Who Accepts Bitcoin In There Day 2 Day Operations?

[phaZed]

I'm inundated with Bitcoin related work, without even trying (I already had more regular IT work than I could handle). I can't believe so many techs are missing such a great opportunity to get in on this technology early.

Same here.

I got hooked up with a customer that I may be partnering with, building and managing a real mining farm. He's a business guy with educated pinnings on business management, supply chain, web tech, etc. but knows barely anything about hardware and systems. I've helped him get up to speed in some areas but he picked up the rest by himself.

He started facing some technical issues dealing with many systems, locked systems(long drive to fix!), networking and Power distribution. I'm an electrician and have the hardware down to the circuit level.

Long story short, I built a micro-controller that reboots the offending mining system, remotely via WIFI/VPN - even if the computer is off. He bought 20 and was so impressed we have dabbled with entering a true partnership of some sort. I've built/modified custom PCI-E cables as well and showed my electrical chops.

Right now, we're working with 150+ GPU's and 20 Antminer S9's and looking at a second location @ 2.5c/KW!

If this goes through, I can be easily looking at $250k/yr+. I may be quitting my day job.

Edit, forgot to mention I run 4GPU's for Monero and have an Antminer L3+ ordered and paid for, should be here November.

I have bitcoin ready to buy an Antminer D3 once it's available, too.

 

[Moltuae]

Nice work with the microcontroller!

Interestingly, electronic design and microcontroller programming is my main expertise too (mainly PIC micros). I kind of just fell into doing IT support (about 15-20 years ago) to help fund my electronics developments and pay for patent applications.

Antminer L3+ ordered and paid for, should be here November.

I have bitcoin ready to buy an Antminer D3 once it's available, too.

The L3+ is a great machine. I've had 3 of them running for about a month now. My S9 is still going strong too (been running continuously for nearly 9 months now without a single issue). I also have a D3 on order, due to arrive next month

Like you, I've built numerous rigs for my customers and for myself. I'm making money mining, making money helping others mine and use cryptocurrencies, making money from cryptocurrency investments ..... This is a fantastic time to be a techie!

 

[phaZed]

Fantastic to hear, congrats @Moltuae! A good time to be a techie for sure. You lucky Biznatch! I had a D3 in my cart, I just couldn't get their site to let me pay! AHH!

 

[Moltuae]

I know the feeling. I had several similar failed attempts before I successfully ordered a D3.

Funnily enough, Bitmain were only were only accepting USD payments at the time (due to concerns over the BTC/BCH fork I think), so I had to make an international bank transfer. That experience certainly made me appreciated Bitcoin! It took over a week before they received the payment and I had to pay about £50 in bank fees. Then, due to a clerical error by the bank, the payment was a little short, so I had to settle the difference using Bitcoin (which transferred virtually instantly and effortlessly of course).

 

[Paul Rodgers]

I'd think about WHO is going to pay in Bitcoin. You'll probably find that those tech savvy enough to invest in Crypto are the people who can fix their own computer problems.

^ this. Average customers (read 99%) won’t understand bitcoin. The ones that do will probably be a hassle to deal with.

 

[Moltuae]

^ this. Average customers (read 99%) won’t understand bitcoin. The ones that do will probably be a hassle to deal with.

I think you'd be very surprised how many "average customers" are using it already ...

Coinbase Hits 12 Million Users, Adds 100k Members in Just 24 Hours
https://www.financemagnates.com/cry...llion-users-adds-100k-memebers-just-24-hours/

And that's just one exchange (and there are lots) ...

The thing with cryptocurrencies is that much of the development, adoption and growth happens quietly (for those who aren't paying attention). People who haven't researched or followed the development of cryptocurrencies don't understand their purpose or potential. Those that do have woken to see the approaching tsunami. If you think I'm exaggerating, you're in for big surprise.

My guess would be that within 5 years minimum, most places will accept Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency. We're in an exponential growth that's about to go vertical.

Cryptocurrencies are the internet of money. The internet has swallowed numerous industries already and it's now coming after the banks ...

 

[fencepost]

TL;DR: don't 'spend' $hundreds in billable time to get it set up if you're not expecting to make all of that in *additional* revenue due to the new payment option.

I'd classify the question of accepting it as "If you're already into cryptocurrencies, it's worth looking into. If you're not, it's probably not."

The other thing becomes "What are you accepting? Bitcoin? Bitcoin Cash? Ethereum? Dogecoin? Other litecoins?"

With the death of the most recent attempt at expanding the number of transactions/second that can be processed (Segwit2x?) I've seen commentary on the processing fees (additional Bitcoin paid to have someone actually process your transaction) approaching $5, and if more people actually start using it then that's not going to get any smaller. It also means that in practical terms there's going to be a floor on what's a reasonable transaction size.

Basically, if it's already your hobby then it's worth checking into. For anyone just wanting to do it to give people another way to pay, consider how much interest there might really be in your customer base.

 

[300DDR]

We accept BTC and all other cryptocurrencies as well. Was using Bitpay, but now just get paid directly. I now keep payments in cryptocurrency (do not convert to USD), since they all seem to outperform USD.

 

[glennd]

Have you considered BitPay?

https://bitpay.com/tour

so after 15 months, is BitPay still a good idea? I'm pondering the possibility of using BitPay to accept donations, not necessarily for my main line of business. I'm yet to explore the finer details but they seem to have a system set up where payments can be made immediately to a regular bank account for a 1% transaction fee. I figure this can be another option. I've had a quick scout around bitpay.com and it's looking a little bit Patreon-ish or maybe PayPal-ish.

Edit: I signed up at BitPay and had a look around. The only way they'll set up a donation system is if I claim to be a legal company. I don't claim to be nor do I want to make that claim. Evidently they have 2 (or more) levels of company verification. If I make it past the first pack of lies they'll generously let me accept donations of up to $500 (USD i presume) per year. I don't think these are the droids I'm looking for.

 

[Moltuae]

so after 15 months, is BitPay still a good idea? I'm pondering the possibility of using BitPay to accept donations, not necessarily for my main line of business. I'm yet to explore the finer details but they seem to have a system set up where payments can be made immediately to a regular bank account for a 1% transaction fee. I figure this can be another option. I've had a quick scout around bitpay.com and it's looking a little bit Patreon-ish or maybe PayPal-ish.

BitPay looks to be still going strong but I haven't kept myself up-to-date on the competition, so there may be better/cheaper Bitcoin payment systems now.

However, it may be worth considering accepting Bitcoin payments directly, especially if it's just for donations. It takes seconds to set up a wallet and generate a Bitcoin receiving address. And, while there's a risk that the Bitcoin price may drop after receiving a donation, there's also a good chance it will rise, especially if you're prepared to wait a while before exchanging it for fiat.

 

[glennd]

BitPay looks to be still going strong but I haven't kept myself up-to-date on the competition, so there may be better/cheaper Bitcoin payment systems now.

However, it may be worth considering accepting Bitcoin payments directly, especially if it's just for donations. It takes seconds to set up a wallet and generate a Bitcoin receiving address. And, while there's a risk that the Bitcoin price may drop after receiving a donation, there's also a good chance it will rise, especially if you're prepared to wait a while before exchanging it for fiat.

Good idea. I think I'll go that way.

 

[hjelpio]

Do your customers (ask for the chance to) pay in crypto currency though?