Bitcoin for Businesses
Bitcoin lets your business accept secure payments directly from customers.
Choose your own fees
There is no fee to receive bitcoins, and many wallets let you control how large a fee to pay when spending. Most wallets have reasonable default fees, and higher fees can encourage faster confirmation of your transactions. The fee depends on the size of the transaction in data, not on the amount of value being sent, so moving a large amount does not by itself cost more than moving a small one.
Protection against fraud
Any business that accepts credit cards or online payment services knows the problem of payments that are later reversed. These reversals, called chargebacks, can be abused: chargeback fraud results in limited market reach and increased prices, which in turn penalizes customers. Bitcoin payments are irreversible and secure, meaning that the cost of fraud is no longer pushed onto the shoulders of the merchants.
Fast international payments
Sending bitcoins across borders is as easy as sending them across the street. There are no banks to make you wait three business days and no special limitations on the minimum or maximum amount you can send. You pay the network fee you choose, the same whether the payment crosses the street or the planet.
No PCI compliance required
Accepting credit cards online typically requires extensive security checks to comply with the PCI standard, a set of rules for handling customers' card data. Bitcoin still requires you to secure your wallet and your payment requests, however, you do not carry the costs and responsibilities that come with processing sensitive information from your customers like with credit card numbers.
Reach bitcoin customers
A growing number of people hold bitcoin and look for places to spend it. Accepting Bitcoin lets your business reach these customers.
Multi-signature
Bitcoin includes a multi-signature feature: bitcoins can be set up so that spending them requires approval from several people instead of just one. This can be used by a board of directors, for example, to prevent members from making expenditures without enough consent from other members, as well as to track which members permitted particular transactions.
Accounting transparency
Many organizations are required to produce accounting documents about their activity. Using Bitcoin allows you to offer the highest level of transparency since you can provide information to verify balances and transactions through the blockchain. For example, non-profit organizations can allow the public to see how much they receive in donations.
Accept fast payments with Lightning
The Lightning Network lets your business accept bitcoin payments that settle near-instantly with minimal fees, even for small amounts. Point-of-sale systems and open-source payment tools support Lightning at checkout. See Lightning resources for more.
