For any new startup, there are many things to consider. As a small business owner, no matter what type of entrepreneur you are, you will have many tasks to carry out and decisions to make. One of these will be whether your business should accept cryptocurrencies for payments, which is a choice you would not have had to make just 10 years ago, before they were introduced.
As they become more accepted by consumers and businesses, opting for crypto payment methods is something that could boost your company profile and cash flow. As with anything to do with your startup, there are advantages and disadvantages, but the attention the media have given them over the last couple of years has resulted in an awareness on the part of the general public – and a fan appeal that can actually mean more exposure for you if you do adopt cryptocurrencies.
The Advantages Of Accepting Cryptocurrencies
Forbes points out that if you decide to accept cryptocurrencies, it is best to educate yourself about the blockchain technology that they work through. They also say that because of the volatility of the coins, the value of any payments you receive this way could increase quite a lot over just a few days. Of course, the value could also drop too. You have to be able to leave them in your merchant’s wallet until the price is right to exchange them for another currency or use them to pay for something else. You may well think that dealing with this can be complicated, but converting cryptos into your local currency can be easily done by researching the best bitcoin exchanges.
Accepting cryptocurrencies can mean you have a worldwide audience, as there will be no constraints that traditional currencies can present. You will also not suffer any chargebacks, which has become ones of the most common ways of defrauding online companies. Once a transaction is completed, it cannot be altered, and as there is no centralized system to appeal to, chargebacks are not possible. The fees associated with cryptocurrencies are less than the more traditional methods of accepting payments.
The Disadvantages Of Accepting Cryptocurrencies
One of the challenges facing startups accepting cryptocurrencies is keeping records good enough to satisfy your local tax authorities. Each transaction needs to be noted and converted to your local currency before recording them in the normal way. Accounting Department says that it is not just the US’ IRS that has realized how widespread crypto use is becoming, but other countries’ tax departments are also working toward making sure businesses declare all their cryptocurrency income.
One thing to keep in mind is that cryptocurrencies are completely unregulated. There is no central system or body responsible for overseeing the way they are run. This has meant that there have been many thousands of individual altcoins started that have failed very quickly. However, because of the way the blockchain and other decentralized ledgers work, it’s also virtually impossible to steal cryptocurrency – with the exception of scamming its owner.
It does seem that if you decide that your business will accept cryptocurrencies you should look into the most well-known coins and the ones that have been around longer, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple or Cardano. You should also ensure that you accept a wide range of other payment methods too, as some people will only ever use the likes of Visa, Mastercard or PayPal.