Many companies are considering accepting BitCoin as a form of payment, especially small businesses. Still there are many questions and misconceptions about accepting this form of online payment, so when one asks themselves, should our company accept BitCoin? The simplest of answers in the broadest of terms, is yes.

Think of it this way, many years ago businesses traditionally took cash, personal or company checks and two major forms of credit cards, Visa and MasterCard. This later expanded to the acceptance of even more cards, like American Express and Discover. Along came online payments, PayPal, electronic checks and gift cards. Quite simply put, the more types of different payment options that businesses provide to its customers, the bigger pool of consumers they will reach.

WHO (Is Accepting Bitcoin)

If you’re looking for reputable companies that are already accepting Bitcoin, the list is long and plentiful, according to the International Business Times, they include:

• Dell
• Dish Network
• Ebay
• Expedia
• Overstock.com
• PayPal
• Virgin Galactic, LLC

 

And many more. One of the misconceptions about Bitcoin is that no one is really embracing this as a form of payment, and as you can see, that is far from the truth.

WHAT (Features are Customers Embracing)

According to statistics, the majority of consumers find that Bitcoin offers more security, better fraud protection and a decrease in theft when using this method of payment. With the Justice Department instituting more controls over the banking industry, Americans are continuing to lose faith with traditional banks and other financial institutions.

Conversely, another percentage of customers trust in Bitcoin since it is widely used accepted by banks and government. From another viewpoint, people are recognizing a consistent and stable value that they provide even though rates fluctuate.

WHEN (Will Bitcoin Become More Widely Accepted)

Probably sooner than later. According to CNBC, the increasing use of something called blockchain technology puts Bitcoin information on a decentralized ledger, which records every verifiable transaction. This data is stored on with a time-stamped list, replicated on global servers, helping to protect it from corruption.

The reason we may be seeing more Bitcoin acceptance in the future is because industry and technology giants Google and IBM are reportedly looking into investing with these applications. Considering Google’s powerful influence over the internet, if this search engine gets involved, the possibilities are endless.

WHERE (Is The Future of Bitcoin Heading)

In an online article at Forbes, experts are weighing in on the bright future of Bitcoin. For example, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, stated, virtual currencies like Bitcoin, “May hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.”

Wences Casares, Founder & CEO of Xapo, was even more hopeful, saying, “When people write the history of this thing, of bitcoin, they are not going to write the story of 6 million to a billion. What is truly remarkable is the story of zero to 6 million. It has already happened! It only had one chance in a million, and it already happened.”

WHY (Should Your Business Accept Bitcoin)

Maybe the question becomes, why not? Since it is not actual currency, there’s little no chance of it losing value in the same way the US dollar or gold does since it is resistant to inflation. Think of it this way, once promoting your business on Facebook was unheard of and now it is the norm.

Similar to Bitcoin, when Mark Zuckerberg was in college, his site was worth nothing and now it’s listed in the billions although he didn’t really have anything in his hand to show for it until stocks and advertising revenues came into the picture.

HOW (Can Your Business Accept Bitcoin)

Although setting up a business account for Bitcoin can seem as complicated,it can be easily accomplished through the use of a mobile app or a merchant vendor. For a comprehensive list of services, please check out this Bitcoin wiki page.

 

  About the Author:

 Nick Rojas is a business consultant and writer who lives in Los Angeles. He  has  consulted small and medium-sized enterprises for over twenty years. He  has  contributed articles to Visual.ly, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch. You can  follow  him on Twitter @NickARojas, or you can reach him at  [email protected]