How to Accept Bitcoin as a Business (2024 Guide)

Bitcoin is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies that has grown from almost nothing to an all-time high of $68,789 in November 2021. With the rising popularity and increasing adoption, businesses have started taking Bitcoin seriously.

Over 15,000 businesses globally already accept Bitcoin. This includes huge corporations like Virgin Galactic, Etsy, Home Depot, Ferarri, and many more companies. Accepting Bitcoins can not only keep you competitive but also open up opportunities to more customers and often lower processing fees.

In this blog, we will explore the benefits of accepting Bitcoins and learn how you can enable crypto transactions on your website. If that sounds exciting, let’s get going.

How can you start accepting Bitcoins?

You can either build your own Bitcoin payment gateway or sign up with a company (like Speed) that facilitates Bitcoin transfers. Let’s compare both approaches to understand which one is more beneficial.

➢ Building a custom payment gateway from the ground up

Creating a payment gateway from scratch is not an easy job. It requires a lot of resources and can be time-consuming. Here’s how most businesses approach the development of a payment gateway:

Building payment gateway infrastructure: First things first, you will need a robust server to host your gateway. You can either use your own server or rent it from a reputed hosting provider.
Pick a payment processor: Once you have your hosting environment up and running, it’s time to choose a reliable payment processor. You would require a payment processor to execute online transactions. It could be any financial institution or a credit card network. Payment processors act like a bridge between the payment issuer and the receiver.
Creating a robust CRM: Now that you have your infrastructure up and running, it’s time to create a sound system that can manage transactions and customer data. A sound CRM is a comprehensive customer database that keeps all your clients’ data in one place.
Tightening security: When you build a payment gateway from scratch, you are responsible for safeguarding your customers’ data. Moreover, if you are handling credit card transactions, you are required to follow PCI DSS standards.
Get necessary certificates and ensure compliance: In addition to PCI auditing, you will need a 3DS certification from EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa). Along with this, you must adhere to local and regional regulations, which are different for each country.

Creating a payment gateway from scratch is like reinventing the wheel for going from point A to B. It is strenuous, resource-intensive, and expensive. However, if you want to have full control over your payments and your transaction volume is huge — you can consider developing a payment gateway based on your needs. Here are a few pros and cons:

Pros	Cons
Control: You will have full control over your payment system.	High upfront costs: Significant investment in development, hardware, software, and compliance.
Cost-effectiveness: Eliminates monthly and per-transaction fees, leading to long-term savings.	Ongoing maintenance costs: Continuous investment in updates, patches, security enhancements, and bug fixes.
Highly customizable: You can customize the payment platform as per your needs.	Complexity: Requires deep understanding of payment processing technology, security standards, and regulatory compliance.
Integration flexibility: You can integrate it with various payment methods, gateways, and merchant platforms.	Technical expertise: In-house or outsourced expertise is needed for development, maintenance, and integration.
Brand consistency: Seamless integration with existing branding and user experience.	Privacy concerns: Requires strict adherence to data privacy regulations and customer consent protocols.
	Compliance: Responsibility for adhering to evolving payment processing regulations and industry standards.

In most cases, developing a payment gateway from scratch is not advisable as it is resource-intensive and exhaustive. A better way to start collecting payments would be to sign up with a payment gateway (like Speed).

➢ Getting Started with Speed

Speed is one of the most versatile Bitcoin payment gateways, offering a plethora of features to help you collect Bitcoins across your online and offline channels. Our intuitive UI, coupled with user-centric features, makes us stand out from the crowd. Here’s how you can get started with Speed:

• Integrate Speed through APIs

If you are seeking to integrate Speed into your existing application, Speed APIs can help. Upon successful integration, you can use all our features to collect payments on the go, from payment links to checkout sessions and dynamic QRs.

Our APIs are safe to use and easy to integrate. Moreover, we have a large repository of guides and resources to help you get started. If you need further assistance, our experts are just a click away. You can get in touch with our team via live chat, and they will be happy to help.

• Use Speed.js

Speed.js is a ready-to-use JavaScript checkout library that will let you collect Bitcoins from your customers with just a few lines of code. It supports frontend frameworks like Vue.js, React.js, etc.

Learn more: How to Enable Bitcoin Payments On Your Website through Speed.JS?

• Plug-and-play extensions

We have ready-made plugins and extensions for some of the most popular and widely used Content Management Systems, including WordPress, Magento, OpenCart, and many more. These plugins simplify the integration, allowing you to enable Bitcoin payments on your store in just a few clicks.

Signing up with Speed is relatively easy and completely free. No need to invest anything upfront. You can start accepting payments as soon as you sign up. And because Speed is a fully managed payment gateway, you don’t have to worry about hosting, security, compliance, or maintenance. Their team will proactively take care of everything to ensure you experience seamless Bitcoin payments.

Here are a few pros and cons of using a fully managed payment gateway (Speed):

Pros	Cons
No upfront investment: You don’t have to pay anything for registering with Speed. It’s free, forever.	Supports Bitcoin: As Bitcoin is the oldest cryptocurrency, Speed only supports peer-to-peer Bitcoin transfers.
Dedicated support: Speed offers email and chat support to help you with onboarding, integration, troubleshooting, and any payment-related issues.	No fiat conversion: While you can convert your Bitcoins to USDC, you cannot directly transfer Bitcoins to your bank account.
Regular updates: We constantly update our technical infrastructure to ensure your business remains competitive.

Why Speed?

Speed brings cutting-edge features, world-class customer support, and bank-grade security to everyone, from SMEs to giant enterprises. Here are a few things that make Speed stand out:

Easy onboarding: You can sign up with Speed in just a few clicks. All you need is a valid email address to register.
No KYC: No need to go through stringent verification processes or submit any identity proof to get started with Speed.
Lowest transaction fees: You can start accepting payments for free. Speed levies only a 1% transaction fee once your total payment volume exceeds 0.5 BTC ($17,674).
Developer-friendly: With robust plugins and dedicated APIs, Speed can be integrated into any platform or website with little to no technical expertise.
Highly secure: Speed offers several account security features like 2-factor authentication (2FA) and user session management to prevent any unauthorized access to your account.

Final words

Signing up with a pre-built payment processor like Speed is always better than building your own platform. Our cutting-edge payment features and bank-grade security will ensure your every transaction is safe and seamless.

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How to Accept Bitcoin as a Business (2024 Guide)

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How can you start accepting Bitcoins?