How to accept Bitcoin payments with BitcoinPay

How to accept Bitcoin payments with BitcoinPay Bitcoin, the currency of the modern era, has been available long enough to change the gam...

How to accept Bitcoin payments with BitcoinPay

Bitcoin, the currency of the modern era, has been available long enough to change the game of our financial systems. It is an open source encrypted payment system, which has no central authority and does not have old financial institutions like banks. Instead, it offers a completely anonymous solution for trading goods and services, contributing to the growing Bitcoin economy. In this article, we will review the steps necessary to open a Bitcoin merchant account, which will allow you to accept payments from your customers in Bitcoin, whether or not you are a website.

Before starting with the technical side of things, here's a brief introduction so you can quickly learn what Bitcoin is.

With Bitcoin, each transaction makes the currency stronger. Like the Internet, Bitcoin can also be used across borders, ignoring country restrictions and local regulations.

However, as an electronic payment system, Bitcoin is predominantly used online and requires an initial setup from anyone who wants to use it.

When you are finished reading this, you can start accepting Bitcoin as a payment method in your ecommerce store, or embed it in your store or construction business.

To start accepting Bitcoins:

Choose your Bitcoin payment processing provider (PSP) and open a Bitcoin account .

There are several websites that offer bitcoin management services, such as Bitpay, Coinify and Bitcoinpay. Each of these companies charges different fees and has slightly different resources, so research to find the one that’s right for you.

Going back to bitcoinpay.com , setting up the account is actually quite easy. Just click on the “Accept Bitcoin” button, enter your email and that's it, you're ready to go.

(When we started researching this article, we tried to open a bitpay account, but after filling in some information, we found that bitpay does not support Israeli accounts. For demonstration purposes, we will use butcoinpay.com.)

Remove restrictions by adding your bank account information

Although Bitcoin transactions are anonymous, new accounts are limited to USD 1,000 of transactions per month by default. To remove this limitation, merchants must provide their personal information for verification purposes. They may include a copy of your ID or passport, names and addresses of company directors and address of the merger.

Choose your currency

After opening your account, you will be asked which currency you want your bitcoins to convert to when they are paid into your bank account. Although rates and exchange rates are slightly different on each PSP, Bitcoinpay recommends working with the EUR, as it will drastically reduce the amount of fees paid for each transaction.

As for prices, you can charge your end customers in USD currency and still get paid in EUR. The exchange rate from USD to EUR is provided at the SPOT exchange rate and does not involve a commission.

Accept Bitcoin payments at your point of sale

Now that your account is set up, you are ready to start accepting payments with Bitcoin.

For a construction business, the simplest way to do this is to send an email to your customers with a payment link. Alternatively, you can provide your customers with a unique QR code, which can be generated on the Bitcoinpay website.

Of course, customers who wish to pay with Bitcoin must have their own Bitcoin wallet configuration.

Accept Bitcoin payments on your website

BitcoinPay offers an API that can be integrated with most e-commerce platforms today, including websites and mobile apps. Code samples with simulated server tests are available in php, java, python, Ruby, Perl and many others. They even have a button generator designed for laymen.

But here's the best part: If you don't know how to code, you can still integrate Bitcoinpay with ease by downloading one of its dedicated plugins for Opencart, Magento, Prestashop and Woocommerce. Just navigate to the developers section and download the necessary plugin. Then upload it to your website's backend and adjust the settings according to your needs.

How are payments sent and received ?

To give you a better idea of ​​how Bitcoin really works, here is the sequence of actions that occur when a customer presses the “Pay with Bitcoin” button.

What to do next ?

After getting paid with Bitcoin, you have several options:

• Keep bitcoins in your Bitcoin wallet for use in your own purchases.
• Automatically convert and deposit bitcoins into your bank account. You can set a certain deposit limit or set recurring deposit dates.
• The Split option allows you to define the amount of Bitcoin earnings that should be deposited at your bank and how many should remain in your Bitcoin wallet.

The options above are some very basic examples of how money can be automated with Bitcoin. Many other actions can be configured and automated according to your business needs, such as paying employee salaries, creating new orders from suppliers when inventory is low, or paying bills, in countries that allow it. Watch this inspiring video from Andreas Antonolpoulos to get an overview of some of the things you can do with Bitcoin.

To summarize, although Bitcoin is still far behind in competition with traditional financial systems, it is clear that this incredibly flexible currency is here to stay and can change our lives forever. Join this trend by signing up for a Bitcoin account today.