Glossary

Crypto Invoicing

Easy

Crypto invoicing is the process of creating invoices for goods and services that need to be paid in cryptocurrencies.

What Is Crypto Invoicing?

Crypto invoicing allows you to create different itemized bills and invoices for the products or services you offer. It enables you to bill clients in crypto via email, without the hassle of switching between wallets and apps.

As cryptocurrencies continue to occupy the headlines, a greater share of the population now owns small sums of various popular tokens. This pickup in crypto adoption is seeing many businesses and individuals warming up to the idea of accepting cryptocurrencies as payment for goods and services. 

But user-friendliness continues to be a barrier to accepting crypto payments. Unlike fiat payment gateways or retail point-of-sale systems, the sender has to meticulously copy the long string of hexadecimal numbers of the recipient’s wallet address. It is also difficult to properly document the counterparty information and consideration for each transaction like businesses can with traditional invoices. This often makes bookkeeping in crypto an administrative nightmare for accounting and tax purposes.

The ability to send, receive, and pay invoices easily with crypto will be one of the key drivers of crypto becoming a widely-accepted payment method. With a crypto invoicing tool, you can easily create, manage, track, and review all requested crypto payments from your customers. A predesigned yet fully customizable template allows you to fill in all the required information quickly and easily. You can then forward it to your customers as a link (or attachment) via email, social media, or text message. 

Once the recipient clicks on the link, they will see the itemized bill and the requested amount. The crypto invoicing tool scans the blockchain explorer and notifies both parties when the payment has been made to your digital wallet.

The Market for Crypto Invoicing

Cryptocurrencies are quickly becoming a growing share of the global payments market. Several prominent payment companies like Paypal, Venmo, Visa, and Mastercard have already partnered with crypto businesses to enable users to purchase their favorite items from millions of retail stores globally using their digital assets. Request Finance’s own data from over $150 million crypto invoices shows that nearly half were paid in stablecoins, like DAI or USDT.
Mainstream businesses like McDonald’s, Starbucks, AMC, Pizza Hut, and many more, have also started accepting crypto payments. Freelancers, professionals, sports personalities, artists, and even politicians, are warming up to the idea of accepting crypto payments. Moreover, countries, like El Salvador, have already accepted Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, with many other countries exploring the use of stablecoins or central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Crypto invoicing is becoming an increasingly important tool amidst changing financial preferences. Some benefits of adding crypto invoicing to your accounts department include:

  • Generates invoices quickly and easily

  • Allows you to customize the invoice as per your brand standards fully

  • Avoids human error in sending and receiving payments

  • Allows quick, secure, and cheap payments processing (thanks to blockchain technology)

  • Allows you to manage, review, and track all of your invoices 

  • Increases business opportunities as customers these days prefer paying via crypto

Author:
Christophe Lassuyt, CEO & Co-Founder of Request Labs and Request Finance, is a YCombinator alumnus (W17) with extensive experience in banking, finance, and blockchain technology. Commanding a Bachelor's degree from the University of Mannheim and a Master’s in Finance degree from the NEOMA Business School, Christophe has held several prominent roles in leading organizations across Europe. Before founding Request Labs, Christophe co-founded a remittance service platform Moneytis and served as the Chief Financial Officer for several companies, including Virtua SA, Eurenka, and others.
Connect with Christophe on LinkedIn.