BitPay Implementation Guide: Accept Crypto as a payment method in the Caribbean.
Welcome to the how to guide for implementing BitPay within the Caribbean. For a complete overview of all solutions and more guides: CBN Medium
Guide BitPay implementation
The requirements to implement BitPay are the following:
- In-store internet
- Mobile phone or tablet (Apple,Android)
- BitPay account (email needed)
- Bitcoin wallet (Such as, a BitPay Wallet, Copay Wallet, Mycelium Wallet, Airbitz Wallet,Electrum Wallet, Bitcoin Core Wallet, Bitcoin.com Wallet,BRD Wallet (breadwallet) )
Step 1: Create a BitPay account
To use BitPay services first you have to sign up for a business account (start here). Fill in your organization name, first and last name & Use your email address and add a strong password.
Step 2: Verify account
After creating your account you want to verify your email and add additional information about your business.
Step 3: Choose plan
Once you have been verified you can now choose the plan that fits your business.
The two plans BitPay offers are Starters plan and the business plan.
Starters plan:
- Free
- 30 transactions per month
- Up to 1000$ a day
- Single User Login Access
- Email support
- Core Features
Settlement Options:
- Daily Bitcoin Settlements
- Weekly Bank Settlements (Not for banks in the Caribbean region)
Business plan:
This plan offers unlimited processing and daily settlement for a 1% service fee. The 1% fee is assessed on each paid invoice as part of the settlement process.
Say your customer pays a 100 USD invoice. The invoice price (100 USD) is credited to your merchant ledger, and a 1% fee (1 USD in this case) is debited from your ledger.
Note: BitPay is still considered a third-party service and you will be paying a 1% fee to BitPay on each transaction.
Step 4: Add a bank account
Once you have completed step 3 you are ready to add a bank account which you can see view here:
Once you clicked on “Add a Bank Account” you will see two options, “add a bank account or add bitcoin address shown here:
If you are implementing BitPay in the Caribbean or other unsupported regions then you cannot receive settlements via the BitPay bank account option. Due to the majority of the banks within this region being “blacklisted” by the FAFT as explained in the general overview.
This leads to the borderless option “add bitcoin address”. With this option, you will be able to receive bitcoin in your own or multi hosted bitcoin wallet. However, before we can add a bitcoin address we need to download a bitcoin wallet. The by BitPay recommended secure wallets for bitcoin are:
Download one of the wallets viewed in the image and copy your bitcoin address from the wallet to your BitPay account. If you do not know how the wallet works or what a bitcoin wallet is please click here for explanation.
Step 5: Install point of sale app
After completed step 4 Now it is time to add and pair your BitPay point of sale app with your BitPay account. To do that first click on “Payment tools” (red arrow) and then click on “Point of Sale App” (green arrow):
Now, this is where you will take the device (smartphone/ tablet) which you intend to use in-store and pair it with your BitPay account. To pair it first you have to download the point of sale app “Bitcoin Checkout” (available for Android or IOS). Once you have downloaded it on your device.
You want to click on “Add New Pairing Code” where a pairing code will appear:
To add the pairing code to your device: Start the application → click Get started → name the device → add the pairing code presented on your BitPay account.
To choose the currency for your bitcoin payment in the app, Go to Settings → Payment flow → Select the desired currency.
That is it!
Now your device is paired with your BitPay account and you are ready to accept Bitcoin!
IMPORTANT: That this guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services in the Caribbean region. It’s written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.
Created by Ruben Russel
Please consider leaving some claps if this guide was helpfull to you!
If you have any questions or require assistance you can reach out to info@caribbeanblockchain.net
Website: https://www.caribbeanblockchain.net/
Sources
According to the website page (https://support.bitpay.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005701523)
According to the website page (https://support.bitpay.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000665486-How-do-I-set-up-BitPay-Checkout-for-accepting-retail-payments-)
According to the website page (https://bitpay.com/docs/settlement)
