If you run an e-commerce company selling products and services, payment methods are a critical consideration. The most common options include credit cards, cash on delivery, and debit cards.
There are also recent electronic methods such as PayPal and Apple Pay that are gaining popularity among consumers. It is only natural to trust the more established methods because these pose a lesser risk for your business.
But, considering how PayPal and Apply Pay have only been around for several years, it only means that there is also room for other innovative payment methods – such as blockchain.
What is blockchain or cryptocurrency?
Simply put, blockchain is a form of digital asset. It is valuable for business because of cryptographic protocols that guarantee secure and authentic transactions. The best part? Using blockchain eliminates the need for banks.
Have online businesses today started using cryptocurrency? Yes, absolutely. Online-based companies that want to give their customers a more secure and private way to pay can accept blockchain such as Bitcoin.
A bingo site, for example, has clients from everywhere around the world. Accepting cryptocurrency, in addition to traditional payment methods, means customers are not affected by banking regulations and interference from the government.
How to use cryptocurrency for online transactions?
Many people assume that blockchain is only used for investing. On the contrary, there are many ways you can use this type of digital asset. For payment processing, you need a digital wallet, which is either an application or software.
This wallet will contain private keys, public keys, and unique identifiers that designate token ownership.
You can compare a digital wallet to your bank account, but without the regulation and centralization that banks impose on your account. It is essential to note that a certain kind of digital wallet can only store and transact using a single type of cryptocurrency.
If you are looking for a digital wallet that will work best for business purposes, you need one that can transact different kinds of currencies.
Hard and soft wallets used to transact blockchain
Another critical concept to understand is that your digital wallet can either be hard or soft. A hard wallet refers to a physical device used to store private keys. The advantage of this option is that keeping your keys offline means hackers cannot easily access them.
However, there is always the danger of losing the device. Nevertheless, this type of wallet is best used when you have a large amount of crypto you use to transact online or to make investments.
On the other hand, a soft wallet means an online platform used to process crypto transactions. There are many of these platforms that operate today, and most of them cater to business users.
What is great about this option is that you can conveniently have the application or software installed on your phone or computer. In choosing a platform to use for your business, you need to compare features so that you can choose one that best caters to your needs.