If you own a business and accept or would like to accept Cryptocurrency payments, you’d need a business crypto wallet. That’s exactly what this article is all about.
We will discuss what these wallets are, their different types and how to choose the best wallet for your crypto business. Let’s get started then.
Table of Contents
What are business crypto wallets?
A crypto business wallet is a crypto wallet, for business (duh). They work mostly like a normal, personal crypto wallet. However, their use-case is slightly different from the everyday wallets we use.
For starters, a business wallet sees more transactions in general than a personal wallet for obvious reasons.
Secondly, a business wallet may be subject to additional legalities/compliances as compared to a personal wallet.
Lastly, the access rules are generally different for a business wallet too.
Basically, any wallet that you can use for commercial and business purposes is a business crypto wallet.
How to choose a business crypto wallet?
A business has different needs as compared to personal cryptocurrency transactions. A good crypto business wallet must cater to these needs and facilitate the smoothest possible transactions.
These are the factors I look for when choosing a business crypto wallet:
- Maximum no. of supported Cryptocurrencies: As a business, you must be able to offer multiple payment options to your customers. Hence, the more Cryptocurrencies and fiats it supports, the better.
- Security: I pay special attention to the security features being offered to me. Multi-signature approval is something that you must seek. Of course, 2-factor authentication, IP locks and other features add to the security as well.
- Cold wallets: For the uninitiated, cold wallets are wallets that aren’t linked to the internet. They’re not accessed frequently and are used more like a permanent or long-term vault. These are almost impossible to hack. I prefer to use business crypto wallets that offer at least some cold wallet integration. I look for the ability to automate my hot to cold wallet transfers based on a fixed amount, percent, time etc.
- Legal compliances: Your business crypto wallet must comply to KYC (Know Your Customer) and (Anti Money Laundering) policies existing in your jurisdiction.
- Role-based access: Your business account may require multiple people to access the account. However, you can not just grant unrestricted access to everyone. Hence, a wallet that lets you onboard team-members and grant specific access to specific individuals is desired. E.g. someone may view transactions but not make withdrawals. Someone else may be allowed to generate a new address but not view the balance in other addresses and so on .
- In-built fiat to Crypto purchase options: You may need to convert fiat to crypto or vice-versa instantly. A good business crypto wallet gives you instant conversion so you aren’t forced to keep one type of currency on the wallet.
- Third-party integrations: Your wallet must be capable of easily integrating with third-party platforms and tools. This will facilitate faster and easier payments, won’t it?
- Invoicing and billing features: I look for wallets that either automatically or manually allow me to generate invoices or request bill payments. This not only helps with the transactions but also keeps the records clean.
- Easy withdrawals: Of course as a business, you need fast, liquid availability of your money when required.
Primary types of crypto business wallets
As we’re on the topic, let’s quickly discuss the different types of crypto business wallets available in the industry?
- Hot or Cold wallets: Hot wallets are wallets that are connected to the Internet. These are generally software wallets that you install on your system or mobile apps. Cold wallets are not connected to the internet and are harder to hack into. Paper wallets and hardware wallets are the best examples. Depending on the frequency and type of transactions required, you can pick the wallet that suits you best.
- Custodial vs. Non-custodial wallets: Each wallet, of any type, will have a private key. This private key lets anyone access the funds at any time. Custodial wallets keep the key with themselves, this means they can access your funds at any time if they wish to. Non-custodial wallets give you your key but the responsibility of storing it securely lies with you. While the latter is more secure, in case you lose your key, you’d pretty much lose your funds.
Final words- How to Open a Business Crypto Wallet
Once you’ve decided which crypto wallet you’ll use, the next step is pretty straightforward. You’ll need to visit the website of the wallet and either sign up, or download the wallet. The process would depend on the wallet you’ve chosen and isn’t exactly the same for everyone.
With a good provider, the process would generally be self-explanatory. In fact, if a wallet isn’t easy to sign up with, that’s a sign it’s not a good wallet.
