newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
Home
About
Why Digital Currency?
Glossary
Best of Bitcoin
Cryptorials
Cryptorials
Decentralized Technology Tutorials
Alternative Blockchains
Bitcoin
Business
DApps & DAOs
Editor's Choice
Internet & Deep Web
Privacy
Reviews
Trading & Investment
A Big List of the Best Bitcoin Business Ideas & Opportunities
Dean October 27, 2015 A Big List of the Best Bitcoin Business Ideas & Opportunities2017-05-25T16:26:31+00:00 Bitcoin, Business 8 Comments
Dean
Dean
Owner, Editor, and lead writer for Cryptorials.
Cryptocurrency writer and trader since 2014.
AMA Anytime: 21.co/cryptorials
world-dominationThe use of digital currencies like Bitcoin is continuing to grow around the world, whilst at the same time new applications for the blockchain technology which underpins it are popping up constantly. This creates a huge range of opportunities for entrepreneurs to capitalize on. Establishing your business within a young and growing industry like this may be seen as risky by some, but it also offers the potential for phenomenal growth rates. Personally, I would also suggest that it is an exciting and rewarding business to get into, giving you the chance to be part of something big while helping to take the power bank from the banks and return it to the people.
If you are an entrepreneur (or would like to be one) then I have some good news for you: profitable Bitcoin business ideas are not hard to come by. That doesn’t mean that it will be easy for you to make money, or that you are guaranteed success. But that first step of finding interesting opportunities that are worthy of consideration should not be a barrier to anybody willing to invest their time and / or money into digital currency.
In this article you will find a selection of the best ‘off-the-shelf’ bitcoin business opportunities that you could set up right now, as well as a few more general ideas to help spark the imagination and inspire those among you who prefer to forge your own independent business path
Becoming a Bitcoin Broker
Perhaps one of the most obvious as well as one of the most popular ways to start a business in this industry is to set yourself up as a broker, buying and selling coins to other users.
Unlike other areas of finance, digital currency users often have a preference for using peer-to-peer services rather than large companies. This preference extends to exchanges, meaning that it is very easy for a small trader to set themselves up as a broker in their local area or over the internet. In fact, one of the world’s most popular services for buying and selling BTC is LocalBitcoins, which is entirely based around peer-to-peer transactions and hosts thousands of small traders earning a living as brokers.
As a broker you earn your profit from the ‘spread’ – the difference between bid and ask prices. This varies according to market conditions and the payment method you are using, but you can get a rough idea simply by visiting the buy and sell pages on the site for your local area.
BTMs: Operating a Bitcoin ATM
If you have enough capital behind you then a more easily scalable, and potentially more profitable way to set up a business buying and selling coins, is by operating specialist ‘Automatic Teller Machines’ (ATMs) sometimes known as ‘Bitcoin Teller Machines’ (BTM).
Fees charged by BTMs seem to start around the range of 5-10% per transaction, and in some cases are a lot higher. Operators who manage to get their machines into the best locations often report ROI for their initial capital in less than a year. These machines do not take up a lot of space, so renting locations doesn’t need to cost the earth. But with the cost of the machine itself, and the requirement to stock it with notes, the initial outlay can be quite high.
There are a wide range of machines available to buy, and they usually allow you to set your own fees to the level you want. Some machines will also allow you to connect to a third-party exchange through an API in order to manage your currency risk by keeping your reserves of both BTC and your local fiat at a constant level. Most machines will incorporate some form of KYC requirements, but it is important for operators to keep abreast of local regulatory requirements and ensure that their machines comply with the law.
If you are already the owner of a retail location then running a BTM may be a particularly attractive proposition, and some systems have been designed with dual-functionality for this reason. Several major BTM manufacturers have included point of sale (POS) systems into their machine, whilst at the same time POS terminal providers such as Coinkite offer exchange features that enable cashiers to buy or sell coins from the till.
There is even a market out there for second hand BTM machines. You can compare products and find cheap second hand deals at CoinATMRadar.
Bitcoin Vending Machine Businesses
There are many similarities between running a network of teller machines and running a vending machine business. Entrepreneurial salespeople with a strong knowledge of their local area can do well by placing these machines in strategic locations.
One of the big limitations of vending machines is that many people simply don’t carry a lot of change around with them, and may not have the coins needed to make a purchase. As the use of cash continues to decline this is likely to present an ever-expanding opportunity to replace legacy systems with new machines capable of accepting alternative payment methods.
Already there are machines available to purchase which accept both credit / debit cards and Bitcoin. For example, Aeguana sells a top-spec system with digital display, which they claim has driven an average 400% increase in sales on a like-for-like basis compared to traditional coin operated machines during trials in the UK.
If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty (or hiring an engineer) you can also retrofit pretty much any existing vending machine to accept BTC payments using something like the BitSwitch, or alternatively Kryptomech which runs its own installation service.
White Label Business Opportunities
This is what it often feels like to run a business.
This is what it often feels like to run a business.
A white label business is when another company allows you to take their product or service, rebrand it under your own name, and present it to the public as an independent business. Although the core product is not unique, these services often allow for a relatively high degree of customization.
White Label Exchanges
If you have ever thought of running your own cryptocurrency exchange website, then there are some significant advantages to going through the white label route.
The first is that high quality exchange software capable of reliably matching and executing orders at high speeds is a complex and expensive thing to develop yourself. Setting up a white label exchange is a low cost way to get into this business, but should still allow you to select which coins and currencies you want to trade, set your own fees, and customize the user-interface to suit your brand.
White Label Casinos
Gambling has always been one of those areas in which the advantages of digital currency are most apparent. One of the reasons for this is because many countries do not classify it as being real money, which means that strict laws and regulations controlling online gambling may not apply to casinos which use BTC exclusively.
If you fancy running your own casino, poker or betting site then there are many white label opportunities for you to take advantage of. These can range from a complete ‘turnkey’ website which just requires you to add your own branding (and make sure that you are complying with local laws) to individual games that you can add to your own s
Mining is a very competitive business today, but that doesn’t mean that it is impossible for new start-ups to succeed. The key to being able to make a profit from mining is that you need access to low-cost electricity. Setting up in an area with a cold climate may also help to reduce equipment cooling costs. This is, however, a risky business that is dependent on factors which are difficult to forecast (such as the price of BTC) and which will probably require a high capital outlay for equipment, so make sure you really know what you are getting into before setting up shop as a miner.