Since its inception, Bitcoin has seen a lot of strides. What was once an idea has become today’s most popular cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $715.43B USD as of writing this. It has attracted the attention of everyone, from huge investment firms to businesses and individuals.

Giant companies like Ferrari, Etsy, Home Depot, and many more have started accepting Bitcoin payments. Have you ever wondered what makes Bitcoin a better alternative to fiat currency? In this blog, we will compare fiat with Bitcoins and explore the benefits of accepting crypto payments. We will also learn how you can enable Bitcoin transactions on your online/offline platform for free with Speed. If that sounds exciting, let’s get going!

Fiat vs. Bitcoin payment gateway

Both fiat and Bitcoin payment gateways can help you collect payments via your online/offline channels. However, there are many subtle indifferences that set them apart. Let’s look at a few:

• Transaction Speed

Transactions made via traditional payment processors can take days or weeks to settle. For international payments, it can take even longer than that. Moreover, if any of the intermediaries are unable to verify your transaction, it will inevitably fail.

That’s not all.

Any payment made via traditional payment methods follows the bank’s schedule. This means you cannot receive the funds on public holidays or when the bank is closed. Moreover, they charge a premium for faster settlements, account maintenance, and support.

On the contrary, any payment you receive via a Bitcoin payment gateway, be it domestic or international, will be transferred immediately to your wallet, even on festivals or bank holidays. This is because Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer electronic payment system that eliminates all the intermediaries from a transaction.

• Processing fees

Traditional payment processors levy several fees, including platform charges, transaction fees, etc. On average, merchants end up paying up to 3.5% of the total transaction value to payment processors. For international transactions, the fees can erode a significant chunk of the payment.

However, if you transact via Bitcoins, you only pay a network fee, which can be as low as $1 or even less, depending on the network congestion. Whether you transact internationally or run a local coffee shop, Bitcoin transactions will be significantly cheaper to process and can help you save hundreds of thousands of dollars every month.

In 2021, a transaction worth $2 billion was processed for a fee of only 0.00001713 BTC. That’s just $0.78.

If you had to receive $2 billion via credit cards or banks, it would cost you 70 million dollars, not to mention the weeks of processing time, regulatory limitations, and other concerns influencing your transaction.

• Control and governance

Banks and payment processing companies are heavily regulated financial institutions. They can freeze your payment or reverse it anytime without prior notice. Any payment you receive via credit card or a bank is also vulnerable to fraudulent chargebacks.

That’s not the case with Bitcoin. Transactions made via Blockchain are peer-to-peer and permanent. As such, there are no intermediaries involved in Bitcoin transactions, and hence, no one can control your funds or reverse them.

• Accessibility

Nearly one-fourth of the global population is unbanked. These are the people who lack access to banking services like fund remittances, electronic transfers, credit/debit cards, loans, etc. They cannot complete their purchases via a fiat payment processor.

While banks cannot reach everyone, Bitcoin can. Anyone with access to the internet can send and receive Bitcoins. Thus, integrating a Bitcoin payment gateway will help you serve customers worldwide, even the ones who lack access to banking services.

• Security

Time and again, hackers have exploited traditional payment processors and stolen everything from hundreds of millions of dollars to customer identities and credit card information. A while ago, Juspay, a company that processes payments for  Amazon and Swiggy, reported a major data breach where information of over 100 million debit and credit card users was leaked on the dark web.

Such incidents are rare and almost obsolete with Bitcoin payment processors, as no user data is stored online. All Bitcoin transactions are private and anonymous. Moreover, no one can initiate a transaction without your private key. Thus, all your data and funds will remain safe with a Bitcoin payment processor.

Start accepting Bitcoin payments with Speed

Being a leading payment processor, Speed has helped businesses of every size and scale enable peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions across their online and offline channels. As a platform, Speed harnesses futuristic technology to offer cutting-edge features and bank-grade security to its users.

From dynamic payment QRs to prebuilt checkout pages, Speed offers useful payment features to collect payments on the go. Whether you run a local shop or collect payments internationally, Speed has you covered with its diverse payment options. Here are a few things that make Speed stand out:

• Lowest transaction fees: You can start accepting payments with Speed for free. Only a 1% transaction fee will be applicable once your total payment volume exceeds 0.5 BTC.

• No KYC: No need to go through strenuous verification processes to start accepting Bitcoins. To get started with Speed, all you need is a valid email address.

• Maximum security: Hosted on secure AWS servers, Speed offers maximum security to ensure your data remains intact.

• 24×7 customer support: Our customer support team will always remain at your disposal whenever you need help.

• Developer-friendly: Our ready-made plug-and-play extensions and APIs make it super easy to integrate Speed with your platform/framework.

• Feature-rich: Whether you trade online or have an offline dispensary, Speed has a wide range of payment options for collecting Bitcoin payments through every channel. 

Final words

If you’re a merchant or business owner, it’s about time to adopt Bitcoin. It will not only help you attract more customers but also enhance your user experience. Bitcoin offers 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. Our diverse payment options and intuitive UI will give you an edge over your competitors. Register now to start accepting Bitcoin payments with Speed.