Should You Accept Cryptocurrency on Your Website?

Bitcoin – and cryptocurrency in general – is creating many headlines in recent weeks. The staggeringly volatile market and the way Bitcoin jumped from $1,000 to over $17,000 within months garnered a lot of attention to the cryptocurrency. The popularity of Bitcoin also brought attention to other cryptocurrencies on the market, including Ethereum and Litecoin.

The big question remains the same: will cryptocurrency be the next mainstream payment method? Some businesses are in a wait-and-see pattern while others are jumping right in and accepting cryptocurrency payments. Should you accept cryptocurrency on your website?

A More Mature Market

One of the reasons why many businesses are still reluctant when it comes to accepting cryptocurrency on their websites is the volatility of the current cryptocurrencies. The way Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fluctuate massively in a matter of hours is not what businesses expect from a solid payment method.

Last week, Bitcoin jumped from $12,000 to around $17,000, before steadily correcting itself to the mid $14,000 level. Customers who paid for products or services when the cryptocurrency was trading at $12,000 will regret making the purchase as the value of Bitcoin jumped. On the other hand, businesses don’t want to accept payments at $17,000/Bitcoin, only to see the value of those payments dropping by a substantial margin.

For cryptocurrencies to become mainstream payment methods, market maturity is needed. With the high volatility we’re seeing today, accepting cryptocurrency payments may not seem like a good idea.

Forks and Alternatives

While the major cryptocurrencies are very volatile on the market, some of the forks are showing that level of maturity expected from a currency. Bitcoin Cash, for example, fluctuates at a much more manageable rate than Bitcoin. The same trend is seen in forks of other cryptocurrencies.

According to a recent report by WallStreetHedge.com, these forks and alternatives are seen as more viable payment options, especially in the eyes of businesses and the consumers who use them. In fact, many services are starting to accept Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin Gold.

Experts believe that the trend will continue, especially with news that several central banks are releasing their own cryptocurrencies. There is no doubt that cryptocurrency is the future, and businesses who get in the game early will be the ones benefitting the most from this new trend.

Easy Integration

From a technical standpoint, integrating cryptocurrency payment processing is a lot easier than anticipated. Since the currencies are already based on blockchain, processing payments on websites is straightforward and secure.

There is also the benefit of irreversible transactions, especially for businesses. There are no more chargebacks to worry about and every transaction is final. That level of security is further strengthened by the nature of blockchain itself.

To make cryptocurrency payments more attractive, there are stakeholders who invest in improving the blockchain concept altogether, promising faster transaction processing and better features for business users.

So, should you accept cryptocurrency on your website? If you stick with less volatile cryptocurrencies and you implement the payment system securely, there is no reason why you shouldn’t accept this type of payment today.

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