At the beginning of last month, Bitcoin celebrated an important usage and adoption milestone, recording its 400 millionth transaction. This is a major turning point for the crypto since its inception a decade ago. Coupled with a remarkable price surge, confidence in Bitcoin’s longevity will undoubtedly increase even further. In this article, experts provide valuable insight with 4 ways to accelerate business adoption of Bitcoin.

Educate Merchants On How The Technology Works

“The most significant way to accelerate business adoption of Bitcoin is to educate merchants on how the technology works, and the benefits of accepting Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) as a form of payment. With credit card fraud and interchange fees increasing each year, many merchants are already looking elsewhere, but it will take time before they understand and trust blockchain enough to adopt it within their business.

Education is key when it comes to mass adoption. Big banks put out bad press on cryptocurrency because it threatens their position, which has led to a lot of misconceptions.

My company, Aliant Payments, is a 16-year-old payment processing company that has spent the last two years developing our own proprietary crypto processing platform that allows merchants to accept payments in Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ether both online and in retail stores. Our technology processes crypto payments, converts cryptocurrency to USD, and is fully compliant with all current federal regulations.

The Aliant team has worked hard to consistently publish helpful, informative content about how crypto payments work on our blog, social media channels, and through press opportunities. Our CEO, Eric Brown, also spoke at several of payment industry conferences last year, and walked the trade show floors to network, spread the word, and answer questions from other industry professionals.

And what better way to educate merchants about crypto processing, than to let them test it out for themselves? In January we began offering crypto processing free-of-charge to qualifying merchants and all registered charities, so they could experience the ease of our platform, and the value that crypto payments bring their business. We feel that after experiencing such a simple, low-cost, and no-risk payment option, we’re confident they won’t look back.”

Eric Brown, Founder and CEO, Aliant Payment Systems

Decentralized Ecosystem That Provides True Value Stability And Liquidity

“Currency has to be spendable and not looked at solely as an investment. When the value of Bitcoin is expected to hit $1M by 2020, it is difficult for the holder to rationalize spending BTC for micropayments when most are aware of the $82M pizza order in 2010. To accelerate this adoption, we need Bitcoin to hit $1M, so that people start spending it! In all seriousness, until Bitcoin reaches a level where people are comfortable selling, we will always struggle with mass adoption. In the meantime, it is imperative for stablecoins to create a decentralized ecosystem that provides users true value stability and liquidity. This way, when mass adoption hits, we are ready to start exchanging ALL the fiat for crypto.

For early adopters, mining provides a great way to get into the space and acts as a quasi rewards program. Performing simple mining tasks and earning BTC that one can spend is an incentive. Once Bitcoin stopped being able to be mined on a laptop, the field of those earning rewards from the

ecosystem shrunk, thereby reducing the onboarding rate.

Now, in most instances, users have to purchase cryptocurrency using a fiat exchange. Centralized exchanges started by providing users free BTC for creating accounts with referral programs. This was done to encourage others to get in on the Bitcoin rush. This excitement helped drive the price of BTC to $20,000; however, full mass adoption will require more staying power, which includes additional long term valuable rewards like mining. To reignite the rocket to mass adoption, we need brands to create true partnerships with the blockchain space. Creating gateways through decentralized stablecoins carrying rewards similar to branded credit cards do now is one way to move forward. When these brands decide to partner and focus on the payment solutions of the future, we will truly be on the path to mass adoption.”

Jude Regev, Founder and Chairman, Element Zero Network

Pass The Savings Along To Customers

“One of the easiest ways to get more adoption of Bitcoin is to reward people for using it, by passing along the payment processing savings to the customer in the form of a small discount. This would make the biggest difference on larger transactions, where the savings could be the difference between picking you versus another similar business.”

Seth Kravitz, CEO, PHLEARN

The Token Taxonomy Act

“Truly the fastest way for businesses to accept Bitcoin would be if Congress passed the Token Taxonomy Act, which would discard any cloudiness surrounding businesses accepting Bitcoin. Every day more platforms for businesses to accept Bitcoin, such as Bitpay and Square, while also charging lower fees than those on a Visa transaction. Some businesses aren’t yet educated enough on this benefit because they aren’t settled yet on the regulatory risks. Until that is cleared up, businesses will continue to drag their feet on accepting crypto.”

Kyle Asman, Partner and Founder, BX3 Capital

Over the past year as its price has steadily increased, so has adoption of Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency in general. Bitcoin’s sizeable transaction volume is demonstrative evidence that its user base is steadily more active. As a result, more businesses have now turned to crypto and blockchain from a variety of industries. Yet, there is still much to be done for Bitcoin to compete with payment platforms such as credit cards. The expert commentary provided here, is invaluable insight for ways to accelerate business adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.