How to Accept and Manage Crypto Payments for Your Business

(Updated in June 2023)

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With a growing number of large businesses starting to accept crypto, should your business start using crypto? As crypto cements itself as an asset class that is widely held and owned, you may begin to encounter clients who ask “can I pay in crypto?”.

We’ll start by explaining the crypto benefits for business – there are many reasons that it’s becoming so popular. Next up, we’ll share a step-by-step guide that explains how to get your business started with crypto.

By the end of this article, you’ll know how to combine crypto and your traditional business workflow processes.

Why accept crypto payments?

There are good reasons organizations should consider accepting payments in crypto, or make payments for their operating expenses in crypto.

1. Speed & Cost

Faster transaction speeds : Crypto payment rails often have faster settlement speeds than even some neobanks and fintech payment processors, allowing for quicker and more efficient transactions. 

Blockchain networks, especially Layer 2s typically have lower transaction fees than neobanks and fintech payment
processors, leading to cost savings on high transaction volumes.

2. Global reach

Crypto payment rails are not limited by geographical boundaries, allowing businesses to easily conduct transactions with customers and partners in other countries.

Using a global, internet-native payments system also enables your organization to hire talent, and operate without borders. This allows your organization to grow faster, and enter markets faster.

By accepting crypto for your business, you gain much more than access to this fast-growing global market. As so many new crypto projects experienced radical growth – the 10 biggest gained more than 1700% in 2021 – the customer segment that uses crypto is often extremely wealthy. Forward-thinking businesses are positioning themselves to tap this market. We can see how quickly this market is growing if we look at the total value of cryptocurrency payments processed through the Request Finance app. Since September 2020, over $150 million of cryptocurrency payments have been paid. 

3. Embedded DeFi

Crypto also enables your organization to offer far more innovative embedded DeFi services at a scale and cost unmatched by Web2 fintechs.

From staking and lending, escrow smart contracts, programmatic loyalty rewards, and even Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) smart
contract platforms like Teller Finance, and BNPL Pay.

4. No censorship

Lastly, but certainly not least, crypto payments are censorship-resistant. As highlighted in the earlier chapter on fiat banking, having your funds frozen or worse, confiscated is a real risk many businesses have discovered.
Traditional payment processors can also charge merchants higher fees, impose stricter limits on transactions, or even deny service fi they deem merchants to be at high risk or objectionable.

So why accept crypto payments is no longer a question, but a statement.

A guide to using crypto in your business

We’ll take you step-by-step through everything you need to begin sending and accepting cryptocurrency invoices.

Step 1: The wallet

You can think of your wallet as a bank account – it’s where your funds are kept. Your bank has an account number people can pay, your wallet has an address that achieves the same function.

If you’re just getting started with crypto we recommend making an account on one of the big exchanges – Coinbase or Binance. It’s much more convenient (we’ll explain more in step 3).

Once you’ve registered with your preferred service, all that’s left is finding your deposit address. In Binance the process is as follows:

1. Click Wallet‍

2. Choose Fiat and Spot

3. Search for the coin you want a wallet address for

4. Click Deposit

5. Confirm the details and your unique wallet address will be generated

Step 2: The invoice

Traditional invoicing solutions aren’t designed for crypto. That’s where Request Finance comes in. It’s designed to make requesting and receiving crypto payments as simple as possible.

It comes with everything you’d expect of an invoicing solution: cross-currency support, reminder emails, and built-in compliance for tax. Add the wallet address you generated earlier, and you can send professional-looking invoices in just 8 seconds.

Paying invoices in crypto is simplified with Request Finance too. One-click payment means there’s a lower risk of human error – such as mistakes when copy-and-pasting wallet addresses. Everything is recorded in your transaction history to make things easy for your accountant.

Unlike traditional banking, there’s almost no wait time for this. It’s known as real-time settlement. As soon as the invoice is paid, the funds are transferred and the invoice is automatically marked as complete.

Both parties benefit because there’s no human verification required. Whenever a payment is made it’s added to the blockchain. Request Finance will automatically read the blockchain and confirm the payment. No human needs to manually acknowledge the payment – it’s a trustless system.