The definition of commerce changed when the first book was ordered from Amazon in July 1995. Nowadays, pretty much everything can be ordered online — from groceries to a UFO detector and everything in between. Consumers prefer online shopping as its simple, fast, easy, and convenient.

“Total transaction value in the Digital Payments market is projected to reach US$9.46tn in 2023.” — Statista

While online commerce has evolved significantly, traditional payment processors haven’t changed much. Even today, most traditional payment processors lack essential features like scan to pay and offer limited payment options.

With the use of virtual currencies on the rise, it’s about time for payment processors to start accepting crypto payments.

As per a report from Checkout.com, 77% of merchants who chose to accept crypto payments saw an increase in international sales. If you’re seeking to attract more merchants, you should start offering crypto payment services.

In this blog, we have highlighted the top 7 reasons why you should enable crypto payments for your customers.

7 reasons why payment processors should embrace cryptocurrency

• Cater diverse demographic

Merchants seeking to accept crypto payments come from diverse industries — from marijuana to gambling and entertainment. These industries are prohibited from using traditional payment methods like credit/debit cards and bank transfers in some regions. Thus, if you support crypto transactions, you can help hundreds of thousands of businesses belonging to those industries.

• Minimize payment processing fees

Processing Bitcoin payments is 3 times cheaper than credit/debit card transactions. You can offer the lowest payment processing fees on crypto transactions. This will not only attract more merchants but also help you minimize your infrastructure expenses.

• Enable seamless global transactions

You can facilitate seamless cross-border transactions in real-time through crypto. Merchants won’t have to rely on credit card companies or banks to process transactions — which may take days or weeks to go through. With crypto, they can get paid in minutes.

• Skip through the costly and inconvenient currency conversions

If your merchants are frequently transferring funds from one country to another, the conversion rates can take a significant chunk of their payment. However, all the payments made through digital currencies do not incur any conversion fees or additional charges.

• Cryptocurrency has a 99% acceptance rate

Payment is declined when a transaction is rejected by the payment gateway, processor, or the bank issuing the money. According to a report by Bridgerpay, 62% of customers who experience a failed transaction won’t ever return again. The global average for rejected transactions was 6% for international purchases and 3.4% for domestic orders. Payment failures lead to cart abandonment and lost sales.

With crypto, the payment rejection rate is almost nil. All crypto payments go through Blockchain — and are verified by all the users via consensus. In fact, top crypto payment gateways, like Speed, offer a 99% acceptance rate despite the lowest transaction fees.

• Faster settlements

Crypto payments have the fastest settlement cycle — whether it’s a local, domestic, or international payment. Most payments are settled almost immediately in about 10 minutes. That’s much faster than other traditional payment means, which take days or weeks to settle. Offering faster settlement cycles will help you deliver a better customer experience and maximize merchant sign-ups.

• Attract more merchants

By supporting crypto along with other payment methods, you can attract new merchants who want to offer their customers the flexibility to pay however they wish. More merchants mean an increase in profits and a sustainable revenue stream.

Can Bitcoin and cryptocurrency completely replace our existing financial system?

Time and again, central banks’ policies have adversely affected the economy. We saw it with the 2008 financial crisis and then again with the 2023 bank collapses that affected millions of businesses and individuals.

The crisis unearthed the vulnerabilities of our banking system — where a central authority dictates the economic fortune of entire countries. And if things go south, it’s the consumer who has to bear all the consequences.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can solve that with their decentralized nature and peer-to-peer technology. It allows users to send and receive payments anywhere, anytime, without involving any intermediaries like banks or credit card companies.

Bitcoin solves three major problems in one go:

1. It cannot be counterfeited: Every Bitcoin is unique and secured by cryptography, making it virtually impossible to spend the same coin twice.

2. It’s decentralized: Every transaction on the Bitcoin network has to be approved by nodes before it’s included in the ledger — making it trustworthy and uncompromisable.

3. It cannot be inflated: Because there’s no central authority, new Bitcoins cannot be printed at will — making it impossible to inflate its value.

Bitcoin has everything it takes to be an alternative to fiat money and combat the vulnerabilities of our existing banking system.

Final words

If you’re a payment service provider, it’s about time to adopt cryptocurrency. They will not only help you attract more merchants but also enhance their user experience. With crypto, you can offer faster settlement cycles, the lowest transaction fees, and bank-grade security.

Being a leading Bitcoin payment processor, Speed can help you process Bitcoin transactions in real-time. If you’re seeking to add Speed to your payment gateway, get in touch with us, and our experts will be happy to help.