Despite the difficulties, Ethereum faces, the token has been holding the most successful altcoin’s title for many years. December 2020 was a pivotal moment for Ethereum: the network switched to the Proof of Stake algorithm. Together with sharding implementation, this transition aims to upgrade the network by solving the scalability problem and accelerating the speed of the validation of the transaction. This might give the network the second wind. When the second most significant cryptocurrency network operates at full capacity, its growth rate might become impressive indeed. Thus, the web platforms connected to the cryptocurrencies will face an important question on how to accept payments in Ether on their webpages.
What accelerated Ethereum growth?
Ethereum’s rocketing growth can be attributed to the fact that it allowed building stand-alone projects with token launches. The first Ethereum takeoff is linked to the development of ICO, the new type of crowdfunding. The idea to attract funds from non-professional investors has proven to be a great success: the projects have been attracting millions of dollars for their development in a matter of hours. On the other hand, the relative simplicity of launching an ICO campaign contributed to its downfall: scammers flooded the market. Also, even without malicious intentions, plenty of projects’ teams simply failed to deliver results. As a consequence, many governments banned ICOs. Nevertheless, Ethereum’s significance has experienced substantial growth and the altcoin solidified its place in the ranking as the second cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.
The second growth period for Ethereum came in 2019-2020 with the development of a new trend for DeFi, decentralized finance, on the international blockchain arena. Similar to ICO projects, DeFi projects were developed on the Ethereum network by utilizing smart contracts and tokens for their operations. By the end of 2019, DeFi locked $800 million and experts shared an opinion that the new industry awaits great success in the future. But no one would have imagined that a bright future would come almost on the next day. In 2020 DeFi’s growth accelerated: by the end of the year, it locked in an enormous amount of $14 billion. This being said, the main growth happened in the summer months, after which growth significantly slowed. The reason for this is the limitations of the main platform for DeFi projects – Ethereum.
What issues does Ethereum solve now?
The Ethereum transaction fee depends on the network load. Needless to say, when in summer 2020 network load reached unprecedented limits, the transaction fees skyrocketed. At some point, the fee for any transaction, even for swap or the confirmation of the new token on the wallet, raised over a level of $100. Thereby, the fee exceeded in many cases the transacted amount. It was unacceptable and it became apparent that the growth of the DeFi projects built around the transactions on Ethereum was out of the question.
That is why the long-awaited upgrade of the Ethereum network gives a second wind for two giants: the Ethereum network itself and the DeFi industry built on top of it. A new mechanism for the transaction validation ‘sharding’ splits the blockchain into smaller fragments and allows the separate verification of each fragment without a need of verifying all the blockchain. In its turn, staking will free the network from the outdated method of coin emission and mining. Staking is a more progressive, up-to-date, and ecological way to add new coins that also allow profiting from it to anyone and not just to big mining farms’ owners. The greater is the number of stakers, the less is the risk of the fatal to cryptocurrencies centralization.
Where can one pay with Ether?
Nowadays, a lot of companies from different industries accept Ether as a means of payment. Among such companies, there are internet commerce longtimers such as Overstock, Openbazaar, FLOGmall, where crypto enthusiasts can purchase home goods, furniture, electronics, jewelry for ETH. One can use ETH to pay for hosting on Snel.com, to book a flight at the webpage of the major US airline company TapJets. Ethereum holders can purchase clothes, bags, shoes, and accessories on the international fashion retail platform Zorket. The full list of online stores that accept Ether is available here.
As we have seen, many companies accept Ether today, but the list is far from being exhaustive. Accepting Ether could become a way to gain a competitive advantage for online businesses. Just this new option in a list of accepted means of payments will draw attention to your webpage, boost its popularity and bring the reputation of the cutting edge platform that keeps pace. Payments on the Ethereum network have maximum security because they are executed by the immutable smart contract. Moreover, the process of transaction monitoring is easier on Ethereum, in comparison with some other digital currencies.
Crypto processing for Ethereum
So, how can you start to accept Ether on your webpage? Do you need to develop your payment tools and invest money and time? Of course, no. You just need to use a ready-made product from a reliable supplier – a payment gateway through which you can execute transactions. A solution on Ethereum integration into the web site is offered by the CoinsPaid company. This product allows online businesses to easily start accepting the most popular cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum and ERC20 tokens.
The main advantages of this service are high transaction speed, low commissions, instant integration within a day, automated operations, professional technical support, cloud infrastructure, hacker-proof defense, and functional interface with full control over a flow of funds.
The payment gateway Cryptoprocessing.com by CoinsPaid with every transaction executes an automatic and instant conversion to 20 fiat currencies (EUR, USD, GBP, etc.). Moreover, users can count on the favorable crypto-fiat exchange rates at the moment of purchase.
CoinsPaid’s safety and legal status
The service operates under the registered in the EU Dream Finance OÜ company. It has an Estonian cryptocurrency exchange and wallet license provided by the financial regulators. Therefore, as the company operates under the EU jurisdiction, it assumes full responsibility and guarantees the execution of all the transactions in time. CoinsPaid’s payment gateway blocks coins that were mixed or paid with on the darknet. Moreover, CoinsPaid provides their clients with the highest security level, confirmed by the global security leader “Kaspersky Lab” and the independent team of white hackers 10Guards.
A lot of crypto processing services impose hidden charges that surprise payers after the payment. Cryptoprocessing.com by CoinsPaid does not use such techniques. Moreover, users can test the service f during a trial period with demo wallet and demo cryptocurrencies. It gives clients necessary transparency on how the system works before any real money involvement.
Summary
In fact, a decision for an online business to integrate the crypto processing gateway that accepts Ethereum is not only a PR activity. In recent years, traditional processing services have been surprising clients with blockages and limitations that do not contribute to the sustainable growth of the business. That is why more and more entrepreneurs start to consider accepting payments in cryptocurrencies. The world of cryptocurrencies is free from censorship or centralized governance that, for example, might leave you with nothing for your political views. Such solutions as CoinsPaid are a great alternative to traditional finances that can be easily integrated alongside more conventional means of payments. It is easy, safe, and cutting-edge.