Rise of Acceptance of Crypto Payments in Small Businesses

Global interest in crypto payments

Adam Lyons, a Forbes Councils Member, is a business advisor for over 500 brands. He predicts that any company that accepts cryptocurrency payments shall have a significant competitive advantage over others in their industry. In a survey conducted by Checkout.com, around 40% of respondents globally plan to pay with crypto. In the same survey, it was noticed that in UAE, over 54% of consumers believe that cryptocurrency should be used as currency, not just as an investment asset. Given that the UAE has been making significant moves toward greater adoption of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets, around 47% of consumers have registered an interest to pay with crypto in UAE.

Problems faced by small businesses

Small businesses form the bulk of the economy all over the world. Even in UAE, small businesses represent 94% of all companies within the country. However, a majority of financial institutions create loan programs and merchant services that only benefit major businesses or those that have a large cash flow. They also have less access to credit schemes as compared to larger businesses. Since most small businesses have a very small cash buffer, these programs and services do not benefit them.

Further, businesses that accept credit or debit card payments face payment delays from the banks. While payment delays do not affect big businesses, they make it harder for small businesses to maintain a healthy cash balance. Hence, any economic crisis can easily kill small businesses. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, small businesses and merchants were among the ones that were the worst affected. Since cryptocurrency payments offer an alternative mode in which merchants can receive faster settlements, along with several other benefits, they can provide a growth opportunity.

Benefits of accepting crypto payments:

Businesses looking to accept crypto payments can take advantage of the following facts:

Crypto payments eliminate intermediaries. This lowers the transaction costs considerably, which translates to more profit for your products or services.

Since transactions made on blockchain are irreversible, exposure to fraudulent charges is eliminated.

If you choose to accept crypto payments for business, you can reach more consumers. Crypto payments are borderless and are not restricted by regulations that are put on fiat money. This gives you more freedom to sell your products and services to consumers from all over the world.

By giving an additional mode of payment, you will come across not just as tech-savvy, but also customer-oriented, since consumers can opt to buy with crypto online.

In the past decade, there have been multiple instances of data breaches occurring in relation to consumer data. Since crypto payments do not require you to store any consumer data, it gives them more security.

How do crypto payments work?

Crypto payments use a blockchain, which is a type of Distributed Ledger Technology to keep transactions secure. Consumers can buy crypto from any exchange or P2P marketplace using the currency of their choice. These cryptocurrencies are then stored in the consumer’s crypto wallet. When the consumer opts to pay through crypto at a business, they can simply use their digital wallet to pay.

A business accepting crypto payments can use either of the two options:

Directly through a crypto wallet.
Through a crypto payment gateway.

How can small businesses benefit from crypto payments?

Apart from the benefits for accepting crypto benefits, small businesses that accept crypto payments can take out crypto loans. To get a crypto loan, you need to have a certain amount of crypto. Accepting crypto payments will give you access to more crypto, without having to invest in it directly. However, as with all things in crypto, you must DYOR to find credible lenders who give you reasonable credit against your crypto collateral. Lack of access to financing is one of the chief obstacles that small businesses face. Accepting crypto payments can help eliminate this.

Even so, the technical aspect of setting up a cryptocurrency payment solution may sound intimidating to a business owner. In such a case, you can use a cryptocurrency payment gateway like IN4X Global. Their crypto payment solution accepts crypto payments for both online and offline businesses. Moreover, their helps you convert your cryptocurrency into fiat. Hence, even when you accept crypto payments, you can choose to receive the settlement in cryptocurrency or fiat.
A majority of crypto payment gateways have tie-ups or host their own wallets that enable crypto payments. However, IN4X Global Payment Gateway is wallet-agnostic. Hence, a consumer can pay using any wallet of their choice. This means more freedom for the consumer.

IN4X Global is a gateway to build a transparent financial economy that is powered by crypto and accessible to all.