In most materials devoted to cryptocurrency, the expression “fiat funds” is mentioned. In general, everyone knows the meaning of these words, but for fruitful work with finance, it is better to understand the issue in more detail. So why is crypto better than fiat currency for your company?
Key Points:
- Fiat currency is a traditional and generally accepted payment method.
- Cryptocurrency is designed to eliminate the shortcomings of the traditional financial system.
- NOWPayments provides an opportunity to accept crypto payments in a secure and easy manner.
What is fiat?
Fiat money is otherwise called fiduciary. These are classic/traditional means of payment, familiar to ordinary people. The category of fiat funds includes all national currencies: dollars, euros, pounds sterling, rubles, and so on. They are issued in the form of paper banknotes, metal coins, and are also presented in a non-cash form. Fiat money is issued by the state, that is, they are centralized in nature, and independent issuance is illegal. Previously, fiat funds were backed by gold, that is, behind each banknote there was a certain amount of precious metal from the gold reserve of the state. However, after the abolition of the “Gold Standard”, fiat is no longer backed by any commodity, but is backed by trust in the government that issued it.
What is crypto?
Cryptocurrency is a digital means of payment with a decentralized mechanism for issuing and confirming transactions. The digital currency is protected from counterfeiting and duplication, and its quantity and issue are strictly limited, for example, for the largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC), the maximum amount is 21 million coins. The key feature of cryptocurrencies is decentralization — the absence of any internal or external administrator. Therefore, banks, tax, judicial, and state authorities cannot influence the crypto transactions of users. The transfer of cryptocurrencies is irreversible — no one can cancel, block, challenge, or forcibly (without a private key) make a transaction.
Cryptocurrencies are a phenomenon that meets the principles of a free Internet, which glorifies independence from corporations and jurisdictions, as well as freedom of relationships — including financial ones.
Fiat vs cryptocurrency. What is better for your company?
Cryptocurrency
| Pros | Cons |
| Decentralization | Volatility |
| Transparency | Irreversibility of transactions |
| Anonymity | |
| Resistance to inflation | |
| Speed and cheapness of transactions |
Fiat
| Pros | Cons |
| Less volatile | Centralization |
| Reversible transactions | Inflation |
| Mass adoption | Lack of anonymity |
| Legitimacy | Chargeback fraud |
| Slow and expensive transactions |
The most tech-savvy companies have implemented a crypto payment gateway, realizing all the advantages of crypto over fiat funds. Most users are shocked by the huge fees that international payments are subject to. Moreover, do not forget about the risk of freezing the account as such. In addition, no consumer or business owner benefits from long-term international transactions (which can sometimes take several days, or even be rejected altogether). In addition to the high speed and cheapness of transactions, it is also worth noting the fact that crypto transactions are much safer than fiat ones. To use cryptocurrency, users do not need to enter their personal data and fear account hacking.
Of course, cryptocurrency is not yet as widespread as fiat funds, but we can say with confidence that every year there are more and more companies and entrepreneurs who are ready to accept crypto as a means of payment. Also, the main disadvantage of cryptocurrencies is considered to be high volatility. However, even this moment can play into the hands of enterprising business owners. By opening the price chart of Bitcoin or Ethereum (and hundreds of other cryptocurrencies) you will notice that the trend is mostly positive and from year to year crypto is breaking new price records. It should also be noted that cryptocurrency is not subject to government or banking structures, although they try very hard to gain influence over it. Thus, the absence of binding to banks will protect the position of the cryptocurrency even in the event of a worldwide default. And finally, the fact that crypto transactions are irreversible in nature completely eliminates the risk of chargeback fraud faced by many respectable entrepreneurs.
NOWPayments solution
NOWPayments is a leading crypto payment gateway that aims to make life easier for entrepreneurs, freelancers, non-commercial individuals, and so on. We provide a number of easily integrated payment tools with which you can accept more than 100 cryptocurrencies as payment for goods or services:
- Install one of our plugins for accepting crypto payments in your online store (major CMS solutions are available, for example, WooCommerce, Magento 2, PrestaShop, and others).
- Accept crypto for payment on any platform, website, or app using our cryptocurrency API.
- Create invoices for quick and easy acceptance of cryptocurrency payments.
- Use the function of mass payments to pay employees’ salaries.
- And much more!
In addition, if you do not want to deprive your customers of the possibility of paying with cryptocurrency, but you are not ready to accept crypto for payment yet, with NOWPayments you can easily set up auto-conversion. With this function, your customers will pay for your goods and services in the way they want, and you will receive the same amount in fiat currency.
Conclusion
Having studied the information about fiat currencies, and how they differ from cryptocurrencies, it can be assumed that fiat (although it still has a lot of trust from people and the state) will be gradually displaced by digital currencies. Now, most of the fiat money is experiencing huge inflation, during which the savings of many users are getting smaller every day. Cryptocurrencies, in turn, have been showing a positive growth trend for many years. That is why using crypto as an additional payment method is a prudent step for every business owner.