Merchants give green lights to cryptos: What coins do they choose?
Businesses and retailers spend sleepless nights and are tirelessly working in order to implement cryptocurrencies. And no matter how world feels about this when merchants struggle for clients and new advantages provided by blockchain technology. 75% of US customers wish to settle for goods and services with cryptocurrencies, according to the CreditCoin’s survey. Are merchants ready to respond to the growing consumers’ demand?
There is great news for crypto enthusiasts! The number of companies including virtual money in their payment options sprouts like mushrooms after the summer rains. Coinmap shows that there are more than 14 thousand venues worldwide accepting Bitcoin (BTC). Moreover, 3,716 new places appeared on Coinmap in a single year!
Bitcoin is on the top
Those vendors who’re going to join the world of crypto payments wonder which coin is the most practical and usable as a payment vehicle. Bitcoin is the most expectable answer to this question because it is more widespread and famous than other cryptocurrencies called altcoins.
For example, 52 major companies including Microsoft, Mozilla, Expedia, and Shopify accept Bitcoin, according to Virtual Coin Squad, the website that tracks cryptocurrency acceptance. Another aggregator, UseBitcoin, shows that more than 5,000 companies have included the oldest coin in their methods of payment. So, it turns out that BTC is the number one choice for businesses as yet.
Who will replace Bitcoin?
Nevertheless, altcoins are not going to give up and intend to topple Bitcoin from the throne. There are more scalable, cheaper, and faster altcoins that have clear competitive advantages and great perspectives. Thus, Dash is more technically developed, Litecoin is known for higher transaction speed while Monero places its stake on better anonymity and security.
Another important thing is that altcoins have lower transaction fees compared to Bitcoin, whose current average transaction fee is $0.267, according to the BitInfoCharts. The service puts the average transaction fee of Litecoin — $0.022, Monero — $0.019, and Dash — $0.014.
What does this mean for retailers and companies without entering into technical details? Altcoins make transactions faster, cheaper and more scalable allowing businesses to smooth the process and receive payments. Besides, projects that develop and bring new altcoins to the market always try to increase their cost-effectiveness and transaction speeds. That’s why vendors begin to understand that accepting only the Bitcoin is a bad idea and it’s time to include more cryptocurrencies to their payment portfolios.
Tools that help merchants manage crypto payments easily
What can an ordinary vendor do to seamlessly process crypto transactions? Payment gateways and applications are one of the most popular solutions. For example, the Lithuanian payment gateway CoinGate allows companies to receive payments in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more than 50 other altcoins. CoinGate entered into a partnership with the French e-commerce platform PrestaShop last year. As a result, more than 80 thousand European vendors joined PrestaShop. This partnership delivered retailers from the necessity of making a choice between various cryptocurrencies.
The payment gateways always add new altcoins to their lists. In summer 2018, the Filipino merchant service PayRemit and the Canada-based processor CoinPayments integrated payments with Noah Coin, which is the internal token of the Noah Project, the blockchain path breaker in Asia.
The Noah Project is building a blockchain-based ecosystem that will cover several industries: international transfers, real estate, and traveling. The project team planning to construct a high-tech center Noah City, develops a vacation spot Noah Resort, as well as creating payment solutions for merchants and customers. For applying Noah Coins within the ecosystem, users will receive a great number of bonuses and privileges.
Noah Coin owners can spend their funds in a wide range of stores, pay for government services, or have a good time at Noah Resort located within Dakak Beach Resort, one of the most picturesque places in the Philippines. Guests can use their Noah Coins here to book accommodation, order sports activities and numerous services, as well as purchasing goods.
The company introduced a crypto wallet that supports not only Noah Coin but also other tokens. Noah Wallet allows users to easily and seamlessly store, receive, and send their digital funds. The Noah Project developed and launched a user-friendly and comfortable tool for vendors, too. This is a crypto payment application named Noah Pay, which enables businesses to receive and customers to pay just in one click through a QR-code.
Cryptocurrencies steadily penetrate into our daily lives. It’s time to start using them in practice right now rather than just to discuss their advantages and benefits. The Noah team believes that the crypto community is growing and would like to make use of their virtual coins at as many places as possible.
The best thing is that merchants are ready to meet this demand and willingly include both Bitcoin and altcoins in their payment portfolios. And this, after all, will inevitably result in a win-win experience for everyone: customers, vendors, and solution developers.
