Including an additional payment method on your online shop page is guaranteed to attract new customers and help increase conversion rates. Ethereum cryptocurrency is a new popular, and, most importantly, convenient way to pay for services and goods online. Read below what it is and how to work with it.
Ethereum is a technology that allows creating and releasing decentralized applications, and similarly without the influence of any central authority to make transactions and store assets. The network's own cryptocurrency, called Ether, is used for payment. Ether, in Russian.
The Ethereum blockchain is a secure means to pay for any goods and services. After all, like most established blockchains, it is public. That is, you can add a transaction record to it, but you can't delete it. Unless you do it on all the computers on the network that contain the transaction data, which makes cryptocurrency manipulation more difficult.
Ethereum, while based on some technology borrowed from Bitcoin, is quite different from it.
Both technologies allow digital currency to be sent directly between the client and seller. Third-party vendors, such as banks or payment systems, cannot interfere with the transactions.
However, while Bitcoin was originally developed as a cryptocurrency payment system, Ethereum's peculiarity is that it is a programmable tool for investment and stock holding. According to statistics, every 7 in 10 of the largest cryptocurrency assets are stored on the Ethereum platform.
What's more, it is a programmable tool. This means that you can build entire applications based on it, using blockchain to manage your application or store data.
In addition, ETH coins, unlike BTC, do not need to be mined. Only verified miners who support the network are allowed to create Ether coins. And ordinary users simply receive ETH and use it internally.
Ethereum is not limited in what it can do, and therefore it is actively growing. It is now a huge emerging market with everything from social networks and games to payment systems.
Payments in Ethereum are processed by a program that verifies all the crucial conditions. It is not possible to undo a transaction that has been initiated.
The platform acts as a guarantor between the seller and the buyer. The money sent for the service will not be credited to the seller's account until the buyer receives the goods or confirms the performance of the service and confirms it in the system.
This is made possible through the use of Smart Contracts.
Smart contracts are programs that reside within the blockchain network. These programs are only executed when they are triggered by the user or another contract. Smart contracts are precisely those guarantors that enshrine the terms of a transaction or service and then verify that they are respected. Once it has been placed on the network, it can no longer be turned off. As long as the network works, so will the smart contract.
Therefore, Ethereum is one of the most secure means of accepting digital payments. It cannot be cheated, and through automation, it cannot discriminate against users.
Ethereum really isn't run by any company or a specific individual. The technology exists through the use of nodes. A copy of the blockchain data is installed on each of them. Each node is managed by volunteers. In this way, it has replaced servers and clouds owned by specific companies or ISPs.
There are more than a thousand nodes in total. Only the Bitcoin network has more. For these reasons, Ethereum has never gone offline since its launch, making it one of the world's most stable systems.
When it comes to cryptocurrencies, most often, people think of Bitcoin. Therefore, the first thing a company that starts selling goods for digital money does is to connect it with a Bitcoin payment system. From an app promotion point of view, this is a good thing because both buyers and sellers are familiar with the currency. However, experience shows that connecting Ether to the site as well is likely to increase conversion rates.
Accepting cryptocurrency payments opens up entirely new possibilities for doing business. Acceptance of international payments is simplified. After all, paying in cryptocurrencies allows you to bypass the limitations of payment systems and save on fees. There are a variety of options for connecting cryptocurrencies.
So what's good about Ether?
Making payments without intermediaries and using smart contracts;
Transactions are cryptographically protected - even the most sophisticated hacker cannot prevent you from transferring or receiving cryptocurrency;
Privacy. No one will ask who you are sending money to, where you are sending it to and why. Nor will they be able to block an unwanted transaction;
The system is universal; the possibilities are limited only by imagination and development costs;
One of the fastest cryptocurrency systems to process transactions;
Small commissions. However, any actions in the network will require some amount of eth, which is paid as a fee for the use of the system's computing power;
Popularity. At the moment, there are over 70 million registered accounts with a positive balance;
Most stablecoins (more stable cryptocurrencies that are tied to national currencies) are based on Ethereum;
All transaction information is stored in a blockchain, eliminating the possibility of fraud.
The benefits of accepting payments in Ethereum are obvious. Think about connecting to accept such payments for your web site.
So, how do you enable cryptocurrency payment acceptance on your website? There are several ways.
The simplest one is to register a personal Ethereum wallet and put its address on the company's website. Or even "stitch" this address into a QR code, which will make payment even more convenient and faster.
But searching for information about specific transactions for a specific purchase will turn into a living hell because all money for all goods on the network will be recorded in the same way.
That's why there are various services that will make your life easier when you start accepting cryptocurrency on your website.
You can always turn to a third-party service that has pre-designed handy plugins to work with. If your site is written based on WordPress, payments can be accepted through the WooCommerce plugin.
Advantages:
Easy integration;
You can accept payments not only with Ethereum but also by other means, such as bank cards and PayPal. This way, it will be possible to connect just one plugin for all payments.
This method allows you to use the payment gateway functions to the maximum.
Advantages:
Flexible configuration;
Convenient connection.
This technology is quite young and is just beginning its development. A terminal is a separate gadget that is convenient to take somewhere offline: to a café, a shop, or to present to a courier.
Advantages:
It does not require a connection to a computer. You only need the internet to work;
Easy to use;
Significantly speeds up payment acceptance.
Connecting a MEEG gateway makes transaction analysis and cryptocurrency handling much easier. However, there is a disadvantage: such a cryptocurrency acceptance service acts as an intermediary for transactions.
MEEG provides in return:
Convenient conversion from digital to fiat currencies (e.g., dollars or rubles);
Low enough commissions;
Easy to connect and use;
It is possible to ask questions to the technical support of the service;
You don't need to learn everything about cryptocurrency - the service does most of the work for you.
If you want to connect a crypto payment gateway on your website, we recommend you try MEEG.IO. Fast and convenient service with low fees will help you save time and boost your business.
