Michael Dehoyos
Content Marketer and Editor at Phd Kingdom and Academic brits
Writer at Origin Writings
Because of the unique set up of virtual currencies, there are some natural advantages that draw us to pay and be paid through bitcoin instead of traditional currencies.
Although we have over a decade of information about these virtual currencies, many of the tokens are untested and this means that users should exercise caution and balance the benefits and risks before jumping in to use them as a payment method.
With that in mind, bitcoin has been designed to supply a unique array of advantages over other payment methods. In this article, we will look at the top 10 benefits of taking payments via bitcoin:
1. User Autonomy
One of the key draws of bitcoin for a lot of users, and in fact one of the main advertised advantages, is autonomy. Virtual currencies provide users with a lot more autonomy over their money than traditional currencies and they can control how they spend their money without having to interact with a bank or government.
2. Discretion
Purchases made with bitcoin are much more discrete. Source: shutterstock.com
“Purchases made with bitcoin are much more discrete,” says Ryan Beesley, a business writer at 1Day2write and Writemyx. “Unless a person chooses to publish his bitcoin transactions voluntarily, the purchases will never be associated with his personal identity. In many ways, this makes it like cash in that it cannot be traced back to the user.”
The anonymous address that bitcoin generates for each purchase changes every time. This doesn’t mean that they are completely anonymous, but they are much less easily linked to a person’s identity than debit or credit card payments.
3. Peer-to-Peer Focus
The payment system used by bitcoin is solely peer-to-peer, which means that users can send and receive payments to anyone on the network globally without needing approval from any external organization or authority.
4. Elimination of Banking Fees
Although many virtual currency exchanges may charge a maker or taker fee, bitcoin users do not have to face the traditional banking fees incurred with traditional currencies.
As a result, there are no maintenance or balance fees, no overdraft charged or returned deposit fees.
5. Very Low Transaction Fees for International Payments
“Most international wire transfers and foreign purchases using traditional methods involve fees and exchange costs,” explains Pam Stagg, a lifestyle blogger at Britstudent and Nextcoursework. “Because bitcoin is not processed through an intermediary or government, there are very low costs of transacting, which is a major advantage for travellers. Most bitcoin transfers happen fast, which eliminates the inconvenience of normal authorization rules and waiting periods.”
6. Mobile Payments
Personal information is not required to complete transactions. Source: shutterstock.com
Users who want to make bitcoin payments can purchase their coins in any location where they have internet access. This provides a huge benefit as it means that they don’t have to travel to a bank or shop location to buy a product.
In addition, unlike all online payments made with a credit or debit card, personal information is not required to complete transactions.
7. Accessibility
It follows that the fact that bitcoins can be sent and received with a smartphone or computer from any location means that it improves accessibility across the globe. This makes bitcoin available to large populations without physical access to banks or credit cards.
8. Security
A trusted third party via escrow services provides online security and safety for people purchasing goods or services using bitcoin. With this escrow service, the buyer, seller and third party must all hold the key to the wallet.
If any arguments arise between the buyer and seller, the third party can then negotiate and intervene to either give the key to the buyer to refund the funds, or to the seller to release the funds into their wallet.
Nowadays, private sellers and buyers tend to use a multi-signature escrow wallet for their bitcoin transactions. Larger corporations may not use escrow services at all because they have a stronger reputation.
9. Speed
Bitcoin purchases are much quicker than traditional payments. The payments are confirmed within ten minutes, even for international transactions. This allows users to buy items from any location without having to worry about exchange rates.
10. No Inflation
With bitcoin, there are no risks of inflation. This is because it sits outside of the Government regulation and so is not subject to the inflation effect when new money is issued over the year.
Michael Dehoyos operates as both a content marketer and editor at Phd Kingdom and Academic brits. He helps companies with their marketing strategies and adds value to numerous sites and publications. Also, he is a writer at Origin Writings.
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