A cryptocurrency is a sort of digital asset emanated from a network that is apportioned over a huge number of computers. Its decentralized structure enables them to remain outside the jurisdiction of governments and higher authorities.
Since it is an electronic method of carrying out payments, the entire system is based on the internet. Those who wish to trade bitcoins and accept bitcoins as a payment need an account. We understand that it might look difficult in the first go but this guide will help you understand your way through accepting bitcoins as payment instead of cash.
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Opening a Bitcoin account
Websites such as bitpay, coinify and bitcoin pay offer services related to bitcoins. They charge a fee for the same. The amount of the fee differs in each of these companies so it is advised that you do proper research and find a suitable website depending on your requirements.
To create an account, you will have to sign up using your email and it will take you to further proceedings automatically from thereon. You can easily open an account with Crypto Engines and start trading. Also, Bitcoin Era is one of the best platforms and you can check out Bitcoin Era Review.
Add your Bank Account Details
Bitcoin transactions can be anonymous but there are restrictions imposed on anonymous accounts. To have full access, adding your details is a prerequisite. Otherwise, the account will be limited to transacting just $1000 per month.
To get rid of such restrictions, you will be asked to provide your details for verification. This includes a softcopy of any of your ID proofs or your passport, your residential address and the address of your incorporation. The website will mention all the clauses and terms so one should thoroughly go through them.
Currency
Once you are done signing up and setting up your account, you will have to choose the currency that you wish to use if at all you need to convert it into cash anytime in the future.
You will be charged a fee and exchange rates and they are different for different currencies.
It is recommended to work with EUR as it drastically depreciates the sum of fees charged for each transaction.
As far as pricing is concerned, the end customers can be charged in USD currency and you can still get the payment in EUR. When the exchange is being made from USD to EUR, a SPOT exchange rate is provided and it does not include any commission. There are tools available on the internet for you to check the Bitcoin price when converted to USD or EUR.
Bitcoin Payments
Once you are done setting up your account, you are absolutely equipped to begin accepting payments in bitcoins. For starters, what you can do is send an email to your customer and provide them with a payment link. This is the simplest way to go about it. Otherwise, you can also provide your customers with a unique QR code. You can easily generate a unique QR code on the website that you are using and then take in use while you are making transactions.
It is a prerequisite for the person to own a bitcoin wallet to be able to pay using bitcoin.
Bitcoin Payments on website portals
Websites that offer bitcoin management services provide an API that can be used to integrate with most eCommerce platforms presently including websites and phone apps. Php, java, python, ruby, perl and a lot of more platforms are available for samples of codes along with mock server testing. There is a designated button generator available on them for dummies.
Even if you do not know how to code, you are still very well covered. Bitcoin is relatively easier to integrate and dedicated plugins can be downloaded for opencart, magento, prestashop and woocommerce. To download the required plugin, you need to simply navigate to the developes section. After which, you will have to upload the thing to the backend on the concerned website and configure the settings of the website depending on your requirements.
How are payments sent and received?
To get a better idea of how the payments are carried out through bitcoins and cryptocurrencies, there are a series of actions that take place whenever a client pays using bitcoin or makes a transaction. It is essential for you to be well-researched about these transactions before you start out with your own transactions through bitcoins.
What should be the next step?
Once you have received a payment in bitcoins, you would be wondering what should be your next step. There are numerous options. A few of them are mentioned below.
- Future use: When you have enough bitcoins in your particular bitcoin wallet, thi can be further used in buying and purchasing of goods and/or services on several platforms.
- Convert into cash: If you wish to convert your bitcoins into cash. You can simply deposit your bitcoins into your bank account. The certain threshold for deposits can be configured and the recurring deposit dates can be determined. The payment can automatically get deposited to the bank account, the one who’s details were submitted at the time of the creation of the account.
- Splitting: Diversification of your portfolio is a smart financial choice. So if you want some of your bitcoin earnings in your bank account and some to be deposited in your bank account then there is an option called split option that is available. It allows you to define how much stays in the wallet and the amount of deposition in the bank account.
These were a few basic examples of how your money can be automated with bitcoin. There are several other methods that can be configured and automated depending on your needs, like the payment you make to your employees as their salaries, the money that goes to the suppliers of the stock of your business if your country allows it.
Future is all about bitcoins and cryptocurrency. So it is important for everyone to understand how it works and how to set up an account to learn using it as well. We summarised the basic steps that you can follow to do so.