Accept Bitcoin as a payment method
This allows you to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment in your business or online store.
In this article, we describe how you can easily accept Bitcoin with little effort and at no cost.
Depending on the business model, we offer further information.
You can integrate Bitcoin yourself with these instructions.
If you don’t want to do the integration yourself, you can commission Coincharge with the implementation.
Detailed instructions for accepting Bitcoin can be found here for the following business models:
If you want to accept Bitcoin payments, the first question is whether you want to keep the Bitcoin or whether you want to convert it into euros immediately and have it paid out to your bank account. If you want to keep the bitcoins and accept lightning payments as well as bitcoins, we recommend using a BTCPay server. You can operate your own BTCPay server or use the BTCPay server from Coincharge. You set up a BTCPay store on a BTCPay server and store your Bitcoin address there, to which incoming Bitcoin payments are credited. This BTCPay Store is then connected to your webshop and your customers can pay with Bitcoin and Lightning. If you want to accept and keep Bitcoin payments, you need a BTCPay Store:
- a BTCPay Store on a BTCPay Server
- a Bitcoin Wallet
BTCPay Store
A BTCPay Store is required for Bitcoin payment processing.
If a customer wishes to pay with Bitcoin, the BTCPay Store calculates the corresponding Bitcoin price based on the respective conversion rate.
A Bitcoin payment page is created, which is displayed to the customer in the form of a QR code.
When the customer pays, the BTCPay Store checks whether the payment has been made correctly. It checks whether the expected Bitcoin amount has been received and credits the equivalent value to the merchant’s Bitcoin wallet.
The merchant also receives feedback on the successful Bitcoin payment so that the goods and services can be delivered.
In order to operate a BTCPay Store, the use of a BTCPay Server is required.
To operate a BTCPay store, you can run your own BTCPay server or use an existing BTCPay server.
Coincharge operates a BTCPay server that you can use free of charge. Create an account on the Coincharge BTCPay server at: https://btcpay.coincharge.io/ and create your own BTCPay store. If you do not want to set up your own BTCPay store on the Coincharge BTCPay server, you can leave this to Coincharge.
If you want to operate your own BTCPay server, install the BTCPay server on a server at an Internet service provider of your choice. You must install and configure the BTCPay server yourself. We have created corresponding instructions for Lunanode, for example. If you do not want to set up the BTCPay server yourself, Coincharge can set up the BTCPay server for you.
Bitcoin Wallet
The Bitcoin paid by the customer will be credited directly to the Bitcoin wallet at the merchant.
As a merchant, you need your own Bitcoin wallet to which the incoming Bitcoin is credited. In order for the incoming Bitcoin to be credited directly to you, you should either use a Bitcoin hardware wallet (e.g. Bitbox, Trezor or Ledger) or wallets such as BlueWallet or Electrum. These Bitcoin wallets contain a so-called xPub key. With the help of this xpub key, every Bitcoin payment made by your customers can be credited directly to your own Bitcoin wallet. You can find out how to get the xpub key on your Bitcoin wallet in the article“Where can I find the xPub key?“.
After you create a BTCPay store and add your Bitcoin wallet, you can already accept Bitcoin.
Depending on the business model, there are more advanced applications that you can connect to your BTCPay store. Thus, you can accept Bitcoin payment for the particular business model.
We have written further articles on this subject:
We have just explained how you can accept Bitcoin payments if you want to keep the Bitcoin in your Bitcoin wallet.
Perhaps you don’t want to keep the Bitcoin, but rather exchange it directly into euros and have the euro amount credited to your bank account?
There are a number of Bitcoin payment providers that offer a payout in euros. You can find an overview of the most important providers in our article.“Bitcoin payment providers“
Accept Bitcoin payments with Coincharge
Coincharge advises and implements Bitcoin and Lightning payments in your online store or on your website.
If you run an online store and want to accept Bitcoin payments, Coincharge can help you with advice and technical implementation. Based on your individual requirements and the store system used, we select the right Bitcoin payment provider for you and integrate the appropriate Bitcoin payment module into your online store.
If you are still unsure, arrange a no-obligation consultation so we can discuss all the options and find the right provider for you.
