By Bill Conerly
Bitcoin has strong opportunities for mainstream businesses, but it’s hard to understand from listening to techies explain it. Here is what a company’s management needs to know about Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a better way to do transactions. Forget about Bitcoin as an investment vehicle, or Bitcoin as a way to end the Federal Reserve. Its benefit to business comes from payments.
If your payments are occasional and in large amounts, don’t bother with Bitcoin. Let’s say that you’re Boeing. Once or twice a day someone sends you $100,000,000 for an airplane. Stick with your current practices.
However, say you run a coffee shop with an average ticket of six dollars, and nobody carries cash. You can collect an electronic payment with zero cost per transaction.
Say you’re a dentist who takes plastic. Occasionally someone disputes payment with his credit card issuer because his tooth is still hurting. Not only do you lose money, but you lose valuable time dealing with the dispute.