Bitcoin Wiki - User contributions [en]

List of Bitcoin non-profits around the world

2019-01-28T13:24:15Z

MissJess: /* Netherlands: Bitcoin Wednesday Amsterdam */ removed: not non-profit

This page will list all the known Bitcoin and crypto-currency non-profits around the world. The criterias for being on this list are:

# A focus on Bitcoin or crypto-currency (merely accepting Bitcoin donations is not enough)
# Being a non-profit
# The organization needs to be either a registered non-profit or in the process of active registration.

= List of organizations (by country of residence)=

== Argentina: Fundación Bitcoin Argentina ==
* [http://www.bitcoinargentina.org/ Website]

== Australia: The Bitcoin Association of Australia ==
* Board members:
** [[Martin Bajalan]]
** [[Max Kaye]] Treasurer
** [[Adam Poulton]] Secretary
** [[Pantelis Roussakis]] Vice-President
** [[Bret Treasure]]
** [[Jason Williams]] President
** [[Tristan Winters]]

== Austria: Bitcoin Austria ==
* [http://bitcoin-austria.at/ Website]

== Belgium: Belgian Bitcoin Association ==
[http://www.bitcoinassociation.be website]

* Directors:
** [[Arne Brutschy]]
** [[Chris D'Costa]]
** [[Jérémie Dubois-Lacoste]]
** [[Filip Roose]]
** [[Thomas Spaas]]
** [[Jean Wallemacq]]

== Canada: The Bitcoin Embassy ==
* [http://bitcoinembassy.ca website]
A non-profit organization seeking to promote the adoption of Bitcoin and related crypto-technologies, as well as facilitating networking throughout the Bitcoin community in Canada and worldwide.

== Canada: Bitcoin Alliance of Canada ==
* [http://www.bitcoinalliance.ca/ website]

== Colombia: Fundación Bitcoin Colombia ==
* [http://www.bitcoincolombia.org/ Website]

== Denmark: The Bitcoin Association of Denmark ==
* [http://www.danskbitcoinforening.dk/ Website]

== Germany: Bundesverband Bitcoin e.V. ==
* [http://www.bundesverband-bitcoin.de/ Website]
* Board members:
** [[Radoslav Albrecht]]
** [[Dennis Daiber]]
** [[Oliver Flaskämper]]
** [[JF Gallas]] Chairman
** [[Timo Hanke]]
** [[Jörg von Minckwitz]]
** [[Jörg Platzer]] Vice Chairman

== India: Bitcoin Alliance of India ==
* [http://www.bitcoinalliance.in/ Website]

== Ireland: Bitcoin Foundation of Ireland. ==
* [http://www.bitcoinirl.ie Website]
* Board members:
** [[Alan Donohoe]]
** [[Vincent O Donoghue]]
** [[Roger Ver]]

== Israel: איגוד הביטקוין הישראלי ==
See [[The Israeli Bitcoin Association]].

== Italy: Bitcoin Foundation Italia ==
* [https://www.bitcoin-italia.org/ Website]
* Board members:
** [[Andrea Medri]]
** [[Davide Barbieri]]
** [[Franco Cimatti]]

== Netherlands: Stichting Bitcoin Nederland ==
* [https://stichtingbitcoin.nl/ Website]
* [https://stichtingbitcoin.nl/index.php/de-stichting/het-bestuur/ Board members]:
** [[Richard Kohl]]
** [[Yann van Ewijk]]
** [[Alwin de Romijn]]

== Pakistan: The Bitcoin Association of Pakistan ==
* [http://bitcoinpk.org/ Website]
* Board members:
**[[Farooq Ahmed]]
**[[Mohsin Ali]]

== Philippines: Bitcoin Organization of the Philippines ==
* [http://bitcoin.org.ph/ Website]

== Poland: Polish Bitcoin Association ==
* [http://bitcoin.org.pl/ Website]
* Board members:
** [[Filip Pawczyński]] - Chairman
** [[Sebastian Schmidt]] - Secretary
** [[Irwin Przeperski]] - Treasurer

== Russia: Crypto Currencies Foundation Russia ==
* [http://ccfr.info/ Website]
* Board members:
** [[Igor Chepkasov]] - Chairman
** [[Irma Nyenskans]] - Secretary
** [[Serguey Dobryshkin]] - IT & Security officer

== Sweden: The Bitcoin Association of Sweden ==
* [http://www.bitcoinforeningen.se/ Website]
* Board members:
** [[Mats Henricson]] - Chairman
** [[Andreas de Blanche]] - Secretary
** [[Richard Birgersson]] - Treasurer
** [[Robert Högberg]]
** [[Ludvig Öberg]]

== Switzerland: Bitcoin Association Switzerland ==
* [http://www.bitcoinassociation.ch/ Website]
* Board members:
** [[Johann Gevers]] - Treasurer
** [[Stefan Greiner]] - Secretary
** [[Luzius Meisser]] - President

== United Kingdom: UK Bitcoin Foundation ==
* [[Adam Cleary]]
* [[Paul Gordon]]
* [[Eitan Jankelewitz]]
* [[Tom Robinson]]
* [[James Smith]]
* [[Lee Welham]]

== United States / International: Bitcoin Foundation ==
* [http://bitcoinfoundation.org/ website]
* [https://bitcoinfoundation.org/about/board Board members (alphabetically)]:
** [[Gavin Andresen]] - Chief Scientist
** [[Micky Malka]] - Board Member
** [[Jon Matonis]] - Executive Director and Board Member
** [[Patrick Murck]] - General Counsel
** [[Elizabeth T. Ploshay]] - Board Member
** [[Peter Vessenes]] - Chairman of the Board

= Other =
== Bitcoin100 ==
[http://bitcoin100.org/ Bitcoin100] is a charity organization that exists specifically to convince new charities to start accepting bitcoin donations.

== The Mastercoin Foundation ==
See [http://wiki.mastercoin.org/index.php/The_Mastercoin_Foundation the Mastercoin wiki].

== PikaPay Foundation ==

The [https://www.bitcoinwednesday.com/announcement-from-pikapay/ PikaPay Foundation] is a nonprofit dedicated to innovation in today’s financial systems and is focussed on developing the Bitcoin ecosystem.

PikaPay's Mission: To explore trends in science, technology, community and culture; To overcome limitations of traditional financial services; To improve lives, empower groups and individuals; and To make greater social contributions to the world.

== World Bitcoin Association ==

The [http://worldbitcoin.info World Bitcoin Association] is a non-profit organization and intends to unite all non-profit Bitcoin organizations around the world and to spread Bitcoin and other crypto currencies. The association is not only open to worldwide active Bitcoin country organizations, but also to all Bitcoin interested persons.

= See Also =
# [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=288677.0 bitcointalk thread]
# [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TnTCcT7fiNr5nt-oApr_7DwXAypFoJpZ6lk_w_ykwcc/edit google doc].
# [[:Category:nonprofit]]

Bitcoin Wiki:Community portal

2019-01-28T12:05:42Z

MissJess: /* Maps */ edit: coinmap not based on OSM anymore

== Bitcoin Community Forums on various platforms ==
* [https://bitcointalk.org/ Bitcointalk]
* [https://bitco.in/forum/ Bitco.in]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/ /r/Bitcoin]
* [https://plus.google.com/communities/115591368588047305300 Bitcoin Google+ Community]
* [https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/btc/forum/USD CryptoCompare - Bitcoin Forum]
* [https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/ The Bitcoin StackExchange]
* [http://bitcointrading.com Bitcoin Trading Forum]
* [https://groups.google.com/group/bitcoin-discussion Bitcoin google group]
* [https://www.facebook.com/bitcoins Facebook page]
* [https://www.facebook.com/buy.bitcoin.news Facebook Bitcoin page]
* [https://www.facebook.com/bitcoin.p2p.digital.currency Facebook page]
* [https://www.facebook.com/bitcoinaustria Bitcoin Austria Facebook page]
* [https://www.facebook.com/groups/136003253120130 Facebook Group]
* [https://plus.google.com/107581642674912229828/ Bitcoin Google+]
* [http://hubski.com/tag?id=bitcoin Bitcoin on Hubski]

===Regions / Languages===
* [http://bitcoin-austria.at/ Bitcoin Austria]
* [https://coinforum.ca Canada's Bitcoin Community]
* [https://www.bitcoin-italia.org Bitcoin Italia]
* [http://www.bitcoin.org.il Isreali Bitcoin Community Forum]
* [http://bitcoincenterkorea.org Bitcoin Center Korea]
* [http://bitcoin.pl/forum/ Polish Bitcoin Community Forum]
* [http://btcsec.com/ BTCsec.com] Russian Website about Bitcoin
* [https://forum.btcsec.com/ BTCsec.com Bitcoin Community Forum (Russian)]
* [http://rubitcoin.com/ Russian Bitcoin Community Forum]
* [https://www.facebook.com/groups/bitcoinph/ Bitcoin Philippine Community]

=== Local Communities ===
''For an up-to-date list please see [https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/wiki/local_communities local communities]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/ArgenBitcoin Argentina bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinAUS Australia bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinAT Austria bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinBE Belgian bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BrasilBitcoin Brazil bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinCA Canada bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinDK Denmark bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/bitcoinsuomi Finland bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinFrance France bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinDE Germany bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinGhana Ghana bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinGT Guatemala bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinIndia India bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinIran Iran bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinIT Italy bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinJP Japan bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/bitcoinlaos Laos bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMalaysia Malaysia bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BITCOINMEX Mexico bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinNL The Netherlands bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinNO Norway bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinPL Poland bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/bitcoinsouthafrica South Africa bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/bitcoines Spain bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinSWE Sweden bitcoin community]
* [https://www.bitcoinassociation.ch/ Swiss (Switzerland) bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/btctaiwan Taiwan bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinTR Turkey bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinUK United Kingdom bitcoin community]
** [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinLondon London bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinUSA USA bitcoin community]
** [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinBayArea Bay Area, CA bitcoin community]
** [https://www.reddit.com/r/DenverBitcoin/ Denver, CO bitcoin community]
** [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinAsheville Asheville, NC bitcoin community]
** [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinAlbuquerque Albuquerque, NM bitcoin community]
** [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinNY New York City, NY bitcoin community]
** [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinPA Pennsylvania bitcoin community]
** [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinNashville Nashville, TN bitcoin community]
** [https://reddit.com/r/BitcoinAustin/ Austin, TX bitcoin community]
** [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinSeattle Seattle, WA bitcoin community]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinVzla Venezuela bitcoin community]

== Bitcoin Community Groups on Bitcoin Wiki platform ==

=== Special interests ===
* [[Bitcoin Wiki]]-group

====Clusters====
There are various temporary and permanent clusters where bitcoin-friendly communities form. Temporary clusters are listed in [[Bitcoin Wiki:Community_portal#Events|events]]. Permanent communities include:

* [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=66832.0 Free State Project] New Hampshire
* [http://www.thebitcointrader.com/2012/05/bitcoins-hogwarts-san-francisco-tech.html 20 Mission] San Francisco, CA

== IRC ==

* See [[IRC_channels|IRC channels]]

==Wiki Users==

* [[Special:ListUsers|List of Users]] registered on the Bitcoin wiki.

== Events ==
Periodic events where Bitcoin community meets include PorcFest, Chaos Computer Camp, Burning Man, Bitcoin conferences and more.

* [[Meetups]]
* [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4526.0 Events, conferences and other events]

==Bitcoin Related Publications==

* [https://twitter.com/TopNewsBitcoin/bitcoin TopNewsBitcoin/bitcoin] Twitter list
* See [[:Category:Blogs|Blogs]] category
* See [[:Category:Directories|Directories]] category
* See [[Press]]

==Education==

* [[:Category:Educational|Educational category]]

== Maps ==
* [http://coinmap.org/ CoinMap], map of merchants accepting bitcoin
* [[Bitcoin.local]] Local exchanges
* [[Bitcoin Users Worldwide]] - Find nearby Bitcoin users • Engage in local trade • Add your own offers • Get notifications

== Merchants ==
*[https://hodlhodl.com/ Hodl Hodl] is a P2P cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to trade directly with each other and it doesn't hold user funds
*[https://localbitcoins.com/ LOCALBITCOINS] Buy and sell bitcoins near you, Instant. Secure. Private , Trade bitcoins in 13633 cities and 248 countries

== Monitoring ==
* [https://markets.blockchain.info/ BLOCKCHAIN.INFO] News and market data for the Bitcoin ecosystem.
* [https://bitcoinchain.com/ BitcoinChain.com] provides Bitcoin Block Explorer, Exchange Markets, Mining Pools Data.
* [https://bitcoincharts.com/markets/ Bitcoin Charts] displays an overview of Bitcoin exchange markets.
* [https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/btc/overview/USD CryptoCompare.com] Overview, Forum, Live Streaming Markets, Charts and Trades.
* The [http://www.bitcoinmonitor.com/ Bitcoin Monitor] visualizes transactions, new blocks and trades on markets as they are happening.
* [http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/ Bitcoin Watch] has various statistics on things like the size of the economy or the number of transactions.
* [http://bitcoinx.io/ BitcoinX.io] monitors and displays Bitcoin exchanges and Bitcoin wallets with rankings and tools.
* [https://blockchain.info/ BLOCKCHAIN.INFO - NORMAL] Discover the world's most popular Bitcoin wallet. View detailed information and charts on all Bitcoin transactions and blocks. Visit today.

== Bitcoin Project ==
* [https://bitcoin.org/ Bitcoin.org] Bitcoin Community Information for Individuals, Businesses, and Developers
* [https://bitcoincore.org/ Bitcoin Core] Project Site
* [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin Bitcoin Core source code repository]
* [https://gitian.org/ Gitian] for auditing reproducible binaries produced in the [https://gist.github.com/806265 Bitcoin build process]
* [https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev bitcoin-dev] and [https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-discuss bitcoin-discuss] mailing lists
* [[:Category:Developer|Developer]] pages

== Non-profit Organizations ==

* [[List_of_Bitcoin_non-profits_around_the_world|List of Bitcoin non-profits around the world]]

== External Communities ==
* [https://www.quora.com/topic/Bitcoin Quora] Bitcoin topic Q&A community.

BitKassa

2019-01-28T11:46:46Z

MissJess: added categories 'payment processors' / 'exchanges'

{{infobox company|name=BitKassa B.V.|image=[[File:BitKassa.png|230px|border]]
|location=Arnhem, the Netherlands
|industry=[[:Category:Payment Processors | Payment Processors]], [[:Category:Exchanges | Exchanges]]
|foundation=March, 2014
|twitter=BitKassaNL
|facebook=BitKassa
|instagram=BitKassa
|website=https://www.bitkassa.nl/
}}

BitKassa is a payment processor for the Euro zone. Companies can accept bitcoins from their customers using just a web interface provided by BitKassa or, if customers pay from their homes use BitInvoice or BitKassa for Webshops.
 
 
Entrepreneurs can start accepting Bitcoin free of charge. BitKassa has other Bitcoin related products with which they earn money: they give Bitcoin presentations and people with a Dutch bank account can buy bitcoins with iDEAL or sell bitcoins for euros through their website. Because of that, they can offer the merchant services gratis.
 
 
== BitKassa for brick and mortar merchants ==
Open your personal BitKassa payment page on any smartphone, tablet or computer with an internet connection.

== BitInvoice for companies that send invoices ==
Accepting bitcoin cannot get any easier. Just print the URL of your personal BitInvoice address on your invoices and your customers handle the payment right from their homes.

== BitKassa for Webshops ==
If customers pay right from the webshop; it is possible to integratie an API or use one of the webshop plugins provided by BitKassa.

== Settlement ==
BitKassa has no minimum order amount; every working day euros are being paid out. It is possible to keep the bitcoins, or any percentage of the bitcoins.

== Arnhem Bitcoin City ==
BitKassa came into existence at the start of the project Arnhem Bitcoin City in May, 2014. At that time there was no easy to use Bitcoin payment processor for the Dutch. Currently, over 100 merchants in the city centre of Arnhem accept Bitcoin and most of them use BitKassa. <ref name="arnhembitcoinstad" />
 
On the Arnhem Bitcoin City website are live statistics<ref name="bitkassa_stats" /> available that show the number of transactions, merchants and amount spent in Arnhem using BitKassa.

== Buy or sell bitcoins ==
People with a Dutch bank account can buy bitcoins using iDEAL or convert bitcoins to euros using the BitKassa website.

== External Links ==
* [https://www.BitKassa.nl/ BitKassa] company website
* [https://www.arnhembitcoinstad.nl/ Arnhem Bitcoin City] website

==References==
<references>
<ref name="arnhembitcoinstad">[https://www.arnhembitcoinstad.nl Arnhem Bitcoin City]</ref>
<ref name="bitkassa_stats">[https://www.arnhembitcoinstad.nl/#stats Bitcoin payment statistics]</ref>
</references>

[[Category:Payment Processors]]
[[Category:Exchanges]]
[[Category:POS]]
[[Category:Companies]]
[[Category:Shopping Cart Interfaces]]
[[Category:Mobile]]
[[Category:Services]]

BitKassa

2019-01-28T11:44:06Z

MissJess: Initial page

{{infobox company|name=BitKassa B.V.|image=[[File:BitKassa.png|230px|border]]
|location=Arnhem, the Netherlands
|industry=[[:Category:Payment Processors | Payment Processors]], [[:Category:Exchanges | Exchanges]]
|foundation=March, 2014
|twitter=BitKassaNL
|facebook=BitKassa
|instagram=BitKassa
|website=https://www.bitkassa.nl/
}}

BitKassa is a payment processor for the Euro zone. Companies can accept bitcoins from their customers using just a web interface provided by BitKassa or, if customers pay from their homes use BitInvoice or BitKassa for Webshops.
 
 
Entrepreneurs can start accepting Bitcoin free of charge. BitKassa has other Bitcoin related products with which they earn money: they give Bitcoin presentations and people with a Dutch bank account can buy bitcoins with iDEAL or sell bitcoins for euros through their website. Because of that, they can offer the merchant services gratis.
 
 
== BitKassa for brick and mortar merchants ==
Open your personal BitKassa payment page on any smartphone, tablet or computer with an internet connection.

== BitInvoice for companies that send invoices ==
Accepting bitcoin cannot get any easier. Just print the URL of your personal BitInvoice address on your invoices and your customers handle the payment right from their homes.

== BitKassa for Webshops ==
If customers pay right from the webshop; it is possible to integratie an API or use one of the webshop plugins provided by BitKassa.

== Settlement ==
BitKassa has no minimum order amount; every working day euros are being paid out. It is possible to keep the bitcoins, or any percentage of the bitcoins.

== Arnhem Bitcoin City ==
BitKassa came into existence at the start of the project Arnhem Bitcoin City in May, 2014. At that time there was no easy to use Bitcoin payment processor for the Dutch. Currently, over 100 merchants in the city centre of Arnhem accept Bitcoin and most of them use BitKassa. <ref name="arnhembitcoinstad" />
 
On the Arnhem Bitcoin City website are live statistics<ref name="bitkassa_stats" /> available that show the number of transactions, merchants and amount spent in Arnhem using BitKassa.

== Buy or sell bitcoins ==
People with a Dutch bank account can buy bitcoins using iDEAL or convert bitcoins to euros using the BitKassa website.

== External Links ==
* [https://www.BitKassa.nl/ BitKassa] company website
* [https://www.arnhembitcoinstad.nl/ Arnhem Bitcoin City] website

==References==
<references>
<ref name="arnhembitcoinstad">[https://www.arnhembitcoinstad.nl Arnhem Bitcoin City]</ref>
<ref name="bitkassa_stats">[https://www.arnhembitcoinstad.nl/#stats Bitcoin payment statistics]</ref>
</references>

[[Category:POS]]
[[Category:Companies]]
[[Category:Shopping Cart Interfaces]]
[[Category:Mobile]]
[[Category:Services]]

File:BitKassa.png

2019-01-28T11:36:11Z

MissJess: Logo of Dutch payment processor and Bitcoin exchange BitKassa source: https://www.bitkassa.nl

Logo of Dutch payment processor and Bitcoin exchange BitKassa
source: https://www.bitkassa.nl

Meetups

2018-11-23T19:57:44Z

MissJess: removed dead link

Don't add everyone who's going in the "Who?" column, just prominent Bitcoin members and organizers. Also see [http://bitcoin.meetup.com bitcoin.meetup.com]. Also see [[Conferences]].

Keep an eye on the [http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=86.0 Meetups] forum board on BitcoinTalk for announcements.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Group
! When?
! Where?
! Who?
! Other Notes
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-in-San-Diego/ Bitcoin in San Diego]
| Bi-Monthly meetups, weekly workshops
| San Diego, CA, United States
| Local and international participants - guest speakers welcome.
| Presentations and workshops, discussion & trade.
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Tucson-Bitcoin-Marketplace/ Bitcoin in Tucson]
| short-notice meetups
| Tucson, AZ, United States
| everyone welcome
| breakfast, Bitcoin basics, presentations, cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and economics
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/blockchaintech/ Blockchain Tech in Phoenix]
| regular and short-notice meetups
| Phoenix, AZ, United States
| everyone welcome
| hack-a-thons and anything directly or indirectly related to blockchain technology!
|-
| [http://bitcoinembassy.ca Bitcoin Embassy]
| Monthly meetups, weekly workshops
| Montreal, QC, Canada
| Local and international participants - guest speakers welcome. Come and visit our hackerspace, startup incubator and soon, Bitcoin store.
| Presentations and workshops, discussion & trade. [http://eepurl.com/GRzAf Register to our mailing list] to receive event invitations. We also post on [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=86.0 BitcoinTalk Meetups], [http://bitcoinembassy.eventbrite.ca/ EventBrite], [https://www.facebook.com/bitcoinembassy Facebook Bitcoin Embassy page], [https://plus.google.com/u/0/100266464273886488866 Google +], etc.
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/San-Antonio-Bitcoin/ San Antonio Meetup]
| Every Thursday at 7:00 PM
| San Antonio, Texas
Currently at [https://www.google.com/maps/place/17711+Interstate+10+Frontage+Rd,+The+Rim,+San+Antonio,+TX+78257/@29.609714,-98.59871,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x865c6423ecd5d047:0xaa94c89b14a98fc0 Tiago's]
| Miners, entrepreneurs, traders and anyone looking to learn more about Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies are welcome.
| [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=727155.0 Bitcointalk thread]
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinCT/ BitcoinCT Meetup]
| Monthly Meetups
| Stamford, CT
| The Connecticut Bitcoin Meetup brings together Bitcoin users in Connecticut. This meetup is suitable for everyone from Bitcoin newbies to experienced Bitcoiners. You can attend meetups simply to learn more about Bitcoin or to make business connections for entrepreneurs, miners and developers. | We welcome everyone to our meetups even if you're not currently a Bitcoin user, but simply want to find out more about this amazing e-currency.
|-
|-
| [https://bitcash.cz/forum/ Bitcash.cz]
| Ocasionally
| Prague, Brno, Ostrava
| Meetup for Czech and Slovak bitcoin pioneers.
| Discuss and trade with Bitcoin. Events posted also on our [https://www.facebook.com/Bitcash.cz Facebook] profile.
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Sydney-Bitcoin-Users-Group/ BitcoinSYD]
| Every Wednesday @ 1800
| [https://goo.gl/maps/okdSm The SG], Downstairs, 32 York St. Look for the guy in the Red Cap.
| Local, National and International peeps looking to Talk and Trade Bitcoin
| We also post our meetups on Reddit and [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bitcoin-Sydney-Australia/457681220943285 Facebook]
|-
|-
| [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=27191.0;all Bitcoin Stammtisch]
| each first Thursday of the month
| [http://www.room77.de/ Room 77], Gräfestr. 77, Berlin-Kreuzberg
| Anyone interested in Bitcoin: technically, economically, socially or philosophically.
| If questions contact andreas(at)schildbach.de (founder).
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Nashville-Bitcoin-Meetup/ Nashville Bitcoin Meetup]
| weekly and quarterly
| Nashville, TN
| Plenty of room for all!
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/bitcoins/ Bitcoin NYC]
| monthly
| [http://www.xcubicle.com/ xCubicle Hackerspace - New York, NY]
| Any and all Bitcoin aficionados.
|
|-
|-
| [https://www.BitcoinWednesday.com Bitcoin Wednesday Amsterdam]
| First Wednesday of the Month
| Dutch Bitcoin Users Group of the Netherlands - The country's longest continuously running Bitcoin event.
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinWednesday/ Sign Up - Amsterdam, The Netherlands]
| Open to anyone interested in Bitcoin. Organized by [https://www.stichtingBitcoin.nl The Bitcoin Foundation of The Netherlands]
|-
|-
| [http://hitspace.org/ HIT Space - Hack it Together]
| monthly
| [http://hitspace.org/where-we-are/ HIT Space - Porto, Portugal]
| Hackerspace members and anyone who want to join us
| send us an email geral[at]hitspace.org
|-
|-
| [http://bitcoin-austria.at Bitcoin Austria]
| monthly - check the [http://bitcoin-austria.at wiki] or subscribe to the [http://lists.bitcoin-austria.at/listinfo/bitcoin mailinglist]
| [https://metalab.at/wiki/Lage Metalab], Vienna hacker space, Rathausstraße 6, 1010 Wien
| Everybody interested in Bitcoin
|
|-
| [http://brmlab.cz brmlab, prague hackerspace]
| 14th Nov 2011
28th Nov 2011
([http://brmlab.cz/event/bitcoin_seminar])
| [http://brmlab.cz/place Brmlab, Bubenska 1]
| brmlab crew, slush, genjix
|
|-
| [http://www.facebook.com/groups/175596065827848/ Bitcoin Boston]
| Every Friday at 4:30 and bi-weekly on Saturday or Sunday ([http://www.facebook.com/groups/175596065827848/ See Facebook page])
| Starbucks in Kendall Square (Ames St & Broadway) and bi-weekly at Starbucks in Harvard Square
| Anyone is welcome!
| Our bi-weekly meetings have been somewhat sporadic but we aim to gain some regularity.
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Milwaukee-Area-Bitcoin-Meetup/ Milwaukee Area Bitcoin Meetup]
| Every other Thursday at 6:00pm
| 17025 West Rogers Drive, New Berlin WI
| Open to anyone interested in Bitcoin
| [https://www.facebook.com/groups/BTCMKE Milwaukee Area Bitcoin Meetup Facebook]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin New York Bitcoin Users]
| 6:00 PM, 3rd Sunday of every month ([http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin/events/past past meetings])
| OnlyOneTV Studios - 290 Fifth Ave New York, NY
| Bruce Wagner (Organizer) and others
|
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin New York Bitcoin Users]
| 6:00 PM, every Wednesday of every month ([http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin/events/past past meetings])
| Just Sweet Dessert House - 83 Third Ave New York, NY
| Yifu Guo (Organizer) and crew
| hosted by Bitsyncom, the people behind [[Bitnavigator]], walk-ins welcome;
|-
|[http://www.meetup.com/MichiganBitcoinMeetup Michigan Bitcoin Meetup]
|
|
|Kinnard Hockenhull (Organizer)
|Sponsored by [[BitBox]]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/PhillyBitcoin Philadelphia Bitcoin User Group]
| TBD
| TBD
| Brian Cohen (Organizer) and others
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinDC Washington, DC Bitcoin Users]
| 7:00 PM, 1st Monday of every month ([http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinDC/#past past meetings])
| Northside Social, 3211 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA
| [[User:Dduane|Darrell Duane]] (Organizer) and others
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Silicon-Valley-Bitcoin-Users Silicon Valley Bitcoin Users]
| 7:00 PM, Tuesday, June 14, 2011 ([http://www.meetup.com/Silicon-Valley-Bitcoin-Users/events/past past meetings])
| 140B S Whisman Road Mountain View, CA
| Brian Mcqueen and others
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinChicago Chicago]
| No regular schedule yet ([http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinChicago/events/past past meetings])
| Sunnyvale Art Gallery Cafe, 251 W El Camino Real Sunnyvale, CA
| Igor
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/denver-bitcoin Denver]
| First meeting June 4th, 2011 ([http://www.meetup.com/denver-bitcoin/events/past past meetings])
| Gypsy House Cafe - 1279 Marion St Denver, CO
| bearbones
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/SF-Bitcoin-Devs/ SF Bitcoin Devs]
| About twice a month ([http://www.meetup.com/SF-Bitcoin-Devs/#past past meetings])
| San Francisco, CA
|
| This meetup has a strong technical/engineering focus ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCREs0ConyCR2sEFf-DrLRMw see videos of past presentations])
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-Bitcoin-Social/ San Francisco Bitcoin Social]
| Every second Thursday and last Tuesday of the month ([http://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-Bitcoin-Social/#past past meetings])
| San Francisco, CA
|
| More general (less technical) meetup for cryptocurrency aficionados
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Digital-Currency-Innovators-Group Los Angeles Digital Currency Innovators]
| Thursday July 7th, 2011, 7 PM
| (mt)/Media Temple, Culver City, CA
| [[User:sgornick|Stephen Gornick]] (Interim organizer) and others
| Seeking meetup coordinator
|-
| [http://CryptoParty.vegas/ Las Vegas Crypto Party]
| 1st Thursday 7pm. [http://BitcoinsInVegas.com Weekly Wednesday lunch mobs]
| CoinBus.com, 64 N Pecos, Henderson, NV 89052
| Julian Tosh / Tuxavant
|
|-
| [https://www.facebook.com/groups/195492163844669/ Free State Bitcoin Consortium]
| Every Saturday, at 6:30 PM
| Strange Brew Tavern, Manchester, NH
| ben-abuya (organizer)
| Weekly
|-
| [https://www.facebook.com/groups/195492163844669/ Twin Cities Users]
| Friday, June 10, 2011, 6:30 PM
| Joule - 1200 Washington Ave S Minneapolis, MN
| Mac Manson
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-of-South-Florida/ Bitcoin of South Florida] and [http://www.meetup.com/Miami-International-Bitcoin-Group/ Miami International Bitcoin]
| Rotated weekly
| Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and Boca Raton, FL
| All party people are welcome
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Orlando Bitcoin Orlando]
| ([http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Orlando#past past meetings])
| Frank & Steins 150 S. Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL
| Antonio Gallippi
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Enthusiasts/ Bitcoin Tampa]
| Monthly meetings
| Matt Branton -- [https://www.coinlock.com/ Coinlock.com] founder
|
|-
| [http://www.hive13.org/?p=310 Hive13 Hackerspace]
| Bitcoin Exchange, Every Tuesday, 7:30 PM
| Hive13 - 2929 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, OH
|
|
|-
| [https://www.facebook.com/bitcoinaus Bitcoin Australia]: Melbourne
| [https://www.facebook.com/events/345430765511234/ Wednesday, 23 May 2012, 18:45]
| Melbourne CBD(TBA)
| Facebook, IRC, Bitcointalk Forum...
|
|-
| [[Bitcoin Wiki:Tokyo meetup|Tokyo]]
| Every Thursday
| Shibuya, Roppongi
| Roger Ver (Organizer) and others
| Locations change, check the meetup page
|-
| [http://meetup.com/Bitcoin-Canada Vancouver Canada]
| ([http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Canada/#past past meetings])
| The Brickhouse - 730 Main St.
| humble (and others)
|
|-
| [https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/113055238568417913658 Zurich / Geneva Switzerland]
| Twice a month
| Kennedy's Irish Pub, Zurich; Lord Nelson Pub, Geneva
| Stefan Thomas (WeUseCoins), Mike Hearn (BitcoinJ), bitdragon, Luzius (Wuala), more ...
|
|-
| Seattle Bitcoin Meetup
| [http://www.meetup.com/SeattleBitCoin/ Semi-regularly].
| [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cafe+solstice&daddr=4116+University+Way,+Seattle,+WA+98105-6214&hl=en&ll=47.657424,-122.31313&spn=0.007328,0.01929&gl=us&view=map&geocode=CRT9Bdg7zX3vFdcx1wIdWqa1-CFcJ9qrr9CcEQ&t=h&z=16 Solstice Cafe, 2pm]
| [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=36217 indolering]
|
|-
| [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=135723.0 Bitcoin Munich]
| Stammtisch (regular get-together) every first Wednesday of a month, 6pm, plus at least one additional event (talks or workshop) each month in various locations.
| [https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/1969699757 Wirtshaus am Bavariapark], Theresienhöhe 15, 80339 München
| Long-time Bitcoin users from Munich; mostly low profile but we've been around. ;) Plus international visitors.
| [http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Munich/ meetup.com/Bitcoin-Munich/]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin-il/ Israel Bitcoin Meetup Group]
| Occasional
| TBD
| Meni Rosenfeld
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Dallas-Bitcoin-User-Meetup/ Dallas Bitcoin Meetup Group]
| Biweekly on Saturdays, 6:00PM
| [http://freemandallas.com/ The Free Man Cajun Cafe]
| Justus Ranvier (organizer)
|
|-
| [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Cafe Café Bitcoin Sevilla]
|
| Seville, Spain
| Randy Brito (rdymac / btcven), Eduardo (bitcoin.com.es), Jorge and Alfredo
| http://cafebitcoin.com
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinSingapore/ Bitcoin Singapore Meetup]
|
| Singapore
| Monthly
| [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bitcoin-Singapore/431452580303555 Bitcoin Singapore Facebook Page]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-Bitcoin-Meetup/ Lehigh Valley (Allentown/Bethlehem PA) Bitcoin]
|
| Westgate Subway; Schoenersville Rd; Bethlehem
| Jim Hoff (organizer)
| http://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-Bitcoin-Meetup/
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/LetsUseBitcoin/ Lets Use Bitcoin]
| Monthly
| {{flag|nl}}
| Local and international participants
| Using Bitcoin, discussion of bitcoin and having fun! Sponsored by [[BTC.com]]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Arnhem-Bitcoin-Users Arnhem Bitcoin Users]
| Monthly
| Arnhem Bitcoincity (the Netherlands)
| Beginners and experts
| Spend some time (and bitcoins) in the most Bitcoin-friendly city!
|-
|}

==See Also==

* [http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces List of Hacker Spaces]

[[Category:Local]]
[[Category:Meetups]]

[[de:Treffen]]

Conferences

2016-04-26T21:40:37Z

MissJess: /* Forthcoming Conferences */ added Bitcoin in Use, Arnhem - May 28th

Please announce new conferences on [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=238093 bitcointalk].
Also you can [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.org/tree/master/_events submit a pull request on bitcoin.org] ([https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.org#events see doc])

== Forthcoming Conferences ==

=== New York, May 2-4 2016 ===
[http://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2016 Consensus 2016 - Making Blockchain Real], organized by [[CoinDesk]]

=== Arnhem Bitcoincity,   May 28  -  29 ===
[http://www.arnhembitcoinstad.nl/event Bitcoin in Use - Celebrating 2 years of Arnhem Bitcoincity], with speakers and big social gathering afterwards (Arnhem, the Netherlands)

== Past Conferences ==
* [http://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2015/ Consensus 2015], organized by [[CoinDesk]], Sep 10, 2015
* [http://www.bitgroups.org Bitcoin & Future Technology], European Conference, Prague, November 25 - 27, 2011
* [http://bitcoin.uni-rostock.de Bitcoin Tutorial and Workshop], Annual Meeting of the German Computer Science association GI, Braunschweig, September 20, 2012.
* [http://bitcoin2012.com Bitcoin Conference], London, 2012.
* [http://btcmiami.com BTC Miami], Miami, Jan 25-26 2014
* [http://insidebitcoins.de/en/?c=bcoinberlpage Inside Bitcoins Berlin], Berlin Feb 12-13 2014
* [http://texasbitcoinconference.com/ Texas Bitcoin Conference], Austin, March 6 2014
* [http://www.themankoffcompany.com/CryptocurrenciesNYMarch2014 The Mankoff Company New York], New York, March 12 2014
* [http://www.themankoffcompany.com/CryptocurrenciesSanFranMarch2014 The Mankoff Company San Francisco], San Francisco, March 20 2014
* [http://www.themankoffcompany.com/CryptocurrenciesLondonApril2014 The Mankoff Company London], London, April 3, 2014
* [http://www.mediabistro.com/insidebitcoins/new-york/ Inside Bitcoins New York], New York, April 7-8 2014
* [http://www.bitcoinexpo.ca/ Bitcoin Expo 2014], Toronto April 11th-13th 2014
* [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=343065 Bitcoin 2014], organized by the Bitcoin Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 15-17 2014
* [http://www.bitcoinbeltway.com/ Bitcoin in the Beltway], Washington, June 20-22 2014
* [http://bitcointlv.com/en/ Inside Bitcoins, July 28-29], Israel, July 2014
* [http://campbitcoin.hivewallet.com/ Camp Bitcoin], Black Rock City,Nevada - August 25th - September 1st 2014

==See Also==

* [http://bitcoin.org/en/events Events] on Bitcoin.org website
* [http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-events/ Events and Conference Listings] on [[CoinDesk]]
* [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=238093 List of conferences thread on bitcointalk]

Meetups

2016-01-11T19:22:22Z

MissJess:

Don't add everyone who's going in the "Who?" column, just prominent Bitcoin members and organizers. Also see [http://bitcoin.meetup.com bitcoin.meetup.com]. Also see [[Conferences]].

Keep an eye on the [http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=86.0 Meetups] forum board on BitcoinTalk for announcements.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Group
! When?
! Where?
! Who?
! Other Notes
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-in-San-Diego/ Bitcoin in San Diego]
| Bi-Monthly meetups, weekly workshops
| San Diego, CA, United States
| Local and international participants - guest speakers welcome.
| Presentations and workshops, discussion & trade.
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Tucson-Bitcoin-Marketplace/ Bitcoin in Tucson]
| short-notice meetups
| Tucson, AZ, United States
| everyone welcome
| breakfast, Bitcoin basics, presentations, cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and economics
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/blockchaintech/ Blockchain Tech in Phoenix]
| regular and short-notice meetups
| Phoenix, AZ, United States
| everyone welcome
| hack-a-thons and anything directly or indirectly related to blockchain technology!
|-
| [http://bitcoinembassy.ca Bitcoin Embassy]
| Monthly meetups, weekly workshops
| Montreal, QC, Canada
| Local and international participants - guest speakers welcome. Come and visit our hackerspace, startup incubator and soon, Bitcoin store.
| Presentations and workshops, discussion & trade. [http://eepurl.com/GRzAf Register to our mailing list] to receive event invitations. We also post on [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=86.0 BitcoinTalk Meetups], [http://bitcoinembassy.eventbrite.ca/ EventBrite], [https://www.facebook.com/bitcoinembassy Facebook Bitcoin Embassy page], [https://plus.google.com/u/0/100266464273886488866 Google +], etc.
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/San-Antonio-Bitcoin/ San Antonio Meetup]
| Every Thursday at 7:00 PM
| San Antonio, Texas
Currently at [https://www.google.com/maps/place/17711+Interstate+10+Frontage+Rd,+The+Rim,+San+Antonio,+TX+78257/@29.609714,-98.59871,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x865c6423ecd5d047:0xaa94c89b14a98fc0 Tiago's]
| Miners, entrepreneurs, traders and anyone looking to learn more about Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies are welcome.
| [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=727155.0 Bitcointalk thread]
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinCT/ BitcoinCT Meetup]
| Monthly Meetups
| Stamford, CT
| The Connecticut Bitcoin Meetup brings together Bitcoin users in Connecticut. This meetup is suitable for everyone from Bitcoin newbies to experienced Bitcoiners. You can attend meetups simply to learn more about Bitcoin or to make business connections for entrepreneurs, miners and developers. | We welcome everyone to our meetups even if you're not currently a Bitcoin user, but simply want to find out more about this amazing e-currency.
|-
|-
| [https://bitcash.cz/forum/ Bitcash.cz]
| Ocasionally
| Prague, Brno, Ostrava
| Meetup for Czech and Slovak bitcoin pioneers.
| Discuss and trade with Bitcoin. Events posted also on our [https://www.facebook.com/Bitcash.cz Facebook] profile.
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Sydney-Bitcoin-Users-Group/ BitcoinSYD]
| Every Wednesday @ 1800
| [https://goo.gl/maps/okdSm The SG], Downstairs, 32 York St. Look for the guy in the Red Cap.
| Local, National and International peeps looking to Talk and Trade Bitcoin
| We also post our meetups on Reddit and [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bitcoin-Sydney-Australia/457681220943285 Facebook]
|-
|-
| [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=27191.0;all Bitcoin Stammtisch]
| each first Thursday of the month
| [http://www.room77.de/ Room 77], Gräfestr. 77, Berlin-Kreuzberg
| Anyone interested in Bitcoin: technically, economically, socially or philosophically.
| If questions contact andreas(at)schildbach.de (founder).
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/bitcoins/ Bitcoin NYC]
| monthly
| [http://www.xcubicle.com/ xCubicle Hackerspace - New York, NY]
| Any and all Bitcoin aficionados.
|
|-
|-
| [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoin_Wednesday Bitcoin Wednesday Amsterdam]
| First Wednesday of the Month
| Dutch Bitcoin Users Group of the Netherlands - The country's longest continuously running Bitcoin event.
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinWednesday/ Sign Up - Amsterdam, The Netherlands]
| Open to anyone interested in Bitcoin. Organized by [https://www.PikaPay.com PikaPay.com] @PikaPay or hello-AT-PikaPay.com
|-
|-
| [http://hitspace.org/ HIT Space - Hack it Together]
| monthly
| [http://hitspace.org/where-we-are/ HIT Space - Porto, Portugal]
| Hackerspace members and anyone who want to join us
| send us an email geral[at]hitspace.org
|-
|-
| [http://bitcoin-austria.at Bitcoin Austria]
| monthly - check the [http://bitcoin-austria.at wiki] or subscribe to the [http://lists.bitcoin-austria.at/listinfo/bitcoin mailinglist]
| [https://metalab.at/wiki/Lage Metalab], Vienna hacker space, Rathausstraße 6, 1010 Wien
| Everybody interested in Bitcoin
|
|-
| [http://brmlab.cz brmlab, prague hackerspace]
| 14th Nov 2011
28th Nov 2011
([http://brmlab.cz/event/bitcoin_seminar])
| [http://brmlab.cz/place Brmlab, Bubenska 1]
| brmlab crew, slush, genjix
|
|-
| [http://www.facebook.com/groups/175596065827848/ Bitcoin Boston]
| Every Friday at 4:30 and bi-weekly on Saturday or Sunday ([http://www.facebook.com/groups/175596065827848/ See Facebook page])
| Starbucks in Kendall Square (Ames St & Broadway) and bi-weekly at Starbucks in Harvard Square
| Anyone is welcome!
| Our bi-weekly meetings have been somewhat sporadic but we aim to gain some regularity.
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Milwaukee-Area-Bitcoin-Meetup/ Milwaukee Area Bitcoin Meetup]
| Every other Thursday at 6:00pm
| 17025 West Rogers Drive, New Berlin WI
| Open to anyone interested in Bitcoin
| [https://www.facebook.com/groups/BTCMKE Milwaukee Area Bitcoin Meetup Facebook]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin New York Bitcoin Users]
| 6:00 PM, 3rd Sunday of every month ([http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin/events/past past meetings])
| OnlyOneTV Studios - 290 Fifth Ave New York, NY
| Bruce Wagner (Organizer) and others
|
|-
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin New York Bitcoin Users]
| 6:00 PM, every Wednesday of every month ([http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin/events/past past meetings])
| Just Sweet Dessert House - 83 Third Ave New York, NY
| Yifu Guo (Organizer) and crew
| hosted by Bitsyncom, the people behind [[Bitnavigator]], walk-ins welcome;
|-
|[http://www.meetup.com/MichiganBitcoinMeetup Michigan Bitcoin Meetup]
|
|
|Kinnard Hockenhull (Organizer)
|Sponsored by [[BitBox]]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/PhillyBitcoin Philadelphia Bitcoin User Group]
| TBD
| TBD
| Brian Cohen (Organizer) and others
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinDC Washington, DC Bitcoin Users]
| 7:00 PM, 1st Monday of every month ([http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinDC/#past past meetings])
| Northside Social, 3211 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA
| [[User:Dduane|Darrell Duane]] (Organizer) and others
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Silicon-Valley-Bitcoin-Users Silicon Valley Bitcoin Users]
| 7:00 PM, Tuesday, June 14, 2011 ([http://www.meetup.com/Silicon-Valley-Bitcoin-Users/events/past past meetings])
| 140B S Whisman Road Mountain View, CA
| Brian Mcqueen and others
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinChicago Chicago]
| No regular schedule yet ([http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinChicago/events/past past meetings])
| Sunnyvale Art Gallery Cafe, 251 W El Camino Real Sunnyvale, CA
| Igor
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/denver-bitcoin Denver]
| First meeting June 4th, 2011 ([http://www.meetup.com/denver-bitcoin/events/past past meetings])
| Gypsy House Cafe - 1279 Marion St Denver, CO
| bearbones
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/SF-Bitcoin-Devs/ SF Bitcoin Devs]
| About twice a month ([http://www.meetup.com/SF-Bitcoin-Devs/#past past meetings])
| San Francisco, CA
|
| This meetup has a strong technical/engineering focus ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCREs0ConyCR2sEFf-DrLRMw see videos of past presentations])
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-Bitcoin-Social/ San Francisco Bitcoin Social]
| Every second Thursday and last Tuesday of the month ([http://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-Bitcoin-Social/#past past meetings])
| San Francisco, CA
|
| More general (less technical) meetup for cryptocurrency aficionados
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Digital-Currency-Innovators-Group Los Angeles Digital Currency Innovators]
| Thursday July 7th, 2011, 7 PM
| (mt)/Media Temple, Culver City, CA
| [[User:sgornick|Stephen Gornick]] (Interim organizer) and others
| Seeking meetup coordinator
|-
| [http://CryptoParty.vegas/ Las Vegas Crypto Party]
| 1st Thursday 7pm. [http://BitcoinsInVegas.com Weekly Wednesday lunch mobs]
| CoinBus.com, 64 N Pecos, Henderson, NV 89052
| Julian Tosh / Tuxavant
|
|-
| [https://www.facebook.com/groups/195492163844669/ Free State Bitcoin Consortium]
| Every Saturday, at 6:30 PM
| Strange Brew Tavern, Manchester, NH
| ben-abuya (organizer)
| Weekly
|-
| [https://www.facebook.com/groups/195492163844669/ Twin Cities Users]
| Friday, June 10, 2011, 6:30 PM
| Joule - 1200 Washington Ave S Minneapolis, MN
| Mac Manson
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Portland-Bitcoin-Meetup-Users Portland Bitcoin Users Meetup Group]
| forming
|
| Steven Wagner
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Orlando Bitcoin Orlando]
| ([http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Orlando#past past meetings])
| Frank & Steins 150 S. Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL
| Antonio Gallippi
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Enthusiasts/ Bitcoin Tampa]
| Monthly meetings
| Matt Branton -- [https://www.coinlock.com/ Coinlock.com] founder
|
|-
| [http://www.hive13.org/?p=310 Hive13 Hackerspace]
| Bitcoin Exchange, Every Tuesday, 7:30 PM
| Hive13 - 2929 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, OH
|
|
|-
| [https://www.facebook.com/bitcoinaus Bitcoin Australia]: Melbourne
| [https://www.facebook.com/events/345430765511234/ Wednesday, 23 May 2012, 18:45]
| Melbourne CBD(TBA)
| Facebook, IRC, Bitcointalk Forum...
|
|-
| [[Bitcoin Wiki:Tokyo meetup|Tokyo]]
| Every Thursday
| Shibuya, Roppongi
| Roger Ver (Organizer) and others
| Locations change, check the meetup page
|-
| [http://meetup.com/Bitcoin-Canada Vancouver Canada]
| ([http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Canada/#past past meetings])
| The Brickhouse - 730 Main St.
| humble (and others)
|
|-
| [https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/113055238568417913658 Zurich / Geneva Switzerland]
| Twice a month
| Kennedy's Irish Pub, Zurich; Lord Nelson Pub, Geneva
| Stefan Thomas (WeUseCoins), Mike Hearn (BitcoinJ), bitdragon, Luzius (Wuala), more ...
|
|-
| Seattle Bitcoin Meetup
| [http://www.meetup.com/SeattleBitCoin/ Semi-regularly].
| [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cafe+solstice&daddr=4116+University+Way,+Seattle,+WA+98105-6214&hl=en&ll=47.657424,-122.31313&spn=0.007328,0.01929&gl=us&view=map&geocode=CRT9Bdg7zX3vFdcx1wIdWqa1-CFcJ9qrr9CcEQ&t=h&z=16 Solstice Cafe, 2pm]
| [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=36217 indolering]
|
|-
| [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=135723.0 Munich Germany]
| First wednesday of the month, 6:00PM
| [http://www.openstreetmap.org/?minlon=11.5800867080688&minlat=48.1336479187012&maxlon=11.5804319381714&maxlat=48.1338386535645 Nero Pizza], Rumfordstrasse 34, 80469 München
| Bitcoin-users from Munich and around
| [http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Munchen/ @meetup.com]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin-il/ Israel Bitcoin Meetup Group]
| Occasional
| TBD
| Meni Rosenfeld
|
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Dallas-Bitcoin-User-Meetup/ Dallas Bitcoin Meetup Group]
| Biweekly on Saturdays, 6:00PM
| [http://freemandallas.com/ The Free Man Cajun Cafe]
| Justus Ranvier (organizer)
|
|-
| [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Cafe Café Bitcoin Sevilla]
|
| Seville, Spain
| Randy Brito (rdymac / btcven), Eduardo (bitcoin.com.es), Jorge and Alfredo
| http://cafebitcoin.com
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/BitcoinSingapore/ Bitcoin Singapore Meetup]
|
| Singapore
| Monthly
| [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bitcoin-Singapore/431452580303555 Bitcoin Singapore Facebook Page]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-Bitcoin-Meetup/ Lehigh Valley (Allentown/Bethlehem PA) Bitcoin]
|
| Westgate Subway; Schoenersville Rd; Bethlehem
| Jim Hoff (organizer)
| http://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-Bitcoin-Meetup/
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/LetsUseBitcoin/ Lets Use Bitcoin]
| Monthly
| The Netherlands
| Local and international participants
| Using Bitcoin and having fun! Sponsored by [[Blocktrail]]
|-
| [http://www.meetup.com/Arnhem-Bitcoin-Users Arnhem Bitcoin Users]
| Monthly
| Arnhem Bitcoincity (the Netherlands)
| Beginners and experts
| Spend some time (and bitcoins) in the most Bitcoin-friendly city!
|-
|}

==See Also==

* [http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces List of Hacker Spaces]
* [http://bitimap.net Bitimap.net - Find local meetups (up-to-date)]

[[Category:Local]]
[[Category:Meetups]]

[[de:Treffen]]

How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses

2014-10-28T19:15:26Z

MissJess: /* Merchant Services */ reordered the list to alphabetical order

{{merge|Merchant Howto}}

This guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services. It's written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency such as dollars, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.

With Bitcoin being touted as a way to conduct anonymous transactions and as way to compete with government currency, many small business owners wonder what's the right way to accept and account Bitcoin, or if it's legal or ethical, or whether and how they should pay taxes on income received through Bitcoin.

As far as we know, Bitcoin isn't yet formally recognized by governments and authorities as a "currency". But in practice, Bitcoin is likely no different than accepting payment in other forms, such as cash, or gold, or scrip, or gift cards or foreign currency. We think that it is pretty much the same as the local businesses of Great Barrington, Massachusetts choosing to accept their locally-printed [http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/19/us-usa-economy-berkshares-idUSN0530157720070619 "Berkshire Bucks"] to support their local economy.

====Starting to accept Bitcoin for transactions====
Accepting Bitcoin at a small business is best started in whichever manner keeps the accounting simple for you. This will vary by the type of business you are operating.

===Start with a sign===
[[{{ns:file}}:WeAcceptBitcoin.png‎]]

If you expect that the number of people interested in using Bitcoin is small, you might simply start by posting a sign or a note: "We Accept Bitcoin", and ask people to contact you directly in order to make a payment. Even if hardly anybody uses Bitcoin as a payment method, you're helping Bitcoin in two ways: one, by increasing awareness, and two, by making your customers more willing to accept Bitcoin as payment from others in the future, because now they know somewhere they can spend it.

===Utilize a merchant solution===
If you sell things on your website (goods or services), you'll want to use a [[#Merchant Services|Bitcoin merchant solution]] to accept the Bitcoins (you can usually opt to have them converted to USD or other currencies automatically with some services).

If you sell things in a brick and mortar shop, customers can pay using hardware terminals, touch screen apps or simple wallet addresses through QR Codes.

[[File:Easybitz bitcoin pointofsale.png|400 px|alt=Accept Bitcoin without internet|EasyBitz ZeroClick System|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]]

[[File:Bitcoin-pos-terminal.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|Coinkite terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Web_App_Bitcoin_Register.jpeg|100 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|CoinBox terminal]]

[[File:Mobile_Checkout_Phone.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin Mobile Checkout|BIPS Mobile Checkout|link=https://bips.me/point-of-sale]]

===Smart Phone or Tablet===
You can use a wallet address with any wallet. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your cash register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay (use http://ma.eatgold.com/accept to make a QR code sign). For a more convenient solution you can use a dedicated app or webapp that generates a QR code on the fly including the amount.

==== Examples ====
Solutions for smart phones and tablets:
* [[File:Easybitz.png|20px|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]] [https://easybitz.com/merchant EasyBitz] Simplest Merchant POS + Live Transaction Map
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me/point-of-sale BIPS] Bitcoin Point Of Sale
* [https://bitcoin.co.th/merchants/ bitcoin.co.th] mobile Bitcoin Point of Sale for Thailand
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], Mobile payment terminal with EUR, USD, PLN and CZK settlements.
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] accept Bitcoin on mobile phone, tablet, computer; converts to Euro/Bitcoin (any percentage)
* [https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-for-retail BitPay] Mobile Checkout
* [https://bitpos.me/demo.html BitPOS] Merchant POS solution for Australia
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.blockchain.merchant Blockchain] Merchant for Android
* [http://www.btcxpos.com/ BTCX] POS for Sweden
* [[File:Coin_Of_Sale_logo.png|20px|link=https://coinofsale.com]] [https://coinofsale.com Coin Of Sale] - device-independent Bitcoin POS payment system
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/point_of_sale Coinbase] Point Of Sale for Android
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]][http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin point of sale for Android
* [http://www.coinpip.com CoinPip] - Bitcoin Payment Solution for Android
* [https://cryptopay.me/products/ Cryptopay] HTML5-based bitcoin POS
* [https://pocketpos.ca/ PocketPOS] Bitcoin Point of Sale for Canadians, with exchange integration

===Point-of-Sale hardware terminal===
With custom hardware you can integrate with existing registers and point-of-sales solutions (examples: [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite], [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal], [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat]).

===Accounting===
When a customer makes a payment, you might simply issue a credit to their account. Ideally, you want to enter it in a way that suggests you received a payment. You could consider entering it as a "discount", but you may want to consider whether this inappropriately disguises the nature of the transaction. If on the other hand, you're giving "discounts" for Bitcoins, but then you are selling the Bitcoins for currency and then counting that as income, then chances are good that your calculation of income is making up for it. Ask your accountant.

===Businesses that offer gift cards===
If your business sells gift cards or gift certificates, you may find that the easiest way to accept Bitcoin is to accept it only for the purchase of gift cards, and then require the gift cards to be used for actual purchases of goods or services. This way, the accounting practices you already have in place for processing gift cards can be put to use. The accounting for Bitcoins would then be minimized to tracking sales of a single SKU.

This method is also ideal for retail food establishments and convenience stores, where the payment of Bitcoins through a mobile phone for a small daily food purchase might be cumbersome or disruptive, especially in front of a line of other customers. Bitcoins in this case would be best used to reload prepaid cards that can then be swiped at point-of-sale.

If you don't accept gift cards, but you already accept credit cards through a swipe terminal, consider the possibility that you could add a retail gift card system through the swipe terminal you already own. Many point-of-sale terminals, including ones from VeriFone®, are designed around the ability to support multiple applications on the same terminal. Gift cards are also highly profitable because of "breakage", or in other words, the fact that a significant percentage of them never get redeemed.

You could consider adding a private label gift card program from a provider who specializes in this, not just as a jumpstart to accepting Bitcoins, but as an extra boost to income. A private label gift card service provider necessarily have to handle your funds - they can simply provide a solution that keeps track of the balance on the cards on your behalf, including features that allow users to check their balances by phone or by web. Such a solution, of course, is also what makes the cards swipeable through the card reader.

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment.

If you have access to the programming expertise such that you can generate Bitcoin addresses programmatically, consider generating a brand new Bitcoin address for each invoice, and print it on the invoice. When a Bitcoin payment arrives, you'll automatically know where it should arrive.

Customers might wonder how much BTC they should pay in order to satisfy an invoice in full. Your invoice might suggest an amount. For example, if your invoice is for $100 and BTC's are currently worth $1.24 each, your invoice might suggest that it can be paid in full ''"with a payment of 80.65 BTC if paid by (date)"''.

You might be able to anticipate the possibility that even though a Bitcoin address can be printed on an invoice or payment stub, that they are very cumbersome for most people to type, especially being a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. However, you should probably still do it anyway. The customer is probably going to want some paper trail for his payment. Giving him a pre-printed payment stub with a pre-printed address will satisfy that, because the customer can independently and publicly prove through [[Block Explorer]] that the payment took place.

Does your business have a website? On your invoice, consider allowing them to go to a special URL to get the address to make a Bitcoin payment just by typing in their invoice number. For example, ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc'' with a form they can enter their invoice number, or just ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc/60365'' for paying invoice #60365. This way, they can see the Bitcoin address, copy and paste it directly into their Bitcoin client.

Use a brand new address for each invoice whenever possible, and use it only once. This benefits the customer as it removes any ambiguity as to which customer is making which payment and for which invoice.

Known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup, [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb]] [https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb BIPS]

Online wallet supporting invoicing, subscriptions and recurrent payments, [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/info/sending-paying-invoices xCoinMoney]

===Avoiding fraud===

You should also consider the possible risk that fraudsters could send counterfeit invoices to your customers, and entice them to make a payment to a Bitcoin address they control, instead of you. While that isn't likely in general - it depends on how well a fraudster could find out who your customers are in the first place - it would certainly be an unpleasant situation if it ever happened. One way you could control that is, whenever possible, never let people try to type Bitcoin addresses off payment stubs - instead, force people to get the full Bitcoin address from your website via secure SSL. But, still print ''most'' of the address on the payment stub (perhaps with four or five characters starred out), so that the customer's need for a paper trail can be satisfied, so they can prove they paid if there is ever a dispute. Merchants can also use the IP address geolocation to understand the close proximity of users. There is automated solution such as [https://www.fraudlabspro.com FraudLabs Pro] that automates the screening of Bitcoin transactions to determine risk level.

==Setting Prices==

When a business accepts bitcoins for payment, there generally is the need to convert them to the currencies used for paying suppliers, employees and shareholders. Some merchants set prices based on the current market rate at the time the price quote is presented to the customer (merchant services like [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] or [http://paysius.com Paysius] do this automatically).

[[Bitcoin Prices]] lists the exchange rate for many currencies on multiple exchanges.

When prices are determined using an automated process, the current market rate can be based on either a current price or on a weighted average basis. [[Bitcoin Charts]] provides a [http://bitcoincharts.com/about/markets-api data feed that provides weighted prices]. [[Bitcoin Average]] also offers a weighted average price index, featuring average price across all exchanges reachable in the world and in over 150 currencies. 24h sliding average price index is also available and all data is [https://bitcoinaverage.com/api.htm reachable through the API].

When bitcoin funds for purchases are received, some merchants instantly exchange those proceeds into the preferred currency used (again done automatically by [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] or [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay]. Hedging for each transaction can nearly entirely eliminate exchange rate risk that the business is exposed to when accepting bitcoins for payment.

==Contract==

A sales contract might be used to ensure that specific terms are met to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding. For instance, the party sending payment is responsible for paying any [[transaction fee]] that might be necessary. A contract might specify that a transaction fee must be paid and what amount, so as to prevent the situation where the transaction is considered a low priority transaction and thus isn't confirmed quickly.

Other items that might be addressed in a contract:

* Requirement and handling of escrow through an [[:Category:Escrow_services|escrow service]].
* Jurisdiction for disputes.
* Refund policy (particularly with the exchange rate being volatile)

==Paying taxes on Bitcoin income==
[[Tax compliance]] is a topic of concern for small businesses. We aren't accountants or lawyers, and can't give legal or accounting advice.

But in many respects, Bitcoin transactions work very much like cash. Just like Bitcoin, cash is anonymous and doesn't leave a paper trail, yet is widely used in commerce every day.

Ask yourself how you would handle a cash transaction. Do you accept cash transactions? Do you normally pay taxes on cash transactions? The answer for Bitcoin should probably be the same.

As for how to decide what a Bitcoin transaction is worth... the IRS, as far as we know, has never issued a guide mentioning how to value Bitcoin transactions. But they probably have rules and guidelines on how to value transactions made in foreign currency or "cash equivalents". We imagine the accounting would be similar.

With Bitcoins, there's likely to be some difference between the value of BTC when you received them as payment, versus when you go to exchange them for another currency like USD, should you decide to do so. This scenario, likewise, would be no different if you accepted foreign currency or gold as payment. Under some scenarios, it might make sense to book the dollar value of BTC income as it is received, and then to book any difference incurred when it is exchanged for fiat currency. Under others, it might make sense to book the whole thing at the time of exchange.

Perhaps you might talk to your accountant. You don't need to get into a discussion with your accountant about block chains and private keys or the philosophy behind a decentralized currency. By comparing the fundamentals of Bitcoins to accounting concepts already well understood by the public, you can probably get all the answers you need. What would you ask your accountant if you decided that you wanted to accept ''Berkshire Bucks'' or 1-ounce gold coins as payment?

== Merchant Services ==
* [https://apicoin.io Apicoin.io] A robust, secure api to connect to the bitcoin network.
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS] Payment Service Provider (PSP) specializing in the technical aspects of accepting cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin. Supports Bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, In-store Bitcoin Payments and Bitcoin Invoicing with recurring billing in bitcoin.
* [http://www.btc4erp.com Bitcoin Transaction Coordinator] Full Merchant Solution for organizations using the NetSuite Global ERP and eCommerce Platform
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Payment gateway for virtual currencies with direct settlement to PLN, CZK, EUR and USD. POS + API.
* [[File:Bitfavicon.png|20px|link=http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com]] [http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com Bitcoinpaygate] Bitcoin payment processing for the web & in store payments
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting Bitcoin, getting Euro or Euro/Bitcoin percentage. The Netherlands.
* [https://bitmerch.com BitMerch] Provides HTML buttons to start accepting bitcoins instantly. No server side setup required.
* [https://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Bitcoin and Credit Card payment processor
* [https://www.bitpay.com BitPay] Bitcoin payment processor with mobile checkout solution
* [https://bitpos.me BitPOS] Bitcoin payment processor for online and brick and mortar stores
* [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat] Merchant POS solution for accepting Bitcoin
* [http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive Blockchain.info] Free APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed.
* [https://www.btcmerch.com BTCMerch] Payment processor for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. 0.5% transaction fee. Sandbox is available.
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payment_buttons Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, shopping cart integration, and daily cash out to USD.
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com]] [https://coinkite.com/faq/terminal Coinkite] Full-reserve banking, payment buttons, invoice pages, hardware POS terminals, and Debit-Cards.
* [https://coinpip.com/ CoinPip] SMS and Physical Bitcoin Card Wallets, Process Bitcoin Payments and gives you the option to convert into your local currency automatically.
* [https://coinvoice.com/ Coinvoice] Invoice in USD or BTC, Get paid in USD or BTC.
* [https://coinvoy.net Coinvoy] Free Payment Gateway with built-in exchange
* [https://cryptopay.me Cryptopay] European payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR and USD. Exchange and wallet integrated.
* [[File:Easybitz.png|20px|link=https://easybitz.com]] [https://easybitz.com EasyBitz] Bitcoin for Retail.ZeroClick requires only SMS. POS works on SmartPhones and Tablets. Live Transaction Map
* [http://fasterco.in Fasterco.in] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants and day-traders
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com/docs GoCoin International payment gateway and processing platform for Merchants]
* [[File:MCS_200by200_logo-01.png|20px|link=http://www.mycoinsolution.com]][http://www.mycoinsolution.com My Coin Solution] - Bitcoin consulting services and solutions
* [https://www.okpay.com/en/services/accept-payments/index.html OKPAY] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants
* [https://pocketpos.ca/ PocketPOS] Bitcoin Point of Sale for Canadians, including merchant integration for CAD / BTC exchange.
* [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin] Bitcoin payment processing platform with solutions for the financial sector
* [http://snowcron.com Snowcron] Bitcoin Store Engine: Handles payments, sends your customers information they ordered (reg. codes, passwords...) No web programming required.
* [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.
* [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/ xCoinMoney] Online wallet for instant payment and subscriptions.

==See Also==

* [[Merchant Howto]]
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[Tax compliance]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[BitCoins Mobile]] provides accurate up to date pricing from multiple exchanges from your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website

[[Category:ECommerce]]
[[Category:Local]]

[[de:Bitcoin_als_Geschäft_akzeptieren]]

How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses

2014-10-28T19:05:18Z

MissJess: /* Merchant Services */ added favicon

{{merge|Merchant Howto}}

This guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services. It's written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency such as dollars, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.

With Bitcoin being touted as a way to conduct anonymous transactions and as way to compete with government currency, many small business owners wonder what's the right way to accept and account Bitcoin, or if it's legal or ethical, or whether and how they should pay taxes on income received through Bitcoin.

As far as we know, Bitcoin isn't yet formally recognized by governments and authorities as a "currency". But in practice, Bitcoin is likely no different than accepting payment in other forms, such as cash, or gold, or scrip, or gift cards or foreign currency. We think that it is pretty much the same as the local businesses of Great Barrington, Massachusetts choosing to accept their locally-printed [http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/19/us-usa-economy-berkshares-idUSN0530157720070619 "Berkshire Bucks"] to support their local economy.

====Starting to accept Bitcoin for transactions====
Accepting Bitcoin at a small business is best started in whichever manner keeps the accounting simple for you. This will vary by the type of business you are operating.

===Start with a sign===
[[{{ns:file}}:WeAcceptBitcoin.png‎]]

If you expect that the number of people interested in using Bitcoin is small, you might simply start by posting a sign or a note: "We Accept Bitcoin", and ask people to contact you directly in order to make a payment. Even if hardly anybody uses Bitcoin as a payment method, you're helping Bitcoin in two ways: one, by increasing awareness, and two, by making your customers more willing to accept Bitcoin as payment from others in the future, because now they know somewhere they can spend it.

===Utilize a merchant solution===
If you sell things on your website (goods or services), you'll want to use a [[#Merchant Services|Bitcoin merchant solution]] to accept the Bitcoins (you can usually opt to have them converted to USD or other currencies automatically with some services).

If you sell things in a brick and mortar shop, customers can pay using hardware terminals, touch screen apps or simple wallet addresses through QR Codes.

[[File:Easybitz bitcoin pointofsale.png|400 px|alt=Accept Bitcoin without internet|EasyBitz ZeroClick System|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]]

[[File:Bitcoin-pos-terminal.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|Coinkite terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Web_App_Bitcoin_Register.jpeg|100 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|CoinBox terminal]]

[[File:Mobile_Checkout_Phone.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin Mobile Checkout|BIPS Mobile Checkout|link=https://bips.me/point-of-sale]]

===Smart Phone or Tablet===
You can use a wallet address with any wallet. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your cash register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay (use http://ma.eatgold.com/accept to make a QR code sign). For a more convenient solution you can use a dedicated app or webapp that generates a QR code on the fly including the amount.

==== Examples ====
Solutions for smart phones and tablets:
* [[File:Easybitz.png|20px|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]] [https://easybitz.com/merchant EasyBitz] Simplest Merchant POS + Live Transaction Map
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me/point-of-sale BIPS] Bitcoin Point Of Sale
* [https://bitcoin.co.th/merchants/ bitcoin.co.th] mobile Bitcoin Point of Sale for Thailand
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], Mobile payment terminal with EUR, USD, PLN and CZK settlements.
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] accept Bitcoin on mobile phone, tablet, computer; converts to Euro/Bitcoin (any percentage)
* [https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-for-retail BitPay] Mobile Checkout
* [https://bitpos.me/demo.html BitPOS] Merchant POS solution for Australia
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.blockchain.merchant Blockchain] Merchant for Android
* [http://www.btcxpos.com/ BTCX] POS for Sweden
* [[File:Coin_Of_Sale_logo.png|20px|link=https://coinofsale.com]] [https://coinofsale.com Coin Of Sale] - device-independent Bitcoin POS payment system
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/point_of_sale Coinbase] Point Of Sale for Android
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]][http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin point of sale for Android
* [http://www.coinpip.com CoinPip] - Bitcoin Payment Solution for Android
* [https://cryptopay.me/products/ Cryptopay] HTML5-based bitcoin POS
* [https://pocketpos.ca/ PocketPOS] Bitcoin Point of Sale for Canadians, with exchange integration

===Point-of-Sale hardware terminal===
With custom hardware you can integrate with existing registers and point-of-sales solutions (examples: [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite], [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal], [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat]).

===Accounting===
When a customer makes a payment, you might simply issue a credit to their account. Ideally, you want to enter it in a way that suggests you received a payment. You could consider entering it as a "discount", but you may want to consider whether this inappropriately disguises the nature of the transaction. If on the other hand, you're giving "discounts" for Bitcoins, but then you are selling the Bitcoins for currency and then counting that as income, then chances are good that your calculation of income is making up for it. Ask your accountant.

===Businesses that offer gift cards===
If your business sells gift cards or gift certificates, you may find that the easiest way to accept Bitcoin is to accept it only for the purchase of gift cards, and then require the gift cards to be used for actual purchases of goods or services. This way, the accounting practices you already have in place for processing gift cards can be put to use. The accounting for Bitcoins would then be minimized to tracking sales of a single SKU.

This method is also ideal for retail food establishments and convenience stores, where the payment of Bitcoins through a mobile phone for a small daily food purchase might be cumbersome or disruptive, especially in front of a line of other customers. Bitcoins in this case would be best used to reload prepaid cards that can then be swiped at point-of-sale.

If you don't accept gift cards, but you already accept credit cards through a swipe terminal, consider the possibility that you could add a retail gift card system through the swipe terminal you already own. Many point-of-sale terminals, including ones from VeriFone®, are designed around the ability to support multiple applications on the same terminal. Gift cards are also highly profitable because of "breakage", or in other words, the fact that a significant percentage of them never get redeemed.

You could consider adding a private label gift card program from a provider who specializes in this, not just as a jumpstart to accepting Bitcoins, but as an extra boost to income. A private label gift card service provider necessarily have to handle your funds - they can simply provide a solution that keeps track of the balance on the cards on your behalf, including features that allow users to check their balances by phone or by web. Such a solution, of course, is also what makes the cards swipeable through the card reader.

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment.

If you have access to the programming expertise such that you can generate Bitcoin addresses programmatically, consider generating a brand new Bitcoin address for each invoice, and print it on the invoice. When a Bitcoin payment arrives, you'll automatically know where it should arrive.

Customers might wonder how much BTC they should pay in order to satisfy an invoice in full. Your invoice might suggest an amount. For example, if your invoice is for $100 and BTC's are currently worth $1.24 each, your invoice might suggest that it can be paid in full ''"with a payment of 80.65 BTC if paid by (date)"''.

You might be able to anticipate the possibility that even though a Bitcoin address can be printed on an invoice or payment stub, that they are very cumbersome for most people to type, especially being a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. However, you should probably still do it anyway. The customer is probably going to want some paper trail for his payment. Giving him a pre-printed payment stub with a pre-printed address will satisfy that, because the customer can independently and publicly prove through [[Block Explorer]] that the payment took place.

Does your business have a website? On your invoice, consider allowing them to go to a special URL to get the address to make a Bitcoin payment just by typing in their invoice number. For example, ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc'' with a form they can enter their invoice number, or just ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc/60365'' for paying invoice #60365. This way, they can see the Bitcoin address, copy and paste it directly into their Bitcoin client.

Use a brand new address for each invoice whenever possible, and use it only once. This benefits the customer as it removes any ambiguity as to which customer is making which payment and for which invoice.

Known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup, [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb]] [https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb BIPS]

Online wallet supporting invoicing, subscriptions and recurrent payments, [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/info/sending-paying-invoices xCoinMoney]

===Avoiding fraud===

You should also consider the possible risk that fraudsters could send counterfeit invoices to your customers, and entice them to make a payment to a Bitcoin address they control, instead of you. While that isn't likely in general - it depends on how well a fraudster could find out who your customers are in the first place - it would certainly be an unpleasant situation if it ever happened. One way you could control that is, whenever possible, never let people try to type Bitcoin addresses off payment stubs - instead, force people to get the full Bitcoin address from your website via secure SSL. But, still print ''most'' of the address on the payment stub (perhaps with four or five characters starred out), so that the customer's need for a paper trail can be satisfied, so they can prove they paid if there is ever a dispute. Merchants can also use the IP address geolocation to understand the close proximity of users. There is automated solution such as [https://www.fraudlabspro.com FraudLabs Pro] that automates the screening of Bitcoin transactions to determine risk level.

==Setting Prices==

When a business accepts bitcoins for payment, there generally is the need to convert them to the currencies used for paying suppliers, employees and shareholders. Some merchants set prices based on the current market rate at the time the price quote is presented to the customer (merchant services like [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] or [http://paysius.com Paysius] do this automatically).

[[Bitcoin Prices]] lists the exchange rate for many currencies on multiple exchanges.

When prices are determined using an automated process, the current market rate can be based on either a current price or on a weighted average basis. [[Bitcoin Charts]] provides a [http://bitcoincharts.com/about/markets-api data feed that provides weighted prices]. [[Bitcoin Average]] also offers a weighted average price index, featuring average price across all exchanges reachable in the world and in over 150 currencies. 24h sliding average price index is also available and all data is [https://bitcoinaverage.com/api.htm reachable through the API].

When bitcoin funds for purchases are received, some merchants instantly exchange those proceeds into the preferred currency used (again done automatically by [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] or [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay]. Hedging for each transaction can nearly entirely eliminate exchange rate risk that the business is exposed to when accepting bitcoins for payment.

==Contract==

A sales contract might be used to ensure that specific terms are met to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding. For instance, the party sending payment is responsible for paying any [[transaction fee]] that might be necessary. A contract might specify that a transaction fee must be paid and what amount, so as to prevent the situation where the transaction is considered a low priority transaction and thus isn't confirmed quickly.

Other items that might be addressed in a contract:

* Requirement and handling of escrow through an [[:Category:Escrow_services|escrow service]].
* Jurisdiction for disputes.
* Refund policy (particularly with the exchange rate being volatile)

==Paying taxes on Bitcoin income==
[[Tax compliance]] is a topic of concern for small businesses. We aren't accountants or lawyers, and can't give legal or accounting advice.

But in many respects, Bitcoin transactions work very much like cash. Just like Bitcoin, cash is anonymous and doesn't leave a paper trail, yet is widely used in commerce every day.

Ask yourself how you would handle a cash transaction. Do you accept cash transactions? Do you normally pay taxes on cash transactions? The answer for Bitcoin should probably be the same.

As for how to decide what a Bitcoin transaction is worth... the IRS, as far as we know, has never issued a guide mentioning how to value Bitcoin transactions. But they probably have rules and guidelines on how to value transactions made in foreign currency or "cash equivalents". We imagine the accounting would be similar.

With Bitcoins, there's likely to be some difference between the value of BTC when you received them as payment, versus when you go to exchange them for another currency like USD, should you decide to do so. This scenario, likewise, would be no different if you accepted foreign currency or gold as payment. Under some scenarios, it might make sense to book the dollar value of BTC income as it is received, and then to book any difference incurred when it is exchanged for fiat currency. Under others, it might make sense to book the whole thing at the time of exchange.

Perhaps you might talk to your accountant. You don't need to get into a discussion with your accountant about block chains and private keys or the philosophy behind a decentralized currency. By comparing the fundamentals of Bitcoins to accounting concepts already well understood by the public, you can probably get all the answers you need. What would you ask your accountant if you decided that you wanted to accept ''Berkshire Bucks'' or 1-ounce gold coins as payment?

== Merchant Services ==
* [[File:Easybitz.png|20px|link=https://easybitz.com]] [https://easybitz.com EasyBitz] Bitcoin for Retail.ZeroClick requires only SMS. POS works on SmartPhones and Tablets. Live Transaction Map
* [[File:Bitfavicon.png|20px|link=http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com]] [http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com Bitcoinpaygate] Bitcoin payment processing for the web & in store payments
* [https://pocketpos.ca/ PocketPOS] Bitcoin Point of Sale for Canadians, including merchant integration for CAD / BTC exchange.
* [https://cryptopay.me Cryptopay] European payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR and USD. Exchange and wallet integrated.
* [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin] Bitcoin payment processing platform with solutions for the financial sector
* [http://www.btc4erp.com Bitcoin Transaction Coordinator] Full Merchant Solution for organizations using the NetSuite Global ERP and eCommerce Platform
* [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat] Merchant POS solution for accepting Bitcoin
* [http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive Blockchain.info] Free APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed.
* [[File:MCS_200by200_logo-01.png|20px|link=http://www.mycoinsolution.com]][http://www.mycoinsolution.com My Coin Solution] - Bitcoin consulting services and solutions
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS] Payment Service Provider (PSP) specializing in the technical aspects of accepting cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin. Supports Bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, In-store Bitcoin Payments and Bitcoin Invoicing with recurring billing in bitcoin.
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting Bitcoin, getting Euro or Euro/Bitcoin percentage. The Netherlands.
* [https://coinvoy.net Coinvoy] Free Payment Gateway with built-in exchange
* [https://www.bitpay.com BitPay] Bitcoin payment processor with mobile checkout solution
* [https://bitpos.me BitPOS] Bitcoin payment processor for online and brick and mortar stores
* [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/ xCoinMoney] Online wallet for instant payment and subscriptions.
* [https://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Bitcoin and Credit Card payment processor
* [https://www.btcmerch.com BTCMerch] Payment processor for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. 0.5% transaction fee. Sandbox is available.
* [https://bitmerch.com BitMerch] Provides HTML buttons to start accepting bitcoins instantly. No server side setup required.
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payment_buttons Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, shopping cart integration, and daily cash out to USD.
* [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com]] [https://coinkite.com/faq/terminal Coinkite] Full-reserve banking, payment buttons, invoice pages, hardware POS terminals, and Debit-Cards.
* [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.
* [https://www.okpay.com/en/services/accept-payments/index.html OKPAY] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants
* [http://fasterco.in Fasterco.in] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants and day-traders
* [http://snowcron.com Snowcron] Bitcoin Store Engine: Handles payments, sends your customers information they ordered (reg. codes, passwords...) No web programming required.
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com/docs GoCoin International payment gateway and processing platform for Merchants]
* [https://coinvoice.com/ Coinvoice] Invoice in USD or BTC, Get paid in USD or BTC.
* [https://coinpip.com/ CoinPip] SMS and Physical Bitcoin Card Wallets, Process Bitcoin Payments and gives you the option to convert into your local currency automatically.
* [https://apicoin.io Apicoin.io] A robust, secure api to connect to the bitcoin network.
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Payment gateway for virtual currencies with direct settlement to PLN, CZK, EUR and USD. POS + API.

==See Also==

* [[Merchant Howto]]
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[Tax compliance]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[BitCoins Mobile]] provides accurate up to date pricing from multiple exchanges from your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website

[[Category:ECommerce]]
[[Category:Local]]

[[de:Bitcoin_als_Geschäft_akzeptieren]]

How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses

2014-10-28T18:58:52Z

MissJess: /* Smart Phone or Tablet */

{{merge|Merchant Howto}}

This guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services. It's written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency such as dollars, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.

With Bitcoin being touted as a way to conduct anonymous transactions and as way to compete with government currency, many small business owners wonder what's the right way to accept and account Bitcoin, or if it's legal or ethical, or whether and how they should pay taxes on income received through Bitcoin.

As far as we know, Bitcoin isn't yet formally recognized by governments and authorities as a "currency". But in practice, Bitcoin is likely no different than accepting payment in other forms, such as cash, or gold, or scrip, or gift cards or foreign currency. We think that it is pretty much the same as the local businesses of Great Barrington, Massachusetts choosing to accept their locally-printed [http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/19/us-usa-economy-berkshares-idUSN0530157720070619 "Berkshire Bucks"] to support their local economy.

====Starting to accept Bitcoin for transactions====
Accepting Bitcoin at a small business is best started in whichever manner keeps the accounting simple for you. This will vary by the type of business you are operating.

===Start with a sign===
[[{{ns:file}}:WeAcceptBitcoin.png‎]]

If you expect that the number of people interested in using Bitcoin is small, you might simply start by posting a sign or a note: "We Accept Bitcoin", and ask people to contact you directly in order to make a payment. Even if hardly anybody uses Bitcoin as a payment method, you're helping Bitcoin in two ways: one, by increasing awareness, and two, by making your customers more willing to accept Bitcoin as payment from others in the future, because now they know somewhere they can spend it.

===Utilize a merchant solution===
If you sell things on your website (goods or services), you'll want to use a [[#Merchant Services|Bitcoin merchant solution]] to accept the Bitcoins (you can usually opt to have them converted to USD or other currencies automatically with some services).

If you sell things in a brick and mortar shop, customers can pay using hardware terminals, touch screen apps or simple wallet addresses through QR Codes.

[[File:Easybitz bitcoin pointofsale.png|400 px|alt=Accept Bitcoin without internet|EasyBitz ZeroClick System|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]]

[[File:Bitcoin-pos-terminal.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|Coinkite terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Web_App_Bitcoin_Register.jpeg|100 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|CoinBox terminal]]

[[File:Mobile_Checkout_Phone.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin Mobile Checkout|BIPS Mobile Checkout|link=https://bips.me/point-of-sale]]

===Smart Phone or Tablet===
You can use a wallet address with any wallet. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your cash register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay (use http://ma.eatgold.com/accept to make a QR code sign). For a more convenient solution you can use a dedicated app or webapp that generates a QR code on the fly including the amount.

==== Examples ====
Solutions for smart phones and tablets:
* [[File:Easybitz.png|20px|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]] [https://easybitz.com/merchant EasyBitz] Simplest Merchant POS + Live Transaction Map
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me/point-of-sale BIPS] Bitcoin Point Of Sale
* [https://bitcoin.co.th/merchants/ bitcoin.co.th] mobile Bitcoin Point of Sale for Thailand
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], Mobile payment terminal with EUR, USD, PLN and CZK settlements.
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] accept Bitcoin on mobile phone, tablet, computer; converts to Euro/Bitcoin (any percentage)
* [https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-for-retail BitPay] Mobile Checkout
* [https://bitpos.me/demo.html BitPOS] Merchant POS solution for Australia
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.blockchain.merchant Blockchain] Merchant for Android
* [http://www.btcxpos.com/ BTCX] POS for Sweden
* [[File:Coin_Of_Sale_logo.png|20px|link=https://coinofsale.com]] [https://coinofsale.com Coin Of Sale] - device-independent Bitcoin POS payment system
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/point_of_sale Coinbase] Point Of Sale for Android
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]][http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin point of sale for Android
* [http://www.coinpip.com CoinPip] - Bitcoin Payment Solution for Android
* [https://cryptopay.me/products/ Cryptopay] HTML5-based bitcoin POS
* [https://pocketpos.ca/ PocketPOS] Bitcoin Point of Sale for Canadians, with exchange integration

===Point-of-Sale hardware terminal===
With custom hardware you can integrate with existing registers and point-of-sales solutions (examples: [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite], [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal], [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat]).

===Accounting===
When a customer makes a payment, you might simply issue a credit to their account. Ideally, you want to enter it in a way that suggests you received a payment. You could consider entering it as a "discount", but you may want to consider whether this inappropriately disguises the nature of the transaction. If on the other hand, you're giving "discounts" for Bitcoins, but then you are selling the Bitcoins for currency and then counting that as income, then chances are good that your calculation of income is making up for it. Ask your accountant.

===Businesses that offer gift cards===
If your business sells gift cards or gift certificates, you may find that the easiest way to accept Bitcoin is to accept it only for the purchase of gift cards, and then require the gift cards to be used for actual purchases of goods or services. This way, the accounting practices you already have in place for processing gift cards can be put to use. The accounting for Bitcoins would then be minimized to tracking sales of a single SKU.

This method is also ideal for retail food establishments and convenience stores, where the payment of Bitcoins through a mobile phone for a small daily food purchase might be cumbersome or disruptive, especially in front of a line of other customers. Bitcoins in this case would be best used to reload prepaid cards that can then be swiped at point-of-sale.

If you don't accept gift cards, but you already accept credit cards through a swipe terminal, consider the possibility that you could add a retail gift card system through the swipe terminal you already own. Many point-of-sale terminals, including ones from VeriFone®, are designed around the ability to support multiple applications on the same terminal. Gift cards are also highly profitable because of "breakage", or in other words, the fact that a significant percentage of them never get redeemed.

You could consider adding a private label gift card program from a provider who specializes in this, not just as a jumpstart to accepting Bitcoins, but as an extra boost to income. A private label gift card service provider necessarily have to handle your funds - they can simply provide a solution that keeps track of the balance on the cards on your behalf, including features that allow users to check their balances by phone or by web. Such a solution, of course, is also what makes the cards swipeable through the card reader.

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment.

If you have access to the programming expertise such that you can generate Bitcoin addresses programmatically, consider generating a brand new Bitcoin address for each invoice, and print it on the invoice. When a Bitcoin payment arrives, you'll automatically know where it should arrive.

Customers might wonder how much BTC they should pay in order to satisfy an invoice in full. Your invoice might suggest an amount. For example, if your invoice is for $100 and BTC's are currently worth $1.24 each, your invoice might suggest that it can be paid in full ''"with a payment of 80.65 BTC if paid by (date)"''.

You might be able to anticipate the possibility that even though a Bitcoin address can be printed on an invoice or payment stub, that they are very cumbersome for most people to type, especially being a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. However, you should probably still do it anyway. The customer is probably going to want some paper trail for his payment. Giving him a pre-printed payment stub with a pre-printed address will satisfy that, because the customer can independently and publicly prove through [[Block Explorer]] that the payment took place.

Does your business have a website? On your invoice, consider allowing them to go to a special URL to get the address to make a Bitcoin payment just by typing in their invoice number. For example, ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc'' with a form they can enter their invoice number, or just ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc/60365'' for paying invoice #60365. This way, they can see the Bitcoin address, copy and paste it directly into their Bitcoin client.

Use a brand new address for each invoice whenever possible, and use it only once. This benefits the customer as it removes any ambiguity as to which customer is making which payment and for which invoice.

Known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup, [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb]] [https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb BIPS]

Online wallet supporting invoicing, subscriptions and recurrent payments, [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/info/sending-paying-invoices xCoinMoney]

===Avoiding fraud===

You should also consider the possible risk that fraudsters could send counterfeit invoices to your customers, and entice them to make a payment to a Bitcoin address they control, instead of you. While that isn't likely in general - it depends on how well a fraudster could find out who your customers are in the first place - it would certainly be an unpleasant situation if it ever happened. One way you could control that is, whenever possible, never let people try to type Bitcoin addresses off payment stubs - instead, force people to get the full Bitcoin address from your website via secure SSL. But, still print ''most'' of the address on the payment stub (perhaps with four or five characters starred out), so that the customer's need for a paper trail can be satisfied, so they can prove they paid if there is ever a dispute. Merchants can also use the IP address geolocation to understand the close proximity of users. There is automated solution such as [https://www.fraudlabspro.com FraudLabs Pro] that automates the screening of Bitcoin transactions to determine risk level.

==Setting Prices==

When a business accepts bitcoins for payment, there generally is the need to convert them to the currencies used for paying suppliers, employees and shareholders. Some merchants set prices based on the current market rate at the time the price quote is presented to the customer (merchant services like [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] or [http://paysius.com Paysius] do this automatically).

[[Bitcoin Prices]] lists the exchange rate for many currencies on multiple exchanges.

When prices are determined using an automated process, the current market rate can be based on either a current price or on a weighted average basis. [[Bitcoin Charts]] provides a [http://bitcoincharts.com/about/markets-api data feed that provides weighted prices]. [[Bitcoin Average]] also offers a weighted average price index, featuring average price across all exchanges reachable in the world and in over 150 currencies. 24h sliding average price index is also available and all data is [https://bitcoinaverage.com/api.htm reachable through the API].

When bitcoin funds for purchases are received, some merchants instantly exchange those proceeds into the preferred currency used (again done automatically by [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] or [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay]. Hedging for each transaction can nearly entirely eliminate exchange rate risk that the business is exposed to when accepting bitcoins for payment.

==Contract==

A sales contract might be used to ensure that specific terms are met to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding. For instance, the party sending payment is responsible for paying any [[transaction fee]] that might be necessary. A contract might specify that a transaction fee must be paid and what amount, so as to prevent the situation where the transaction is considered a low priority transaction and thus isn't confirmed quickly.

Other items that might be addressed in a contract:

* Requirement and handling of escrow through an [[:Category:Escrow_services|escrow service]].
* Jurisdiction for disputes.
* Refund policy (particularly with the exchange rate being volatile)

==Paying taxes on Bitcoin income==
[[Tax compliance]] is a topic of concern for small businesses. We aren't accountants or lawyers, and can't give legal or accounting advice.

But in many respects, Bitcoin transactions work very much like cash. Just like Bitcoin, cash is anonymous and doesn't leave a paper trail, yet is widely used in commerce every day.

Ask yourself how you would handle a cash transaction. Do you accept cash transactions? Do you normally pay taxes on cash transactions? The answer for Bitcoin should probably be the same.

As for how to decide what a Bitcoin transaction is worth... the IRS, as far as we know, has never issued a guide mentioning how to value Bitcoin transactions. But they probably have rules and guidelines on how to value transactions made in foreign currency or "cash equivalents". We imagine the accounting would be similar.

With Bitcoins, there's likely to be some difference between the value of BTC when you received them as payment, versus when you go to exchange them for another currency like USD, should you decide to do so. This scenario, likewise, would be no different if you accepted foreign currency or gold as payment. Under some scenarios, it might make sense to book the dollar value of BTC income as it is received, and then to book any difference incurred when it is exchanged for fiat currency. Under others, it might make sense to book the whole thing at the time of exchange.

Perhaps you might talk to your accountant. You don't need to get into a discussion with your accountant about block chains and private keys or the philosophy behind a decentralized currency. By comparing the fundamentals of Bitcoins to accounting concepts already well understood by the public, you can probably get all the answers you need. What would you ask your accountant if you decided that you wanted to accept ''Berkshire Bucks'' or 1-ounce gold coins as payment?

== Merchant Services ==
* [[File:Easybitz.png|20px|link=https://easybitz.com]] [https://easybitz.com EasyBitz] Bitcoin for Retail.ZeroClick requires only SMS. POS works on SmartPhones and Tablets. Live Transaction Map
* [[File:Bitfavicon.png|20px|link=http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com]] [http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com Bitcoinpaygate] Bitcoin payment processing for the web & in store payments
* [https://pocketpos.ca/ PocketPOS] Bitcoin Point of Sale for Canadians, including merchant integration for CAD / BTC exchange.
* [https://cryptopay.me Cryptopay] European payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR and USD. Exchange and wallet integrated.
* [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin] Bitcoin payment processing platform with solutions for the financial sector
* [http://www.btc4erp.com Bitcoin Transaction Coordinator] Full Merchant Solution for organizations using the NetSuite Global ERP and eCommerce Platform
* [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat] Merchant POS solution for accepting Bitcoin
* [http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive Blockchain.info] Free APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed.
* [[File:MCS_200by200_logo-01.png|20px|link=http://www.mycoinsolution.com]][http://www.mycoinsolution.com My Coin Solution] - Bitcoin consulting services and solutions
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS] Payment Service Provider (PSP) specializing in the technical aspects of accepting cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin. Supports Bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, In-store Bitcoin Payments and Bitcoin Invoicing with recurring billing in bitcoin.
* [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting bitcoins, getting euro's. The Netherlands.
* [https://coinvoy.net Coinvoy] Free Payment Gateway with built-in exchange
* [https://www.bitpay.com BitPay] Bitcoin payment processor with mobile checkout solution
* [https://bitpos.me BitPOS] Bitcoin payment processor for online and brick and mortar stores
* [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/ xCoinMoney] Online wallet for instant payment and subscriptions.
* [https://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Bitcoin and Credit Card payment processor
* [https://www.btcmerch.com BTCMerch] Payment processor for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. 0.5% transaction fee. Sandbox is available.
* [https://bitmerch.com BitMerch] Provides HTML buttons to start accepting bitcoins instantly. No server side setup required.
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payment_buttons Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, shopping cart integration, and daily cash out to USD.
* [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com]] [https://coinkite.com/faq/terminal Coinkite] Full-reserve banking, payment buttons, invoice pages, hardware POS terminals, and Debit-Cards.
* [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.
* [https://www.okpay.com/en/services/accept-payments/index.html OKPAY] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants
* [http://fasterco.in Fasterco.in] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants and day-traders
* [http://snowcron.com Snowcron] Bitcoin Store Engine: Handles payments, sends your customers information they ordered (reg. codes, passwords...) No web programming required.
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com/docs GoCoin International payment gateway and processing platform for Merchants]
* [https://coinvoice.com/ Coinvoice] Invoice in USD or BTC, Get paid in USD or BTC.
* [https://coinpip.com/ CoinPip] SMS and Physical Bitcoin Card Wallets, Process Bitcoin Payments and gives you the option to convert into your local currency automatically.
* [https://apicoin.io Apicoin.io] A robust, secure api to connect to the bitcoin network.
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Payment gateway for virtual currencies with direct settlement to PLN, CZK, EUR and USD. POS + API.

==See Also==

* [[Merchant Howto]]
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[Tax compliance]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[BitCoins Mobile]] provides accurate up to date pricing from multiple exchanges from your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website

[[Category:ECommerce]]
[[Category:Local]]

[[de:Bitcoin_als_Geschäft_akzeptieren]]

File:BitKassa favicon.png

2014-10-28T18:50:49Z

MissJess: the BitKassa logo

the BitKassa logo

How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses

2014-10-28T18:47:55Z

MissJess: /* Examples */

{{merge|Merchant Howto}}

This guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services. It's written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency such as dollars, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.

With Bitcoin being touted as a way to conduct anonymous transactions and as way to compete with government currency, many small business owners wonder what's the right way to accept and account Bitcoin, or if it's legal or ethical, or whether and how they should pay taxes on income received through Bitcoin.

As far as we know, Bitcoin isn't yet formally recognized by governments and authorities as a "currency". But in practice, Bitcoin is likely no different than accepting payment in other forms, such as cash, or gold, or scrip, or gift cards or foreign currency. We think that it is pretty much the same as the local businesses of Great Barrington, Massachusetts choosing to accept their locally-printed [http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/19/us-usa-economy-berkshares-idUSN0530157720070619 "Berkshire Bucks"] to support their local economy.

====Starting to accept Bitcoin for transactions====
Accepting Bitcoin at a small business is best started in whichever manner keeps the accounting simple for you. This will vary by the type of business you are operating.

===Start with a sign===
[[{{ns:file}}:WeAcceptBitcoin.png‎]]

If you expect that the number of people interested in using Bitcoin is small, you might simply start by posting a sign or a note: "We Accept Bitcoin", and ask people to contact you directly in order to make a payment. Even if hardly anybody uses Bitcoin as a payment method, you're helping Bitcoin in two ways: one, by increasing awareness, and two, by making your customers more willing to accept Bitcoin as payment from others in the future, because now they know somewhere they can spend it.

===Utilize a merchant solution===
If you sell things on your website (goods or services), you'll want to use a [[#Merchant Services|Bitcoin merchant solution]] to accept the Bitcoins (you can usually opt to have them converted to USD or other currencies automatically with some services).

If you sell things in a brick and mortar shop, customers can pay using hardware terminals, touch screen apps or simple wallet addresses through QR Codes.

[[File:Easybitz bitcoin pointofsale.png|400 px|alt=Accept Bitcoin without internet|EasyBitz ZeroClick System|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]]

[[File:Bitcoin-pos-terminal.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|Coinkite terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Web_App_Bitcoin_Register.jpeg|100 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|CoinBox terminal]]

[[File:Mobile_Checkout_Phone.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin Mobile Checkout|BIPS Mobile Checkout|link=https://bips.me/point-of-sale]]

===Smart Phone or Tablet===
You can use a wallet address with any wallet. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your cash register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay (use http://ma.eatgold.com/accept to make a QR code sign). For a more convenient solution you can use a dedicated app or webapp that generates a QR code on the fly including the amount.

==== Examples ====
Solutions for smart phones and tablets:
* [[File:Easybitz.png|20px|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]] [https://easybitz.com/merchant EasyBitz] Simplest Merchant POS + Live Transaction Map
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me/point-of-sale BIPS] Bitcoin Point Of Sale
* [https://bitcoin.co.th/merchants/ bitcoin.co.th] mobile Bitcoin Point of Sale for Thailand
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], Mobile payment terminal with EUR, USD, PLN and CZK settlements.
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] gives you access to their payment webpage, suitable for every browser; handles Bitcoin payments and converts 0-100% to Euro.
* [https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-for-retail BitPay] Mobile Checkout
* [https://bitpos.me/demo.html BitPOS] Merchant POS solution for Australia
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.blockchain.merchant Blockchain] Merchant for Android
* [http://www.btcxpos.com/ BTCX] POS for Sweden
* [[File:Coin_Of_Sale_logo.png|20px|link=https://coinofsale.com]] [https://coinofsale.com Coin Of Sale] - device-independent Bitcoin POS payment system
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/point_of_sale Coinbase] Point Of Sale for Android
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]][http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin point of sale for Android
* [http://www.coinpip.com CoinPip] - Bitcoin Payment Solution for Android
* [https://cryptopay.me/products/ Cryptopay] HTML5-based bitcoin POS
* [https://pocketpos.ca/ PocketPOS] Bitcoin Point of Sale for Canadians, with exchange integration

===Point-of-Sale hardware terminal===
With custom hardware you can integrate with existing registers and point-of-sales solutions (examples: [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite], [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal], [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat]).

===Accounting===
When a customer makes a payment, you might simply issue a credit to their account. Ideally, you want to enter it in a way that suggests you received a payment. You could consider entering it as a "discount", but you may want to consider whether this inappropriately disguises the nature of the transaction. If on the other hand, you're giving "discounts" for Bitcoins, but then you are selling the Bitcoins for currency and then counting that as income, then chances are good that your calculation of income is making up for it. Ask your accountant.

===Businesses that offer gift cards===
If your business sells gift cards or gift certificates, you may find that the easiest way to accept Bitcoin is to accept it only for the purchase of gift cards, and then require the gift cards to be used for actual purchases of goods or services. This way, the accounting practices you already have in place for processing gift cards can be put to use. The accounting for Bitcoins would then be minimized to tracking sales of a single SKU.

This method is also ideal for retail food establishments and convenience stores, where the payment of Bitcoins through a mobile phone for a small daily food purchase might be cumbersome or disruptive, especially in front of a line of other customers. Bitcoins in this case would be best used to reload prepaid cards that can then be swiped at point-of-sale.

If you don't accept gift cards, but you already accept credit cards through a swipe terminal, consider the possibility that you could add a retail gift card system through the swipe terminal you already own. Many point-of-sale terminals, including ones from VeriFone®, are designed around the ability to support multiple applications on the same terminal. Gift cards are also highly profitable because of "breakage", or in other words, the fact that a significant percentage of them never get redeemed.

You could consider adding a private label gift card program from a provider who specializes in this, not just as a jumpstart to accepting Bitcoins, but as an extra boost to income. A private label gift card service provider necessarily have to handle your funds - they can simply provide a solution that keeps track of the balance on the cards on your behalf, including features that allow users to check their balances by phone or by web. Such a solution, of course, is also what makes the cards swipeable through the card reader.

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment.

If you have access to the programming expertise such that you can generate Bitcoin addresses programmatically, consider generating a brand new Bitcoin address for each invoice, and print it on the invoice. When a Bitcoin payment arrives, you'll automatically know where it should arrive.

Customers might wonder how much BTC they should pay in order to satisfy an invoice in full. Your invoice might suggest an amount. For example, if your invoice is for $100 and BTC's are currently worth $1.24 each, your invoice might suggest that it can be paid in full ''"with a payment of 80.65 BTC if paid by (date)"''.

You might be able to anticipate the possibility that even though a Bitcoin address can be printed on an invoice or payment stub, that they are very cumbersome for most people to type, especially being a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. However, you should probably still do it anyway. The customer is probably going to want some paper trail for his payment. Giving him a pre-printed payment stub with a pre-printed address will satisfy that, because the customer can independently and publicly prove through [[Block Explorer]] that the payment took place.

Does your business have a website? On your invoice, consider allowing them to go to a special URL to get the address to make a Bitcoin payment just by typing in their invoice number. For example, ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc'' with a form they can enter their invoice number, or just ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc/60365'' for paying invoice #60365. This way, they can see the Bitcoin address, copy and paste it directly into their Bitcoin client.

Use a brand new address for each invoice whenever possible, and use it only once. This benefits the customer as it removes any ambiguity as to which customer is making which payment and for which invoice.

Known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup, [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb]] [https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb BIPS]

Online wallet supporting invoicing, subscriptions and recurrent payments, [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/info/sending-paying-invoices xCoinMoney]

===Avoiding fraud===

You should also consider the possible risk that fraudsters could send counterfeit invoices to your customers, and entice them to make a payment to a Bitcoin address they control, instead of you. While that isn't likely in general - it depends on how well a fraudster could find out who your customers are in the first place - it would certainly be an unpleasant situation if it ever happened. One way you could control that is, whenever possible, never let people try to type Bitcoin addresses off payment stubs - instead, force people to get the full Bitcoin address from your website via secure SSL. But, still print ''most'' of the address on the payment stub (perhaps with four or five characters starred out), so that the customer's need for a paper trail can be satisfied, so they can prove they paid if there is ever a dispute. Merchants can also use the IP address geolocation to understand the close proximity of users. There is automated solution such as [https://www.fraudlabspro.com FraudLabs Pro] that automates the screening of Bitcoin transactions to determine risk level.

==Setting Prices==

When a business accepts bitcoins for payment, there generally is the need to convert them to the currencies used for paying suppliers, employees and shareholders. Some merchants set prices based on the current market rate at the time the price quote is presented to the customer (merchant services like [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] or [http://paysius.com Paysius] do this automatically).

[[Bitcoin Prices]] lists the exchange rate for many currencies on multiple exchanges.

When prices are determined using an automated process, the current market rate can be based on either a current price or on a weighted average basis. [[Bitcoin Charts]] provides a [http://bitcoincharts.com/about/markets-api data feed that provides weighted prices]. [[Bitcoin Average]] also offers a weighted average price index, featuring average price across all exchanges reachable in the world and in over 150 currencies. 24h sliding average price index is also available and all data is [https://bitcoinaverage.com/api.htm reachable through the API].

When bitcoin funds for purchases are received, some merchants instantly exchange those proceeds into the preferred currency used (again done automatically by [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] or [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay]. Hedging for each transaction can nearly entirely eliminate exchange rate risk that the business is exposed to when accepting bitcoins for payment.

==Contract==

A sales contract might be used to ensure that specific terms are met to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding. For instance, the party sending payment is responsible for paying any [[transaction fee]] that might be necessary. A contract might specify that a transaction fee must be paid and what amount, so as to prevent the situation where the transaction is considered a low priority transaction and thus isn't confirmed quickly.

Other items that might be addressed in a contract:

* Requirement and handling of escrow through an [[:Category:Escrow_services|escrow service]].
* Jurisdiction for disputes.
* Refund policy (particularly with the exchange rate being volatile)

==Paying taxes on Bitcoin income==
[[Tax compliance]] is a topic of concern for small businesses. We aren't accountants or lawyers, and can't give legal or accounting advice.

But in many respects, Bitcoin transactions work very much like cash. Just like Bitcoin, cash is anonymous and doesn't leave a paper trail, yet is widely used in commerce every day.

Ask yourself how you would handle a cash transaction. Do you accept cash transactions? Do you normally pay taxes on cash transactions? The answer for Bitcoin should probably be the same.

As for how to decide what a Bitcoin transaction is worth... the IRS, as far as we know, has never issued a guide mentioning how to value Bitcoin transactions. But they probably have rules and guidelines on how to value transactions made in foreign currency or "cash equivalents". We imagine the accounting would be similar.

With Bitcoins, there's likely to be some difference between the value of BTC when you received them as payment, versus when you go to exchange them for another currency like USD, should you decide to do so. This scenario, likewise, would be no different if you accepted foreign currency or gold as payment. Under some scenarios, it might make sense to book the dollar value of BTC income as it is received, and then to book any difference incurred when it is exchanged for fiat currency. Under others, it might make sense to book the whole thing at the time of exchange.

Perhaps you might talk to your accountant. You don't need to get into a discussion with your accountant about block chains and private keys or the philosophy behind a decentralized currency. By comparing the fundamentals of Bitcoins to accounting concepts already well understood by the public, you can probably get all the answers you need. What would you ask your accountant if you decided that you wanted to accept ''Berkshire Bucks'' or 1-ounce gold coins as payment?

== Merchant Services ==
* [[File:Easybitz.png|20px|link=https://easybitz.com]] [https://easybitz.com EasyBitz] Bitcoin for Retail.ZeroClick requires only SMS. POS works on SmartPhones and Tablets. Live Transaction Map
* [[File:Bitfavicon.png|20px|link=http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com]] [http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com Bitcoinpaygate] Bitcoin payment processing for the web & in store payments
* [https://pocketpos.ca/ PocketPOS] Bitcoin Point of Sale for Canadians, including merchant integration for CAD / BTC exchange.
* [https://cryptopay.me Cryptopay] European payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR and USD. Exchange and wallet integrated.
* [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin] Bitcoin payment processing platform with solutions for the financial sector
* [http://www.btc4erp.com Bitcoin Transaction Coordinator] Full Merchant Solution for organizations using the NetSuite Global ERP and eCommerce Platform
* [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat] Merchant POS solution for accepting Bitcoin
* [http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive Blockchain.info] Free APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed.
* [[File:MCS_200by200_logo-01.png|20px|link=http://www.mycoinsolution.com]][http://www.mycoinsolution.com My Coin Solution] - Bitcoin consulting services and solutions
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS] Payment Service Provider (PSP) specializing in the technical aspects of accepting cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin. Supports Bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, In-store Bitcoin Payments and Bitcoin Invoicing with recurring billing in bitcoin.
* [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting bitcoins, getting euro's. The Netherlands.
* [https://coinvoy.net Coinvoy] Free Payment Gateway with built-in exchange
* [https://www.bitpay.com BitPay] Bitcoin payment processor with mobile checkout solution
* [https://bitpos.me BitPOS] Bitcoin payment processor for online and brick and mortar stores
* [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/ xCoinMoney] Online wallet for instant payment and subscriptions.
* [https://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Bitcoin and Credit Card payment processor
* [https://www.btcmerch.com BTCMerch] Payment processor for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. 0.5% transaction fee. Sandbox is available.
* [https://bitmerch.com BitMerch] Provides HTML buttons to start accepting bitcoins instantly. No server side setup required.
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payment_buttons Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, shopping cart integration, and daily cash out to USD.
* [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com]] [https://coinkite.com/faq/terminal Coinkite] Full-reserve banking, payment buttons, invoice pages, hardware POS terminals, and Debit-Cards.
* [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.
* [https://www.okpay.com/en/services/accept-payments/index.html OKPAY] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants
* [http://fasterco.in Fasterco.in] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants and day-traders
* [http://snowcron.com Snowcron] Bitcoin Store Engine: Handles payments, sends your customers information they ordered (reg. codes, passwords...) No web programming required.
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com/docs GoCoin International payment gateway and processing platform for Merchants]
* [https://coinvoice.com/ Coinvoice] Invoice in USD or BTC, Get paid in USD or BTC.
* [https://coinpip.com/ CoinPip] SMS and Physical Bitcoin Card Wallets, Process Bitcoin Payments and gives you the option to convert into your local currency automatically.
* [https://apicoin.io Apicoin.io] A robust, secure api to connect to the bitcoin network.
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Payment gateway for virtual currencies with direct settlement to PLN, CZK, EUR and USD. POS + API.

==See Also==

* [[Merchant Howto]]
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[Tax compliance]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[BitCoins Mobile]] provides accurate up to date pricing from multiple exchanges from your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website

[[Category:ECommerce]]
[[Category:Local]]

[[de:Bitcoin_als_Geschäft_akzeptieren]]

How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses

2014-05-20T17:49:43Z

MissJess: /* Merchant Services */ added BitKassa

{{merge|Merchant Howto}}

This guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services. It's written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency such as dollars, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.

With Bitcoin being touted as a way to conduct anonymous transactions and as way to compete with government currency, many small business owners wonder what's the right way to accept and account Bitcoin, or if it's legal or ethical, or whether and how they should pay taxes on income received through Bitcoin.

As far as we know, Bitcoin isn't yet formally recognized by governments and authorities as a "currency". But in practice, Bitcoin is likely no different than accepting payment in other forms, such as cash, or gold, or scrip, or gift cards or foreign currency. We think that it is pretty much the same as the local businesses of Great Barrington, Massachusetts choosing to accept their locally-printed [http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/19/us-usa-economy-berkshares-idUSN0530157720070619 "Berkshire Bucks"] to support their local economy.

====Starting to accept Bitcoin for transactions====
Accepting Bitcoin at a small business is best started in whichever manner keeps the accounting simple for you. This will vary by the type of business you are operating.

===Start with a sign===
[[{{ns:file}}:WeAcceptBitcoin.png‎]]

If you expect that the number of people interested in using Bitcoin is small, you might simply start by posting a sign or a note: "We Accept Bitcoin", and ask people to contact you directly in order to make a payment. Even if hardly anybody uses Bitcoin as a payment method, you're helping Bitcoin in two ways: one, by increasing awareness, and two, by making your customers more willing to accept Bitcoin as payment from others in the future, because now they know somewhere they can spend it.

===Utilize a merchant solution===
If you sell things on your website (goods or services), you'll want to use a [[#Merchant Services|Bitcoin merchant solution]] to accept the Bitcoins (you can usually opt to have them converted to USD or other currencies automatically with some services).

If you sell things in a brick and mortar shop, customers can pay using hardware terminals, touch screen apps or simple wallet addresses through QR Codes.

[[File:Bitcoin-pos-terminal.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|Coinkite terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Web_App_Bitcoin_Register.jpeg|100 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|CoinBox terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Checkout.png|100 px|alt=Bitcoin Mobile Checkout|BIPS POS]]

===Smart Phone or Tablet===
You can use a wallet address with any wallet. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay (use http://ma.eatgold.com/accept to make a QR code sign).

==== Examples ====

* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]][http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox]
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS]
* [http://www.blockchain.info/wallet Blockchain.info]
* [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/ xCoinMoney] Online wallet for instant payment and subscriptions
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/point_of_sale Coinbase]
* [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite]
* [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal]
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com GoCoin International Payment Processing for accepting Bitcoin and Litecoin payments]
* [[File:MCS_200by200_logo-01.png|20px|link=http://www.mycoinsolution.com]][http://www.mycoinsolution.com My Coin Solution] - Bitcoin consulting services and solutions
* [http://www.coinpip.com CoinPip] - Bitcoin Payment Solution for Asia
* [[File:Coin_Of_Sale_logo.png|20px|link=https://coinofsale.com]] [https://coinofsale.com Coin Of Sale] - device-independent Bitcoin POS payment system for retail merchants

===Point-of-Sale hardware terminal===
With custom hardware you can integrate with existing registers and point-of-sales solutions (examples: [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite], [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal]).

===Accounting===
When a customer makes a payment, you might simply issue a credit to their account. Ideally, you want to enter it in a way that suggests you received a payment. You could consider entering it as a "discount", but you may want to consider whether this inappropriately disguises the nature of the transaction. If on the other hand, you're giving "discounts" for Bitcoins, but then you are selling the Bitcoins for currency and then counting that as income, then chances are good that your calculation of income is making up for it. Ask your accountant.

===Businesses that offer gift cards===
If your business sells gift cards or gift certificates, you may find that the easiest way to accept Bitcoin is to accept it only for the purchase of gift cards, and then require the gift cards to be used for actual purchases of goods or services. This way, the accounting practices you already have in place for processing gift cards can be put to use. The accounting for Bitcoins would then be minimized to tracking sales of a single SKU.

This method is also ideal for retail food establishments and convenience stores, where the payment of Bitcoins through a mobile phone for a small daily food purchase might be cumbersome or disruptive, especially in front of a line of other customers. Bitcoins in this case would be best used to reload prepaid cards that can then be swiped at point-of-sale.

If you don't accept gift cards, but you already accept credit cards through a swipe terminal, consider the possibility that you could add a retail gift card system through the swipe terminal you already own. Many point-of-sale terminals, including ones from VeriFone®, are designed around the ability to support multiple applications on the same terminal. Gift cards are also highly profitable because of "breakage", or in other words, the fact that a significant percentage of them never get redeemed.

You could consider adding a private label gift card program from a provider who specializes in this, not just as a jumpstart to accepting Bitcoins, but as an extra boost to income. A private label gift card service provider necessarily have to handle your funds - they can simply provide a solution that keeps track of the balance on the cards on your behalf, including features that allow users to check their balances by phone or by web. Such a solution, of course, is also what makes the cards swipeable through the card reader.

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment.

If you have access to the programming expertise such that you can generate Bitcoin addresses programmatically, consider generating a brand new Bitcoin address for each invoice, and print it on the invoice. When a Bitcoin payment arrives, you'll automatically know where it should arrive.

Customers might wonder how much BTC they should pay in order to satisfy an invoice in full. Your invoice might suggest an amount. For example, if your invoice is for $100 and BTC's are currently worth $1.24 each, your invoice might suggest that it can be paid in full ''"with a payment of 80.65 BTC if paid by (date)"''.

You might be able to anticipate the possibility that even though a Bitcoin address can be printed on an invoice or payment stub, that they are very cumbersome for most people to type, especially being a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. However, you should probably still do it anyway. The customer is probably going to want some paper trail for his payment. Giving him a pre-printed payment stub with a pre-printed address will satisfy that, because the customer can independently and publicly prove through [[Block Explorer]] that the payment took place.

Does your business have a website? On your invoice, consider allowing them to go to a special URL to get the address to make a Bitcoin payment just by typing in their invoice number. For example, ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc'' with a form they can enter their invoice number, or just ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc/60365'' for paying invoice #60365. This way, they can see the Bitcoin address, copy and paste it directly into their Bitcoin client.

Use a brand new address for each invoice whenever possible, and use it only once. This benefits the customer as it removes any ambiguity as to which customer is making which payment and for which invoice.

Known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup, [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb]] [https://bips.me/checkout/invoice/cb/bb BIPS]

Online wallet supporting invoicing, subscriptions and recurrent payments, [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/info/sending-paying-invoices xCoinMoney]

===Avoiding fraud===

You should also consider the possible risk that fraudsters could send counterfeit invoices to your customers, and entice them to make a payment to a Bitcoin address they control, instead of you. While that isn't likely in general - it depends on how well a fraudster could find out who your customers are in the first place - it would certainly be an unpleasant situation if it ever happened. One way you could control that is, whenever possible, never let people try to type Bitcoin addresses off payment stubs - instead, force people to get the full Bitcoin address from your website via secure SSL. But, still print ''most'' of the address on the payment stub (perhaps with four or five characters starred out), so that the customer's need for a paper trail can be satisfied, so they can prove they paid if there is ever a dispute.

==Setting Prices==

When a business accepts bitcoins for payment, there generally is the need to convert them to the currencies used for paying suppliers, employees and shareholders. Some merchants set prices based on the current market rate at the time the price quote is presented to the customer (merchant services like [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] or [http://paysius.com Paysius] do this automatically).

[[Bitcoin Prices]] lists the exchange rate for many currencies on multiple exchanges.

When prices are determined using an automated process, the current market rate can be based on either a current price or on a weighted average basis. [[Bitcoin Charts]] provides a [http://bitcoincharts.com/about/markets-api data feed that provides weighted prices]. [[Bitcoin Average]] also offers a weighted average price index, featuring average price across all exchanges reachable in the world and in over 150 currencies. 24h sliding average price index is also available and all data is [https://bitcoinaverage.com/api.htm reachable through the API].

When bitcoin funds for purchases are received, some merchants instantly exchange those proceeds into the preferred currency used (again done automatically by [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay] or [https://coinbase.com Coinbase]. Hedging for each transaction can nearly entirely eliminate exchange rate risk that the business is exposed to when accepting bitcoins for payment.

==Contract==

A sales contract might be used to ensure that specific terms are met to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding. For instance, the party sending payment is responsible for paying any [[transaction fee]] that might be necessary. A contract might specify that a transaction fee must be paid and what amount, so as to prevent the situation where the transaction is considered a low priority transaction and thus isn't confirmed quickly.

Other items that might be addressed in a contract:

* Requirement and handling of escrow through an [[:Category:Escrow_services|escrow service]].
* Jurisdiction for disputes.
* Refund policy (particularly with the exchange rate being volatile)

==Paying taxes on Bitcoin income==
[[Tax compliance]] is a topic of concern for small businesses. We aren't accountants or lawyers, and can't give legal or accounting advice.

But in many respects, Bitcoin transactions work very much like cash. Just like Bitcoin, cash is anonymous and doesn't leave a paper trail, yet is widely used in commerce every day.

Ask yourself how you would handle a cash transaction. Do you accept cash transactions? Do you normally pay taxes on cash transactions? The answer for Bitcoin should probably be the same.

As for how to decide what a Bitcoin transaction is worth... the IRS, as far as we know, has never issued a guide mentioning how to value Bitcoin transactions. But they probably have rules and guidelines on how to value transactions made in foreign currency or "cash equivalents". We imagine the accounting would be similar.

With Bitcoins, there's likely to be some difference between the value of BTC when you received them as payment, versus when you go to exchange them for another currency like USD, should you decide to do so. This scenario, likewise, would be no different if you accepted foreign currency or gold as payment. Under some scenarios, it might make sense to book the dollar value of BTC income as it is received, and then to book any difference incurred when it is exchanged for fiat currency. Under others, it might make sense to book the whole thing at the time of exchange.

Perhaps you might talk to your accountant. You don't need to get into a discussion with your accountant about block chains and private keys or the philosophy behind a decentralized currency. By comparing the fundamentals of Bitcoins to accounting concepts already well understood by the public, you can probably get all the answers you need. What would you ask your accountant if you decided that you wanted to accept ''Berkshire Bucks'' or 1-ounce gold coins as payment?

== Merchant Services ==
* [http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive Blockchain.info] Free APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed.
* [[File:MCS_200by200_logo-01.png|20px|link=http://www.mycoinsolution.com]][http://www.mycoinsolution.com My Coin Solution] - Bitcoin consulting services and solutions
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [https://bips.me BIPS] Payment Service Provider (PSP) specializing in the technical aspects of accepting cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin. Supports Bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, In-store Bitcoin Payments and Bitcoin Invoicing with recurring billing in bitcoin.
* [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting bitcoins, getting euro's. The Netherlands.
* [https://www.bitpay.com BitPay] Bitcoin payment processor with mobile checkout solution
* [https://www.xcoinmoney.com/ xCoinMoney] Online wallet for instant payment and subscriptions.
* [https://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Bitcoin and Credit Card payment processor
* [https://www.btcmerch.com BTCMerch] Payment processor for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. 0.5% transaction fee. Sandbox is available.
* [https://bitmerch.com BitMerch] Provides HTML buttons to start accepting bitcoins instantly. No server side setup required.
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payment_buttons Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, shopping cart integration, and daily cash out to USD.
* [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com]] [https://coinkite.com/faq/terminal Coinkite] Full-reserve banking, payment buttons, invoice pages, hardware POS terminals, and Debit-Cards.
* [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.
* [https://mtgox.com/merchant MTGOX] Bitcoin payment processing
* [https://www.okpay.com/en/services/accept-payments/index.html OKPAY] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants
* [http://fasterco.in Fasterco.in] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants and day-traders
* [http://snowcron.com Snowcron] Bitcoin Store Engine: Handles payments, sends your customers information they ordered (reg. codes, passwords...) No web programming required.
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com/docs GoCoin International payment gateway and processing platform for Merchants]
* [https://coinvoice.com/ Coinvoice] Invoice in USD or BTC, Get paid in USD or BTC.
* [https://coinpip.com/ CoinPip] SMS and Physical Bitcoin Card Wallets, Process Bitcoin Payments and gives you the option to convert into your local currency automatically.
* [https://apicoin.io Apicoin.io] A robust, secure api to connect to the bitcoin network.

== Help this article ==

This article is a stub, please add to it!

==See Also==

* [[Merchant Howto]]
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[Tax compliance]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[BitCoins Mobile]] provides accurate up to date pricing from multiple exchanges from your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website

[[Category:ECommerce]]
[[Category:Local]]

[[de:Bitcoin_als_Geschäft_akzeptieren]]

Merchant Howto

2014-05-20T17:44:08Z

MissJess: /* Services */ added BitKassa

{{merge|How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses}}

Accepting Bitcoins is easy, and there are several ways to do it.

==Manually==
# Download a bitcoin client
# When a customer wants to buy something, send them a Bitcoin address where their payment should be sent.
#* You can do this by clicking "New.." next to your address in the Bitcoin client and sending that address to the customer.
# When payment comes in to that address, send the goods to your customer. Depending on the value of what you're selling, you may wish to wait until the payment shows Confirmed.
# To issue a refund, obtain from the customer the [[Address|bitcoin address]] where the refund payment should be sent. The refund address will likely be different from the address used when the customer sent payment, especially if an [[EWallet]] was used by the customer.

==Automated==
===Pre-generating Bitcoin addresses===
You can accept Bitcoins on your website without needing to use Bitcoin APIs or third party services if you pre-generate a large number of receiving Bitcoin addresses and store them in a database on your web server, and dispense them one-by-one to customers when they are ready to pay. This way, your web server never actually handles the bitcoins - it simply gives out addresses belonging to a wallet you maintain elsewhere. By using a unique address per order, you will always know which payment belongs to which order. [https://www.casascius.com Example of website using this method]

To pre-generate addresses, use a tool such as [[Pywallet]] (which can generate a wallet.dat file) or [[Bitcoin Address Utility]] (which can generate a CSV file). In both cases, you will be generating a list of [[Address|Bitcoin address]]es along with their corresponding [[private key]]s. Only the Bitcoin addresses (not the private keys) should be loaded on the web server.

If you are shipping goods manually, you can use the Bitcoin software to check for incoming payments, or alternately consider using [[Block Explorer]] or [[Abe]] to verify payment when you're about to ship. To make this easy, make your website provide you a full hyperlink that includes the proper receiving address: ht<nowiki>tp://www</nowiki>.blockexplorer.com/address/ADDRESSGOESHERE.

If you are delivering digital goods or services and want to be able to deliver instantly upon payment and/or confirmation, you can use a third-party service such as [[Bitcoin Notify]] to tell your website when a payment has been received. This sort of service requires no significant API implementation - they will simply make a POST to your website or send you an e-mail when a payment has been received on one of your addresses.

If you keep Bitcoins off your web server, this ensures your wallet cannot be stolen if your web server experiences a security intrusion. Your risk becomes limited to the possibility that a successful intruder could add his own addresses to your address pool and steal funds from a few incoming orders until you detect the problem, however, this is a relatively controllable risk.

===Using offchain payment networks===

[[Off-Chain_Transactions|Off chain]] networks provides various benefits to Bitcoin, such as instant confirmations and protection against double spending.

===Using a third-party plugin===
You can use an existing [[:Category:Shopping Cart Interfaces|shopping cart interface]] from a 3rd party to automatically handle all Bitcoin payments on your website. If you want to develop the system yourself, you can utilize the Bitcoin client's [[API tutorial (JSON-RPC)|JSON-RPC API]] to automatically accept payments.

Things to note if you build it yourself:
# When a customer orders something on your website it records:
#* Bitcoin address that payment should be sent to
#* Order details (delivery address etc.)
#* Customer's refund address (optional - if you wish you can ask for this later, only in cases a refund is required)
#* Payment amount
# When payment arrives, checks that they have paid the correct amount or not, and informs you
#* You dispatch the goods to the customer and mark the order as fulfilled
#* If you cannot dispatch the goods you mark the order as denied and ask the customer for a refund address (unless you already have it from earlier) to send a refund.
# Forwards the funds to bitcoin address of your choice

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment. However it is possible to create automated invoices by using known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup.

==Common Errors==
It has been observed on occasion that a business funnels all its orders through the same Bitcoin address, and asks people to send some BTC, then send email describing the timing and the amount of the transaction to 'claim' it. This is '''not''' secure, since anyone can see the transaction details using a tool such as [[Block Explorer]], and then try to claim someone else's transaction as theirs.

Do not do this. Give each customer a unique Bitcoin address.

==Listing your business on the Bitcoin Trade page==

Anyone can add and update a listing on the [[Trade|trade]] page. Just register if you haven't and add to the appropriate category. If you'ld like assistance, perhaps someone in the [http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#bitcoin-marketing #bitcoin-marketing] IRC channel would be willing to assist.

==Services==
* [http://www.dcpos.com DC POS] A Bitcoin browser-based Point-of-Sale app. It is hardware, OS, wallet, and browser agnostic. 0.5% transaction fee.
* [[File:BIPS.gif|20px|link=https://bips.me]] [[BIPS]] Merchant solutions for Bitcoin
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[BitcoinNotify]] merchants solution for accepting Bitcoins and updating BTC prices
* [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Merchant solution for Bitcoin specialized in Middle Europe (Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Czech republic)
* [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting bitcoins, getting euro's. No fee. The Netherlands.
* [[BitPay]] Merchant solutions for Bitcoin
*[[BTCMerch]] - Payment processor for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. 0.5% transaction fee. Sandbox is available.
* [[BitMerch]] Bitcoin payment processor with 0.5% transaction fee.
* [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Xcoinmoney xCoinMoney] Online wallet for instant payment and subscription
* [http://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Payments Gateway for Latin America
* [https://coinbase.com/merchants Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, pages, iframes, shopping cart integration, subscription/recurring billing, micro-transactions, and cash out to your local currency for 1%.
* [[File:MCS_200by200_logo-01.png|20px|link=http://www.mycoinsolution.com]][http://www.mycoinsolution.com My Coin Solution] - Bitcoin consulting services and solutions
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com]] [https://coinkite.com/faq Coinkite] Full-reserve banking, payment buttons, invoice pages, hardware POS terminals, and Debit-Cards.
* [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.
* [http://paysius.com Paysius] Allows merchants to easily and securely accept Bitcoin payments on their website
* [[Fasterco.in]] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants and day-traders
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [[GoCoin]] International Payment Processing for Bitcoin

==See Also==
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[:Category:Shopping Cart Interfaces|Shopping Cart Interfaces]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[Bitcoin Evolution]] handles sales tracking and order forms; requires Bitcoin client for actual payment
* [[Bitcoin API Services]] an easy solution for securely accepting Bitcoins and updating BTC prices
* [[Converter|Bitcoin Javascript Converter]] displays a price in BTCs after converting from USDs.
* [[How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses]]
* [[:Category:Marketing|Marketing]]
* [[URI Scheme]]
* [[Promotional graphics]], buttons and logos
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website
* [http://snowcron.com Snowcron] Bitcoin Store Engine: Handles payments, sends your customers information they ordered (reg. codes, passwords...) No web programming required.
[[Category:ECommerce]]