How to setup crypto donations on your website
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In this guide we will explore the different options there are for setting up crypto donations on your website, blog, Youtube channel and much more.
Running a website or blog can be amazing. You get to write about something that you’re passionate about, you get to speak with others that share those interests, and you learn a lot. But unless you’re running one of the bigger sites, it might cost you more than what you will earn from it.
So any means that can help you continue doing what you love is something most of us would appreciate. That’s why I’ve spent some time evaluating what the options are for accepting cryptocurrency donations on your website.
Best ways to setup crypto donations on your website
In this guide we will uncover some of the ways you can get started with accepting cryptocurrency donations on your website in minutes, these are the services we will review:
Benefits of adding crypto donations on your site
You might ask why you should look into adding cryptocurrency donations on your site? Well here are a couple of reasons why it might be worth doing.
1 ) Cost minimisation
One key reason why cryptocurrencies have become so popular is that they can be extremely cheap to send. Some cryptocurrencies like Nano and Stellar are either free or practically free (there are many others). That means you could send $100,000 around the world for no costs.
So adding cryptocurrency donations on your site means no hefty bank card bills, or even fees for using another service. Often crypto donations are completely free to setup.
2 ) Added options
Adding cryptos is another option for your users and fans to pay with. And people love having different options available. So that they can choose for themselves the one that suits them the best.
Add to this that this can mean extra attention from new users. Meaning it can also help you reach out and improve your marketing efforts to new community and users. That could benefit sales but also loyalty.
1 ) Coinbase commerce – the slick way to earn crypto donations
Is a free tool from the crypto giant Coinbase of course. It’s used by more than 2000 merchants, and it’s supposedly a quick process as they promise you to be up and running within 4 minutes. Lets test it out!
Step 1 – signing up
- Adding my email
- Verifying my email
- Adding a 2F-Authentication (Google Authenticator was recommended) manually by using the unique code apparently there was suppose to be a QR code that you could scan also but it was missing for me?
- Setting up a wallet – saving the secret passphrase
- Verifying the secret passphrase
- You’re in
Step 2 – getting widget up and running on site
- Via the ‘Accept payments’ butting you setup your widget – you then select donations or selling products
- I selected donations, then I added my website address, a short description and my logo
- I was asked what type of information I wanted to save from my donators (no information or full name or address)
- Doh I had to whitelist my website address first, so I had to go back to the dashboard to whitelist it and then start over
- Now you get a link to use and a code snippet to add to your website, I copied the code and put it on my footer
- Done, it’s up and running as we speak
Conclusion
It maybe didn’t take 4 minutes, but it didn’t take much longer than perhaps 10 for me. And was super easy to be honest. So I’m very impressed. Overall it was a smooth experience, nice design and UX all the way through and the donations button and widget looks rather nice.
I guess the less positive is that you can only accept crypto donations for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. So it’s Coinbase’s big coins, maybe some of the ERC-20 tokens they’ve added recently might be added to the list in the future. If so, then it’s a very smooth experience.
2 ) Bitpay – the trusted method
Another very popular option is Bitpay. Bitpay has been around for some time now and they have made it super simple for businesses to add cryptocurrencies as a payment method on their websites. But also for businesses, organisations, and others to accept donations in cryptos.
This is how it works overall:
- You can let your users pay simply with crypto.
- They choose to pay with the cryptocurrency they want and the amount.
- Bitpay then can convert this payment automatically at the best rate possible to your local fiat currency (USD, EUR, GBP, etc).
- The money then gets sent to your bank account and a full log of the transactions is available in your Bitpay account.
To get started using Bitpay for donations you can follow these simple steps:
- Create an account with Bitpay over at www.bitpay.com
- Confirm your email, verify yourself and your account and add a bank account to receive your funds in.
- Add the payment button to your website’s code – embed where you want it to be visible for your users
- That’s it. Simple enough 😉
Bitpay takes a 1% fee for all payments made via their service. This fee is very low if you compare to other services taking up to 5-6%. Add card fees to that for the users and then all of a sudden much of the donations are already lost in fees. That’s why crypto donations should be on your mind!
3 ) BrainBlocks – the fast way
Another one that caught my eye is BrainBlocks, which is for Nano (formerly known as Raiblocks). Which is a good coin for donations due it having zero fees and almost instant transactions.
The guys behind BrainBlocks have also built a POS app, I guess with extended features and for an even smoother user experience. So how’s the process of getting it up and running then?
Steps – following the instructions on their site:
- I customised the address to my Nano address (using the customise field)
- Copied the code (they weren’t specific where to put the code (body, header, footer, etc?) so I tried to paste it in my footer via the customization area for my WordPress site – boom it worked
- Done – ready to accept crypto donations.
Conclusion
Well, it was quick that’s for sure, almost as quick as just writing my Bitcoin address in my footer. And it has a nice button and feel to it. I guess for the coding novice people like me it’s easier to go back to BrainBlocks and customise the address, suggested amount, etc rather than in the code.
So that’s not that hard, but an extra step. And also there doesn’t seem to be an option for the user to select the amount they want to donate, so it has some missing features IMO. But it is a quick experience and it looks good!
4 ) Cryptocurrency Donation Box – the simple way
Cryptocurrency Donation Box is a ready-made WordPress plugin. So you can easily either go to the plugins section of WordPress and search for it on the list or download it from the link in the heading.
It’s created by Cool Plugins, and it supports more than 20 different cryptocurrencies, so it’s a good option if you want a wider selection of options for your visitors. It was super easy to implement on my site, I choose to put it in my footer and added it as an HTML widget with the suggested code snippet recommended for footers and headers.
You’ll have your Cryptocurrency Donation Box up in no time, the only issue is the full transparency with donations coming in. The amount received, the addresses and full balances of sender and receiver.
5 ) Other cryptocurrency donations mentions
Start accepting crypto donations – the easy way
The simple way for someone like me, and perhaps you is to add some simple text on my footer for example with my Bitcoin / Ethereum / Litecoin, etc address. Simple as that.
Obviously the kind internet stranger then have to copy that address and then go about sending some donations like any other transaction. I added my Bitcoin address and up and running within the minute.
As it’s the blockchain it gives everyone full access and transparency to your received crypto-donations and amount held on this public address. I guess you could use Monero to hide this option if you wanted.
Request Network
Another option that I’m aware of is Donations built on Request Network, which I started to look into and get added to my site. But ran into problems about how I could add the code snippet easily to my WordPress site’s HTML <body> when running my site on a bought theme.
There were ways, but they didn’t seem straightforward enough for a beginner like me. Apparently there’s a ready-made plugin to use for those who are running a WooCommerce shop or Shopify shop to add the Request Network plugin.
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Written by:
Per Englund – Founder of Go CryptoWise a cryptocurrency and tech fan that want to see better and smarter products and services that make our lives better and easier
