How To Receive International Payments in BTC/ETH

Cryptocurrency, coined from two words, Crypto – Digital security, and Currency – System of money is easily identified as a system of money that exists upon a digitally secured network. These innovations have been in existence since the late ’90s, however, wasn’t pronounced with innovations like BitGold, Digicash, etc. However, in January 2009, a new cryptocurrency was created called Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto. Also, another cryptocurrency called Ethereum with good use cases such as smart contracts was created in July 2015 by VitalikButerin. These two currencies account for over 60% of the total cryptocurrency market capital according to www.coinmarketcap.com.

As seen in its identification, these cryptocurrencies are systems of money, thus, they are used in the transfer of money from one place to the other. With over $130 billion joint capital, these currencies have parallel values made possible by exchanges. Just like the fiat system (government-backed currencies e.g. Dollar, Euros etc.), these cryptocurrencies can be transferred. With over 54% dominance in the crypto space, it can be easily said that Bitcoin is the future of digital payments.

DOES BITCOIN WORK FOR INTERNATIONAL MONEY TRANSFERS?

It is important to understand that cryptocurrencies are not government-backed currencies with limitations in its movement. Since cryptocurrencies are digital tokens, it can be transferred to anywhere around the globe via the internet without third parties and in lesser time. Bitcoin can be used to receive international payments. For instance, Overstock & Microsoft have begun to accept Bitcoin payments from its customers all over the globe.

HOW TO MAKE A QUICK TRANSFER ABROAD

To know how to send and receive cryptocurrency, we need to identify that there’s a lot of semblance and differences between the fiat system and the cryptosystem as this would ease understanding. In the fiat system, banks are financial institutions that help individuals, firms etc. to save money in their vault. These monies are identified with its owners using bank accounts. The same thing applies in the crypto space, to send or receive cryptocurrencies, you first must have a crypto wallet. Crypto wallets are platforms used to connect cryptocurrency tokens to its owners. There are five types of crypto wallets namely hard wallets, desktop wallets, mobile wallets, online wallets, and paper wallet.

After identifying the crypto wallet you choose to use, you’ll create an account with them. It’s important to note that wallets for cryptocurrencies differ from each other just as in the fiat system i.e. domiciliary account. Thus, you need to have different wallets to initiate any transaction on either cryptocurrency.

CREATING A BITCOIN WALLET

There are different wallet service providers i.e. BlockchainInfo, Coinbase, BitWala, TRASTRA etc. To create a wallet account on TRASTRA, go to trastra.com, and sign up for free. You’ll be redirected to your own dashboard. Bitcoin wallet will be available for you instantly, it is totally free and does not need additional ID verification. TRASTRA offers also Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash and Zcash wallets. All wallets are Multi-Sig and support 2-Factor Authentication.

CREATING AN ETHEREUM WALLET

I prefer to refer people to www.myetherwallet.com to create wallets, however, there are still a lot more out there like Exodus. Coinbase, TRASTRA , nd BlockchainInfo support Ethereum also and thus, the first account creation above suffices to initiate Ethereum transactions.

On www.myetherwallet.com, you’ll see the new wallet option and you’ll be asked to enter a password, it is recommended to use a strong password (i.e. mixtures of alphabets and numbers) which you’ll easily remember. Click create new wallet and a pdf document would be downloaded on your device in form of a paper wallet containing your private key and your Ethereum wallet address. Keep this info.

HOW TO MAKE A BITCOIN PAYMENT

To make a Bitcoin online payment, you’ll require the receiver’s Bitcoin address. Note that the Bitcoin address is not the same as the wallet ID. Wallet ID is the private key that links your tokens to you in the wallet service provider’s vault while Bitcoin address can be likened to account number in fiat used for transactions. To check for your Bitcoin address, log in to your wallet account and click the receive/request link. When you open it, you’ll find a 34 character strand consisting of letters (uppercase and lowercase) and numbers, which is your Bitcoin address. To make a payment, therefore, the receiver would send his/her Bitcoin address to you and you open the send link on your profile and choose the number of Bitcoins you wish to send, the receivers address and the description of the payment. For each transaction you make, there is a TX fee attached to it and this would differ depending on the number of Bitcoins being sent, the status of the transaction (regular or priority). It is good to know also that Bitcoin payments can be made by scanning the QR code of the receiver. There are many companies who function as Bitcoin payment merchants. An example of such a company that accepts Bitcoin payments is Microsoft.

WHO ACCEPTS ETHEREUM AS PAYMENT

As a top cryptocurrency with a big market capital, there would of certainty be firms that accept Ethereum as a means of payment.

• TapJets: TapJets is the largest private Jet instant booking platform. They alongside credit/debit card payments allow customers to pay with Ethereum.
• com: This Company is the first firm to accept Ethereum for payments. Overstock is a retail company.

In making cryptocurrencies go mainstream, the lovers of Ethereum have set up an organization ENTERPRISE ETHEREUM ALLIANCE. The members of this alliance can be found on www.entethalliance.org/members-2/. Members include Microsoft, JP Morgan etc.

HOW TO ACCEPT ETHEREUM PAYMENTS

In the fiat system of finance, currencies are legalized for acceptance by the populace by the signature of the central banks’ governor. However, in cryptocurrencies, these currencies are exchanged on the basis of trust since it’s a decentralized system. Thus, to accept Ethereum payments or serve as an Ethereum payment channel. The only thing needed to do is to set up a structure that informs people of your decision and creating your Ethereum wallet.

HOW TO TRANSFER ETHEREUM

In the fiat system, the channels for transfer funds across nations are limited e.g. Paypal, Western Union etc. However, cryptocurrencies do this better because no human third party is needed to complete the transaction, lower TX fees, and faster transactions. Bitcoin, for instance, completes, its confirmation in an average of ten minutes while Ethereum is 1 – 2 minutes.

To transfer Ethereum through payment channels, you’ll need the Ethereum address. If you’re using the paper wallet, the address can be seen on it while if you’re using BlockchainInfo, you can just go to the request link and change the currency to ETH, an address would be shown. If you’re using BlockchainInfo, follow the same process as Bitcoin and include the necessary information. If you’re using Myetherwallet, click on send ether & tokens and choose the way you want to access your wallet, complete transaction. To check your Ethereum wallet balance, you can open www.etherscan.io, input your address.

Hope, this article was useful for you. Enjoy receiving crypto international payments easily.