Why Small Businesses in the Near Future Will Be Accepting Crypto Payments
Even though cryptocurrency is in its relative infancy, financial analysts from around the globe believe that it will soon be the leading payment of choice for small businesses. This is partly due to a growing interest among consumers who have been hearing how much safer crypto is than fiat. There is no doubt that there is substance to that way of thinking and although blockchain technology may be the new kid on the block, the benefits it promises to offer are enough to interest even the most diehard of traditionalists. With that said, here is some of what those analysts use as the basis for their predictions.
Replacing Flawed Hierarchical Structure of Centralized Payments
It seems as if every morning we wake up to news that some major corporation or government body has been hacked, leaking sensitive information from millions of users’ accounts. Not only is identity theft at stake, but more so are all those bank accounts and financial holdings at risk. This is because of the flawed structure of how information is now supplied on the internet as we know it.
Today’s payments that go back and forth between businesses and consumers go through several nodes that can be easily cracked. Crypto, like Ethereum (ETH), exists nowhere but in cyberspace as a digital entry that can be traced, but not identifiable as belonging to any one person or entity. It is highly encrypted, and those ledgers are held on a global network of millions of computers, and no one computer actually has all the information identifying that account. The only way to hack ETH would be to attack a minimum of half those global computers simultaneously, and that is a literal impossibility.
Each Crypto Is a Global Digital Currency
No matter where a consumer lives, their crypto holds the same value as everywhere else around the globe. The value of ETH, as an example, can change throughout the day but there is only one currency to follow on the Ethereum Price Index such as that posted on the OKX website. While it can still be converted into a national fiat, you could take 1 ETH and spend it in Australia, and it can be accepted in every other country around the world as well.
A crypto is a crypto and holds the same value everywhere. There are no Euros, Australian Dollars, Great British Pounds and so forth in crypto although they exist in the material world. These can be counterfeited, but not so Ethereum or Bitcoin. There is only one digital entry and that cannot be duplicated or destroyed. If it’s there, it’s there forever and there can only be one holder/owner at a time.
No Middleman to Eat Profits
Here is the really awesome feature of accepting crypto as payment in a small business. Since there is only one ledger entry per crypto unit and there is no Central Bank or credit card processing company involved, there are no ‘middleman fees.’ Payment goes directly from the owner/holder to the business for payment. Can you imagine all the fraudulent chargebacks that can be avoided this way? That costs merchants hundreds of millions of pounds each year and that savings can be passed along to consumers. Small businesses are more secure, and consumers reap the benefits. That’s why small businesses will soon be accepting crypto across the board.