Should Your Small Business Start Accepting Cryptocurrency? What You Need to Know Before You Begin
It’s impossible to open a newspaper, log into your favorite website, or scroll through your newsfeed without hearing about different businesses being influenced by blockchain. With the nearly daily updates on the price of Bitcoin, and discussions about alternative currencies, it can seem overwhelming, confusing, and intimidating.
A question I hear every week is whether or not a small business should start accepting, or investing, in one of these alternative currencies. The fact of the matter is that there are, actually, many alternatives to Bitcoin based on the same underlying technology — blockchain. While the specific trends and currencies may change over time, the underlying technology and implications of blockchain contain several implications that will influence businesses of all sizes.
Drilling specifically into the business applications of this technology there is clear evidence that larger organizations are investing in this technology. From large public accounting firms investing in technology tools, to Amazon purchasing web addresses linked to cryptocurrencies, there is significant investment already occurring in this space, but is this something you and your business should be doing?
Let’s take a look at some of the ways blockchain might impact your business:
At the core of the idea, blockchain technology represents a platform tool that can generate several benefits for your organization. At its core, blockchain is a decentralized ledger or transactions that are recorded in a list of records called blocks. Every organization or entity (including you) is assigned a unique identifier, and equipped with the tools to encrypt and decrypt information communicated via the transaction.
This means that you can do business, and verify that the transactions have been completed without having to call anyone, check your emails, or go visit your anybody in-person.
Blockchain may seem like a mysterious topic, but at the end of the day it can be boiled done to a few important topics.
