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How to Accept Bitcoin Payments

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The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedFeb 20222 min read

Knowing how to accept Bitcoin payments and other cryptocurrencies is becoming increasingly important for online businesses all over the world. This is partly because it makes it easier to pay and receive payment by removing the need for a third party such as a bank.

The manual process for Bitcoin payments is actually very simple, initiated by the customer facilitating a payment from their crypto wallet. All they need is the recipient’s crypto payment address. Alternatively, businesses can generate a QR code for customers to scan and make the payment that way. Another way is to use a cryptocurrency payment processor or learn how to accept Bitcoin with PayPal’s new crypto payment feature.

Here we explain how to accept Bitcoin payments.

How to accept Bitcoin with PayPal

PayPal has recently added a new feature that allows people to pay PayPal-affiliated merchants with cryptocurrencies. If your business is a part of the PayPal network, you will be able to accept Bitcoin payments. However, the service doesn’t allow merchants to keep the cryptocurrency they have been paid with as it is immediately converted into the currency of choice, such as pounds, euros or dollars.

This obviously isn’t a good option if you intend to keep hold of the cryptocurrency. But it does work well for any company that wants to provide the Bitcoin payment option to customers without worrying about fluctuations in cryptocurrency value.

Bitcoin payment processors

There are multiple dedicated Bitcoin payment processors which have varying methods of processing a Bitcoin payment. Most charge between 0.5-1% for each transaction processing fee, which is less than many credit cards.

We’ll briefly describe a few of the more popular Bitcoin payment processors below, but it is worthwhile researching each of them in-depth yourself to identify the ideal processor for your business. The popular processors that let you accept Bitcoin payments are:

BitPay
CoinBase Commerce
CoinPayments
GoCoin
TripleA
NOWPayments

BitPay

BitPay is one of the most well-known cryptocurrency payment processors. It provides a variety of tools that can integrate with a website to simplify the Bitcoin payment acceptance process. These tools include hosted checkout, payment buttons and invoicing. Your customers will be able to make payments through your website or by email, and even in person.

CoinBase commerce

CoinBase is a popular marketplace for trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and their CoinBase Commerce product lets businesses accept Bitcoin payments themselves. They provide everything you need to accept Bitcoin payments such as hosted checkout pages, payment buttons and invoicing.

CoinPayments

CoinPayments has been helping businesses accept cryptocurrencies all over the world for the best part of a decade. It has established a reliable reputation as a Bitcoin payment processor for both online and in-person transactions. It offers a variety of excellent plug-ins and integrations and only charges 0.5% per transaction.

GoCoin

GoCoin has been around just as long as CoinPayments and is also well established as a reliable Bitcoin payment processor. It enables businesses to accept a wide range of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, as well as EOS, Ethereum, Dash and Litecoin.

TripleA

TripleA is moving into its fourth year helping businesses accept cryptocurrency payments. Its unique approach offers a developer-focused approach with plenty of flexibility. It enables businesses to accept Bitcoin payments online, by email and in person, as well as providing tools for invoicing and remittance.

NOWPayments

Another relatively new crypto payment processor is NowPayments. It charges a nice low fee as most processors do, and its Bitcoin payment processing method is very easy to understand and get to grips with. It offers a huge range of crypto currencies and lets you exchange them into a currency of your choosing.

We can help

If you’re interested in finding out more about how to accept Bitcoin payments, or any other aspect of your business finances, then get in touch with our financial experts at GoCardless. Find out how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.