Philadelphia, PA - Take a walk around Philadelphia, and it won't be long before you see a sticker in the window of a business announcing that they now accept cryptocurrency payments. Indeed, there are currently more than 5,000 businesses in Philadelphia that accept cryptocurrency payments — and that figure is rising all the time. In fact, Philadelphia has become such a hotspot for cryptocurrency that even Wharton has started accepting tuition payments in cryptocurrency, becoming the first Ivy League college in the country to do so.
As you might expect, the rise of crypto is no accident. Philadelphia businesses, bolstered by a favorable crypto climate, have taken a proactive approach to integrating crypto payments into their operations. In this post, we'll take a look at the conditions that have allowed Philly businesses to begin taking these future-focused, highly-efficient crypto payments, which might also serve as inspiration to finally bite the bullet if you're a business that has been considering accepting crypto.
Payment Processors Are Much More Straightforward
Even businesses that wanted to accept crypto payments five years ago would have had difficulty doing so. It was overly challenging — often prohibitively so — to manage wallets, connect cryptocurrency payments to existing POS systems, copy/paste information, and deal with the risk of fluctuating values.
Things are much different today, when several crypto payment processors have made it easier than ever for businesses to accept crypto payments. In many cases, crypto payment processors are as straightforward to set up as fiat currency payment systems, with cryptocurrency payment platforms making accepting crypto payments as easy as possible.
It's Easy to Check Payments
In the past, businesses that took crypto payments were taking a risk, especially if they were accepting large-value crypto payments. After all, there was simply no easy way to verify that the payment had gone through. A customer might claim they've paid, but without a handy checking tool, there was no way for the business to know for sure — and all the while, the customer might have been demanding that the product they claim they've paid for is put in their hands.
Today, that potential for dispute has been largely removed, with some companies offering a block explorer as a service that allows businesses (and customers) to check that the expected payment has gone through. It's an easy way for all parties to have peace of mind during the transaction process.
Cryptocurrencies Are More Stable
Even people who have no interest in cryptocurrency have heard of the man who bought two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins back in 2010. Today, that would be worth over $1 billion, making it surely the most expensive pizza ever sold.
That tale illustrates how wildly the value of a cryptocurrency can fluctuate. It's also served as something of a warning to other people who plan on buying or selling using crypto. You might sell a t-shirt for 0.0000089BTC (around $100), but what if a month later, that same amount of Bitcoin was only worth $10?
There are two reasons why this is unlikely to happen. For one thing, it's easier than ever for businesses to convert their cryptocurrency payments into fiat currency. Many payment processors do it automatically, so if you accept Bitcoin that has a value of $100, that's the exact amount that'll be automatically converted and sent to your bank account.
The other reason this is unlikely is that cryptocurrencies are much more stable these days. The massive spikes in value don't really happen anymore, not to coins that businesses would accept as a payment, anyway. Businesses that do have concerns can use 'stablecoin currencies' such as TetherUSDT, USDC, and Dai.
More Customers Have Crypto
It's interesting to look at how far crypto has come in the past five years. Even then, it was a big player, but it was not on the level that it is today. In the pre-2020 era, cryptocurrency was popular but still niche, and in truth, businesses that accepted cryptocurrency payments mostly did so for marketing reasons. There were simply not enough customers who owned crypto to make it worth it for most businesses to offer it as a payment method.
That's all changed today. Crypto adoption rates have skyrocketed in the past few years, with nearly 30% of American adults now holding at least some crypto. In this sense, businesses aren't just accepting crypto payments as a way to differentiate themselves, but because it's something that some of their customers will genuinely want.
Big Brands Are Doing It
You can normally tell when a new trend is about to go mainstream: big brands start doing it. That's certainly the case with crypto payments. Large, multinational corporations have integrated cryptocurrency payments into their operations, helping to normalize this payment method and increase adoption. Tesla, PayPal, and other leading brands have all begun accepting crypto payments. This, combined with legislative changes, helps to create a climate in which crypto payments are seen as usual. Pennsylvania, for instance, has passed legislation that regulates cryptocurrencies, which helps to provide customers with additional trust that it's a safe and reliable payment method.
It's an Attention-Grabber
Finally, some Philly businesses are accepting cryptocurrency payments because it's an interesting — and also practical — attention-grabber that offers value to both customers and businesses. Brands that accept cryptocurrencies are generally thought of as modern and future-focused, and that can make a big, lasting impression on potential customers. It's an easy way to demonstrate that the business is ahead of the curve. Consumers are naturally drawn to businesses that innovate, never stay still, and think about their customers' needs — and that's just what adding cryptocurrency can do.
Cryptocurrency has come a long way in the past few years, and there's no better place to witness the impact that it's had than in Philadelphia, a city that has embraced crypto payments. As we move into the future and crypto becomes an even bigger part of people's lives, we can
