It’s a trend you may have noticed over the past few years. Alongside the growing popularity and value of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and the others, more and more businesses are accepting them as payment for goods and services provided. But should your business follow suit, what can you do to ensure you do it well, and what risks should you be aware of?
Make sure you know how to do it
As with setting a merchant account for accepting credit and debit cards, you should look at the options on how to start accepting cryptocurrency as payments. First of all, you need to work with a cryptocurrency payment processing provider and open an account with them, then connect your bank account to that account. You also need to install apps or widgets that allow crypto payments at the point of sale, be it in real life or on the website.
Ensure it fits into your bookkeeping
If you have trouble keeping track of your Bitcoins once they’re in your account then it can prove troublesome for the business. Businesses should not be in the habit of letting their cryptocurrencies increase in value or devalue over time. Rather, you should try to get them changed into cash as quickly as possible to ensure that your cash flow stays healthy.
Protect your wallet no matter what
Your cryptocurrency is going to go into a digital wallet or an account that is tied directly to you. It might be a hardware device or an account with your payment processor but if you lose access to it, then you lose all the crypto inside it. As such, you must be aware of cryptocurrency security measures and do what you can to protect that wallet at all times.
Get ready to get taxed on it
Any business that earns money through cryptocurrency, whether it is mined directly by that business or accepted as payment, should be ready to pay taxes on that cryptocurrency. Of course, adding a whole new currency can make the process of filing taxes a lot more complicated. For that reason, it’s a good idea to use cryptocurrency tax software that’s designed to handle that specific challenge. When in doubt, turn to a chartered accountant who is able to offer more bespoke advice.
Use their marketing power
One of the benefits of cryptocurrency and one of the ways you can better make use of it is to show your customers, especially the younger ones, that your business is current and on-trend with the technologies that they are more likely to use. Cryptocurrency can actually be a valuable marketing tool, sharpening your brand as a contemporary company, while also showing off some attractive flexibility in terms of payments.
Cryptocurrencies don’t seem to be going anywhere for a long time, having long outlasted most of the critics’ predictions for their demise. As such, it could be safe to accept them as payments for your services, so long as you’re smart in how you handle them.