.

Accepting Payment from Coinbase Commerce:

What is Coinbase Commerce?

Coinbase Commerce is a new platform that allows merchants to accept countless cryptocurrencies into a viewer-controlled wallet freely. The goal of this Coinbase platform is to create a secure financial system, so this approach has been intended to serve merchants around the globe. Coinbase Commerce is not a hosting service, unlike prior merchant products that coinbase offered, so merchants have ultimate control over their own cryptocurrency.

Coinbase Commerce can be introduced directly into the purchase process of a retailer or applied to an e-commerce website as a method of payment. Merchants will have to sign up and start accepting coinpayments in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin with just an email address and a computer. Coinbase has already partnered with Shopify, one of the leading multi-channel trading platforms, and are constantly introducing further functionality to make it as easy as possible to embrace cryptocurrencies.

Accept multiple Cryptocurrencies in Shopify

Now you can allow several bitcoins with Coinbase Commerce on your Shopify shop. You'll support cryptocurrencies in just a few moments by taking these simple steps:

1. Sign up for Coinbase Commerce
2. Create a Coinbase Commerce API Key
3. Add Coinbase Commerce to your Shopify store
4. Sign up for Coinbase Commerce
5. Register for a Coinbase Commerce account and follow the beginning directions. You will then be ready to start taking cryptocurrency or coinpayments after confirming your email address, applying two-step verification, and saving your seed phrase safely.

Create a Coinbase Commerce API Key

First, use the left-hand control button to switch to your Settings page that can be accessed: you can notice an API Keys area in Settings. Press Create an API Key to develop a new API key to link your Shopify store to your Coinbase Commerce account: API Keys PanelClick Reveal to see the entire API Key, but make sure to keep this hidden truth as it gives your account algorithmic access!

Add Coinbase Commerce to your Shopify store

• Use Coinbase Commerce to start accepting payment via digital currencies. 
• Under Alternative payments select Coinbase Commerce.
• Select Coinbase Commerce
• For Email, enter the email address used to create your Coinbase Commerce account.
• For API Key, copy and paste the API Key created earlier within Coinbase Commerce
• API Key
• Click Save

That's what it is! The clients can now use Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, or USD Coin to check out and pay.

Accepting Payment from Bitpay

For many major shopping carts and billing systems, BitPay provides corporation-grade integrations, enhancements, and modifications as well as point-of-sale solutions.

Merchants will obtain compensation in US Dollars, Euros, GBP, and more when receiving coinpayments, all supported by the enterprise-grade platform of BitPay.

Simply apply for a BitPay account to start accepting cryptocurrencies.

Libraries for Custom Integrations

BitPay offers resources for a number of major languages for integrations that need to be personalized. For all of their resources, the application and data are open-source and downloadable on GitHub.

• NET (C#)
• Java
• PHP

Hosted Solutions

Hosted cart networks and payment processing solutions can be a great alternative to in-house maintenance of technological infrastructure. BitPay works with the following organizations to make it as easy as to register for a BitPay account and recognize cryptocurrency:

Point of Sale (POS) Solutions

BitPay continues to offer a simple web-based implementation for personal acceptance of coinpayments, as well as solutions for POS integration. Both BitPay contracts provide links to the BitPay POS Fast Checkout for Web app (available from the vendor dashboard) and BitPay Checkout, both of which provide free features and free monitoring (similar to credit card processing). Our integrated Web and BitPay Checkout Fast Checkout software is compliant with all web-enabled smartphones and mobile devices and can be used as a quick, cost-free addition to established POS systems. 

BitPay also offers smaller merchants with a fast, managed BitPay checkout. To add and adjust things in their BitPay shop, merchants can view their Catalog Items

How to Accept Bitcoin with Bitpay on Shopify

Shopify is an online store that is powerful and flexible for any business. BitPay works closely with Shopify to directly incorporate coinpayments into the host checkout system of Shopify. It is easy to allow to make bitcoin payments in your shop and needs no knowledge of coding.

You can start by reading the instructions below, but you'll need to have a Shopify account first.

1. Obtain BitPay API token
2. Sign in to your BitPay account to establish a new BitPay API key. Go to Manage API Tokens, which is accessible in the Payment Tools area, once you have signed in.

3. If you do not already have an API key, create a new key by clicking Add New Key:
4. Make sure the Require Authentication checkbox is not checked
5. Use the Token Label field to show the intent of the key, e.g., "Store" (so you can easily identify it if you have several tokens).
6. In the next stage, you will need the returned API Token (a string of 44 letters and numbers).
7. ​​ Enable BitPay Payments in Shopify

To turn on BitPay payments in Shopify, log in to your Shopify admin account, and select Settings > payment processing solution> Alternative payment methods > Alternative payment methods > Choose alternative payment > BitPay.

The BitPay method of payment should feature in the catalog of alternate methods of payment. Next, press the Edit button. You only need to copy and paste the previously made API token on the following tab, then click the Save button to complete the configuration.

Promoting to make Bitcoin Payments

Once you have achieved installation, promoting the new payment processing solution will be recommended the best you can. This will be very relevant as you need to attract customers and have them realize that Bitcoin can also be used to make coinpayments.

Regardless of whether your business is online or brick-and-mortar, you'll need to inform your customers of the option of paying with bitcoins, and your company will accept bitcoin. A sign at the bottom of your website or close to other acceptable forms of payment would be of great value to notify your costumers that you are accepting bitcoin. If you've got a company forum, write a blog post describing why you've decided to accept Bitcoin, what it means to you and your organization, and how this concept will lead to our collective well-being generally brings a lot of exposure and positive reviews on the site.

If you've got an office, or you're running a physical business, it would be good to stick a significant sign close to the entrance and bring a beneficial hype. Throughout the web, you can find some logos specifically designed for this. So, go on and find one you like if you got a small retail shop that you'll need to print and sell to your market by advertising.

Potential issues

If you embrace Bitcoin in your company, you may face risks. The future of bitcoin cash’s uncertainty is the most critical. Bitcoin has had a wonderful end to 2017, but some think it's going to fall back.

When you embrace Bitcoin and do not automatically translate it to a traditional currency, any volatility in the market that impact your bottom line for better or worse, while all currencies are fluctuating in value, Bitcoin is much less stable right now than most currencies. No assurance will improve.

You might also note that you don't get a ton of Bitcoin transactions. People are understandably hesitant to spend their Bitcoins now, as the value has grown so rapidly. Bitcoin would probably become more of a commodity than a currency, in which case it's as easy as making anyone compensate you in gold or silver to have a Bitcoin transaction.

While Bitcoin's price is anything but secure, there is still a group of consumers who enjoy being able to pay with it, and it can be helpful for your company to consider it. When you start accepting Bitcoin today, if and when the money becomes a commonly accepted method of payment, you won't be playing catch-up.