The crypto marketplace might be buzzing, but that doesn’t mean the market is already over saturated. In fact, as a business, there are many opportunities for you to jump in and stay engaged. Here are three ways to keep your business involved in the crypto marketplace.

(1) Accept Cryptocurrency As A Form Of Payment

It may seem obvious at first, but whether you run a large or small business, accepting crypto as a form of payment is a great way to stay engaged in the crypto marketplace. It shows customers that you are on the cutting edge. Just the curiosity alone might bring in traffic. Also, more payment options are always better for customers. The more payment options you make available, the more customers you are able to reach.

Second, it reaches a market that is largely untapped. Many people invest in crypto because they have some expendable income and they’re looking to turn a profit. If your business accepts crypto as a form of payment, then you are providing an easy way for them to spend their profit or expendable income.

There is an incentive for businesses to accept crypto, and they’re based on the nature of blockchain. First, there are minimal-to-no processing fees. Second, many of the cryptocurrencies have a very high transaction speed. That means you almost instantly get the funds the customer paid with.

Keep in mind, you’ll have to keep good records of all crypto transactions in order to properly pay taxes on them. Even though alt coins aren’t backed by the US government, doesn’t mean they don’t want their cut of your earnings. Be sure to consult with your accountant in order that you stay within government regulations.

(2) Implement Blockchain Into Your Supply Chain Protocol

Here we must distinguish between cryptocurrency and blockchain. The example given above refers to the currency side of the blockchain, made popular by Bitcoin and Ethereum. Digital currencies can play a role in a more effective business. But equally if not more exciting is the technology behind it, blockchain. This technology can add significant value to businesses if we learn how to utilize it.

Supply chain protocol is one example.

Walmart is a recent player in testing how blockchain could improve their supply chain management and shipping protocols. The story goes that their vice president of food and safety, Frank Yiannas, bought some mangoes from a store, bought them back to his office and ordered his team, “Find out where those mangoes came from.” Then he set a timer.

Six days later, Yiannas had an answer. While that’s a better response time than many companies, it’s not quick enough if there was a foodborne illness outbreak.

To fix this, Walmart partnered with IBM to try out the blockchain Hyperledger Fabric. The test tracked food shipments and digitally recorded everything on the blockchain. With each step taken and checkpoint crossed, the status was logged and signed.

The result? A couple months later, Yiannas had a system that allowed him to pull up all the vital info in a matter of seconds. When you consider what’s at stake if a foodborne illness were to take place, a couple seconds vs 6 days makes a huge difference.

Shipping and supply chain management might be the best entry point into the crypto and blockchain market for medium to large scale businesses.

(3) Store Your Files with Blockchain Based Cloud Storage

A third way to stay engaged in the crypto marketplace is to pair cloud storage with blockchain. Almost every business contains mass amounts of data. And that data needs to be accessed from anywhere in the world, at any time, which cloud storage has allowed for.

Whether your business uses services like DropBox or Google Docs, cloud storage is quickly becoming a vital component to everyday business life. And this is another aspect of a business that blockchain has improved upon.

With traditional cloud services, your documents are stored on a centralized server, in a single location.

There are two problems with this. First, if that server malfunctions, loses power or simply goes down, you don’t have access to your documents. Second, if that server isn’t secured well, your data is vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Blockchain solves these shortcomings by storing data in a decentralized manner, rather than in a centralized way like traditional cloud services. Storj is an example.

With Storj, your documents are shredded, encrypted, and sent across the network of hosts. This ensures security because even if a server was hacked, the hackers wouldn’t have access to the information on your document. The decentralized system also allows for faster speed and download times. You can even get paid for renting out your extra storage space.

This is just a starter, there are many more opportunities to keep your business in sync with the crypto world. By staying in the know, you are putting yourself in a position to better your business efficiency and increase your bottom line. It’s a win-win.