As for cons, the largest is bitcoin’s excessive volatility. Think about getting paid one bitcoin for a renovation job, says Wong, solely to see its worth drop by 30% in a single day—which occurred on Might 19, 2021. (See what can have an effect on bitcoin’s worth.) Are you ready to climate that threat?
One other downside: widespread bitcoin acceptance amongst Canadian corporations continues to be a great distance off. Simply 8% of small companies in Canada deliberate to just accept crypto in 2022, in accordance with a Visa survey launched in January—so your choices for spending it are pretty restricted.
Which corporations at the moment settle for crypto in Canada? Discovering them takes a little bit of digging, they usually’re vastly diversified—starting from bigger corporations like jewelry retailer Birks and tech vendor Newegg.ca to small companies like Uncle Mike’s All Pure Merchandise and Funky Moose Data.
What’s extra pertinent, although, is what you’ll be able to’t pay for with crypto instantly, together with family payments, mortgage funds and groceries—not but, a minimum of. So, when you want the cash, you’ll should money out your cash at regardless of the going fee occurs to be on the time.
Methods to receives a commission in bitcoin
If, in any case these concerns, you determine to receives a commission in bitcoin, how would you go about it, and what are the dangers?
Crypto wallets
The very first thing you’ll want is a crypto pockets to obtain funds. In case your employer is working with a cryptocurrency platform, the platform will seemingly host a pockets for you.
In the event you’re self-employed and have determined to just accept cost in crypto, you’ll be able to open a pockets on a crypto platform your self—when selecting one, you should definitely examine options like safety, charges and buyer assist. And, when receiving funds, it’s a good suggestion to make use of a cryptocurrency cost processor akin to Bitpay, says Wong. “You scale back plenty of dangers together with prolonged affirmation instances and the safety of your cryptocurrency pockets, as a result of the processor will mechanically convert the cost into fiat for you on the market fee on the time of the transaction.”
If you wish to maintain on to bitcoin as a substitute of changing it to fiat foreign money, Wong recommends you retailer it in a chilly pockets (a {hardware} pockets that’s disconnected from the web) moderately than a scorching pockets (a digital pockets that’s at all times on-line). “Chilly wallets are safer in opposition to on-line assaults, that are the most typical assault vector,” he says. “Chilly wallets carry their very own dangers like threat of bodily theft, forgotten encryption key, and so forth., however [this] may be mitigated by way of different strategies.”