Learn how to set up your Bitcoin merchant account, and start accepting payments.

How to accept Bitcoin as a business? 

Anyone can decide to accept Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency as a form of payment option. It opens up new doors for business, It is very important for online retailers that sell digital products and services as Bitcoin will eliminate middle man, reduce payment processing fees, and allow cross-border transactions.

Although it is possible to accept Bitcoin manually aswell. There are many processor services that you can use to accept Bitcoin for your business. These companies charge different fees and have slightly different features, so do your research and find the one that suits you best. For this guide, we are going to use Coinpayments and Blockonomics.Page Contents

What is Coinpayments?

CoinPayments is a payment processor launched in 2013 based in CanadaCoinpayments have implemented a number of plugins, APIs and POS interfaces, this payment processor is designed with the merchant users as the key focus. Merchants can sell, buy and exchange digital assets, accept bitcoin and over 1600 altcoins as payment for their products and services. Coinpayments have over 2,427,500 merchants spread across 182 countries around the world making it the most inclusive multi-cryptocurrency platform on the market.

Coinpayments Features

• GAP600 Instant Confirmations: GAP600 support makes Bitcoin payments fast
• Vault: Users can Protect their coins in the cold wallet, where they can specify a time period before being able to spend them.
• Fiat Settlements: Merchants from the United States or Europe can have fiat settlements directly to their bank accounts.
• Point of Sale (PoS): CoinPayments have a Simple interface for in-person transactions, which can be incorporated in your store.
• AirDrops: CoinPayments help new projects to airdrop coins and tokens for new users.
• Mobile Apps: CoinPayments app lets users access features on the go, it is available anywhere with iOS and Android devices.
• Auto Coin Conversions: CoinPayments has a feature for auto converting some of the coins, saving your time and fees.
• Multi-Coin Wallet CoinPayments hot wallet lets users store and manage over 1600 altcoins.

Coinpayments also offers an API that can be integrated with most eCommerce platforms today including websites and mobile apps.

The best part is: Even if you don’t know how to code, you can still easily integrate coinpayments by downloading one of their dedicated plugins for platforms such as opencart, magento, shopify, and woocommerce.

How to Use CoinPayments to Accept Bitcoin

Setting up a Coinpayments account is really easy. All you need to do is to sign up through their website using an email address.

You will then receive an email that will require to be confirmed, after confirming the email, you can log in, you will be asked to use your 2-FA authentication code, which you will also receive in your email.

Once your account’s email is verified and have you logged in, an inbuilt setup wizard will guide you through the CoinPayments dashboard.

In order to accept merchant payments with CoinPayments, you will need to complete KYC verification.

After completing the KYC verification, the interface has multiple options, you can either select multiple coins or a single coin; in this case, select Bitcoin (BTC).

And that’s it!

Now your account is all set up, and you’re able to accept bitcoin payments as a Business.

For a brick and mortar store, the easiest way to do this is by sending an email to your customers that contain a payment link.  

To accept Bitcoin on a website, you can use one of the plugins listed above, this way the customer will receive a unique QR code for each payment.

After receiving bitcoin payment, you have several options:

• Keep bitcoins in your bitcoin wallet and use it for your own purchases.
• Automatically convert bitcoin to fiat and deposit into your bank account.

These options are some are very basic examples of how money can be automated with bitcoin. There are many other ways that can be used as well according to your business needs, such as paying employee salaries, creating new orders from suppliers when stock is low, or paying bills, in countries that allow it.

Create an account on Coinpayments and start accepting Cryptocurrencies today.

What is Blockonomics?

Blockonomics is a non-custodial Bitcoin payment getaway launched in 2015.

Blockonomics contrary to Coinpayments doesn’t hold your funds but acts only as a service provider. Users can become their own banks by accepting Bitcoin directly to their own wallets. The Blockonomics service basically enhances the wallet’s users already own. It is for those who want convenience but still 100% control over their coins.

Blockonomics Features

• No Documentation: No paperwork is required to start accepting payments.
• Merchant Integration:  Accept bitcoin payments on your website.
• Payment Forwarding: Forward your payments to a chosen Bitcoin address.
• Fast and Segwit Ready: Get paid instantly, and forget about transfers or excessive fees.
• Direct to Wallet: Payments go directly to your wallet. 100% control over your own bitcoin.
• Decentralized: All major Bitcoin wallets like Electrum, Trezor, and Ledger are supported.
• P2P Anonymous Invoicing: Receive payments for your work using your own bitcoin address in a secure way.

Blockonomics also offers API integration with most eCommerce platforms. Alternatively, you can download a plugin for most common platforms such as WordPress OpenCart, and Magento.

On top of this Blockonomics also offers wallet watchers to help you keep track of your balances and 24/7 customer support.

How to Use Blockonomics to Accept Bitcoin

To get started with Blockonomics is fast and easy, you simply create an account on their website, using an email and password.

You will then receive a confirmation email, confirm that and log into your account.

You then head to the Merchant tab where you will find in build Merchant Wizard. Which will have instructions to guide you through the setup.

The whole merchant setup has only three steps and it starts off by verifying your xpub key for your chosen wallet.

After you insert the xpub key of your chosen wallet, you get access to your API keys which you can integrate directly to your website using the plugins.

And that’s it, the bitcoins you receive will go directly to your wallet, and you can keep track of them using the wallet watcher service.

If you need a conversion to fiat after you have received Bitcoins, Blockonomics also offers a forwarding service to automatically send your funds to the chosen exchange.

Create an account on Blockonomics and start accepting Bitcoin today.

How to Accept Bitcoin Manually

One of the best things about Bitcoin is that you don’t have to rely on third-party services.

Although this is not a beginner-friendly option, it’s still possible to decide to accept Bitcoin payments on your website without hiring the services of payment processing companies.

To do this, you will generate a new Bitcoin address for each transaction made on your website. You will follow that up by providing instructions for how much money people should send. Bitcoin will be transferred to your wallet, and you can confirm the transaction afterward.

Create a QR code to start accepting payments.

To sum it up

Bitcoin is increasingly being accepted in transactions all over the world. More companies and businesses are starting to accept the use of Bitcoin for payments for goods and services. In a few years, Bitcoin will be one of the top dominant currencies in the world.