Why We Accept Bitcoin Payments…

It’s been quite some time since we announced that Qabiria was the first translation agency to accept Bitcoin payments on our blog back in 2011.

And many transactions have passed through the computers of Bitcoin miners since the early days of the cryptocurrency world, when using these tools seemed like the reserve of an elite few. Blockchain technology was like shark-infested waters that were too dangerous to even dip your toe into.

Remembering, and reminding ourselves, how much the best-known cryptocurrency was worth in euro at the time we first wrote about it (just look at the figures in the original article if you’re curious ...and brave, enough), is just painful.

Especially if we think about what would have happened if more clients had decided to pay for our translation or consulting services in Bitcoin at the time... Scary as novelties may be, the risk-reward balance is often worth careful consideration at least.

The age of hooded hackers trawling the depths of the internet for Bitcoin is now over. Cryptocurrencies are no longer simply speculative tools, that is, they are no longer only used as high-risk financial investments that might just be very profitable if timed right.

Today, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are just one more way of exchanging money that is being adopted by more “conventional” businesses to receive payments from consumers and, ultimately, for transactions between them and other businesses, which on average have much higher value.

In the cryptocurrency ecosystem, developers tend to predict user demands rather than follow them. Novelties come one after another, with solutions that make using Bitcoin more accessible and more valuable, and not only in everyday life.

Stablecoins, for example, were created as a response to the still extremely volatile nature of these tools. And what about the large number of engineers offering to facilitate B2B transactions in Bitcoin, which at this point are no longer just mysterious and indecipherable platforms, but solid and reliable infrastructures?

Now, considering the air of suspicion that continues to hang around cryptocurrencies anyway - which is not always unreasonable - let’s first try to play devil’s advocate and see why you shouldn’t accept payments in Bitcoin.

The cons of Bitcoin

• Volatility: One of the most off-putting things about cryptocurrencies is their volatility. Volatility is an indication of how often and in what amounts the price of a certain financial tool changes over time. The volatility of these tools is here to stay (due as much to financial factors as social ones, and more) and it’s reasonable to believe we will have to reckon with that for quite some time. If for financial reasons, or even just out of preference, the idea that a part of your earnings could have a variable or even “unknown” value doesn’t sit right with you, then investing in Bitcoin is probably not a good idea.
• The learning curve: There’s no denying that the crypto world remains complex to this day, so expect a learning and experimentation period before you jumping head first into managing your money with something like Bitcoin. To avoid any nasty surprises, you will need to know which programs and platforms to manage these with, and to understand how and when to work with the available cryptocurrencies. Or, alternatively, you could simply work with trusted and trained partners.

Now lets talk instead about the pros, the facts that convinced us, as well as many others, to open up to Bitcoin.

The pros of Bitcoin

• Volatility: sure, the value of Bitcoin fluctuates rapidly over time, but who said this is always a bad thing? And what if, at the end of the year, instead of a nasty shock, you get a pleasant surprise when you find the value of your Bitcoin wallet has increased? Over the last year, its value has actually remained relatively stable, and the panic caused by the crash (which must be understood as a relative term, since the value of Bitcoin has actually increased enormously over the last 5 years) two years ago should not cancel out the general trend of solid growth which many experts predict will continue into the long term.

  Let’s be clear, we’re not saying you should invest all your savings in cryptocurrencies as an alternative way of earning money, but just consider the idea that an element of volatility could be a real financial advantage to your business. But be careful! Before calling all your clients to insist they pay you exclusively in Bitcoin from now on, the essential condition to actually benefit from all this is to have the right...

• Differentiation: If you have ever heard a financial guru talk for over a minute, you will surely have heard of this concept. This mysterious “differentiation” is nothing more than the practice of dividing the total amount of your money up between different tools. It usually involves a combination of high-risk investments (such as Bitcoin), low-risk investments, and immediately accessible funds (such as a current account). Having part of your finances in cryptocurrencies is a way of differentiating your finances with a tool that correlates poorly with economic cycles and without having to pay commissions to banks or intermediaries.

  If this seems too complicated or like it doesn’t concern your company, when it comes down to it, you will have to deal with it whether you want to or not, even if only in cases where you receive foreign payments, so with a value that can never be precisely predicted. Fluctuations in financial value are, in short, a natural part of business. If we apply the right differentiation, it shouldn’t give us too much of a headache whether it’s Bitcoin, foreign currency, or something else. This is especially true if you work in an international field, which brings us to the third pro, which is:

• The global value of Bitcoin: whether you make your money in Malaysia or Canada or South Africa, and spend it in Europe, Argentina or Japan, none of this matters when it comes to Bitcoin. Anyone with an internet connection can own Bitcoin, and no matter where you are in the world, its value is the same. This has the double-edged advantage of not requiring multiple conversions between different currencies and not being subject to the often high rates that financial institutions impose on international transactions. Currencies managed via blockchain are, by definition, exchangeable without owing fees to anyone, because the security of the transaction is guaranteed by the technology itself. Many cryptocurrency platforms charge a small account management fee, which is a far cry from paying per trade or just for depositing money, as is often the case for traditional institutions. In a nutshell, there are no fees for exchanging Bitcoin in itself. If anything, it pays to delegate the more technical parts of the trade to others and always have your cryptocurrencies readily available. In this regard, as a business you can hardly make the most of your earnings if you have to walk all the way to Malaysia just to get it, but you also need to be conscious of...

• Liquidity: Cryptocurrencies were designed to give the power of owning your own money in the most free way possible back to end users. If you choose well between the interfaces available to manage them, and trust in a simple and transparent system - which at this point is still more the rule than the exception, though it is always necessary to do at least a little research beforehand - your Bitcoin is always available and ready to use without any kind of restrictions (time resting in an account, quantity, etc.). This is a real advantage for financial management purposes, and especially so if we consider that everything is done in a secure way when it comes to technology and privacy.