A customer at your counter asks, half joking, "Do you take Bitcoin?" You laugh and point to the card reader. Then it happens again the next month, and you start to wonder whether you are turning away sales.
You can accept cryptocurrency in your store through Coinbase Commerce, which ShelfPerks connects to as a payment partner. The customer pays from their own crypto wallet, Coinbase Commerce charges a 1% fee, and ShelfPerks says payments are automatically converted to USDC, a dollar-backed stablecoin, so you are not exposed to price swings. It works in-store and online.
Key takeaways
- Security.org's 2026 report estimates that about 30% of American adults, or 70.4 million people, own cryptocurrency.
- Very few stores accept crypto: TSG reported in 2024 that only about 4% of the sellers it reviewed offered crypto as a payment option.
- Coinbase Commerce charges a 1% fee on crypto payments, which can be lower than many card processing rates.
- Crypto payments cannot be reversed by the customer's bank, so there are no chargebacks, but you need a clear refund policy.
- Crypto received by a business has tax consequences in both the US and Canada, so set up record keeping and talk to your accountant before you start.
Do your customers actually want to pay with crypto?
Some of them probably own it. Security.org's 2026 cryptocurrency report estimates that about 30% of American adults, or roughly 70.4 million people, own cryptocurrency, up from 27% in 2024. The same report found that one in three owners is between 30 and 44 years old, which is a solid spending age for most independent stores.
Owning crypto and spending it are different things, though. TSG (The Strawhecker Group) reported in September 2024 that less than 1% of US online shoppers were using cryptocurrency for transactions, and only about 4% of the sellers it reviewed offered crypto as a payment option.
So crypto is a niche, not a mass-market payment method. For the right store, that is the appeal: few competitors accept it, and the customers who want to spend it remember the places that let them.
Which stores are the best fit for crypto payments?
Crypto tends to fit best when:
- Your customers are tech-savvy or have asked about it more than once.
- You sell specialty or higher-ticket products, such as electronics, collectibles, bikes or jewelry.
- You already sell online, where crypto buyers may find you from farther away.
For a busy convenience counter with small tickets, crypto is less likely to be worth the extra training and bookkeeping.
How does Coinbase Commerce work in a ShelfPerks store?
Coinbase Commerce is Coinbase's service for businesses that want to accept crypto payments. ShelfPerks lists it as its crypto payment partner alongside card processors such as Stripe, Fiserv, Helcim and Stax, so you can offer crypto in addition to cards rather than instead of them.
According to the ShelfPerks Coinbase Commerce partner page:
- Customers can pay with hundreds of cryptocurrencies across the Base, Ethereum and Polygon networks.
- Customers pay from the crypto wallets they already use.
- Payments are automatically converted to USDC, a stablecoin designed to hold a value of one US dollar.
- Settlement is described as instant, and the integration works both in-store and online.
- Store owners need no blockchain expertise to use it.
Because the payment is converted to USDC, the amount you receive does not rise or fall with the price of Bitcoin or other coins after the sale. Before you launch, check with Coinbase how and when you can move USDC to your business bank account, and what that step costs.
How much does it cost to accept crypto payments?
Coinbase Commerce charges a 1% fee on crypto payments, according to its help center, collected in the settlement currency of the transaction. On the ShelfPerks side, the payment provider integration fee is $20 per provider account, per location, per month.
To compare with cards, use your own effective card rate: total fees on your statement divided by total card sales. Here is a hypothetical example.
| Example: $20,000 a month in sales | Rate used | Monthly fees |
|---|---|---|
| Card processing | 2.9% (example effective rate) | $580 |
| Crypto through Coinbase Commerce | 1% | $200 |
In this example, every $20,000 of sales that moved from cards to crypto would save $380 a month in processing fees. In practice, only a small share of your customers will pay with crypto, so the real saving will be a fraction of that. Treat crypto as a way to win a specific group of customers, not as a plan to cut your card bill.
What are the tax rules for accepting crypto in the US and Canada?
Crypto payments are taxable business income, and the rules differ from cash or card sales in a few ways. This section is a general overview, not tax advice, so confirm the details with an accountant who knows crypto.
United States: the IRS treats crypto as property
The Internal Revenue Service says that for US tax purposes, digital assets are considered property, not currency. If your business receives crypto as payment, the IRS expects records showing the US dollar value of what you received, and that income is taxed as ordinary business income. Because crypto is property, selling or converting it later can have its own tax consequences, so ask your accountant how to handle each step.
Automatic conversion to USDC keeps the value steady, but USDC is still a digital asset, so keep records of every payment and every transfer to your bank.
Canada: the CRA's crypto-asset guidance
The Canada Revenue Agency has a dedicated guide for crypto-assets that covers reporting income from crypto-asset transactions, valuing crypto-assets and collecting GST/HST on crypto-asset transactions. Canadian retailers should read the sections on business income and GST/HST, and check how to value each sale in Canadian dollars, before accepting crypto.
Record keeping that makes tax time easier
Whatever country you are in, the habit is the same:
- Export your Coinbase Commerce transaction history every week.
- Match each crypto payment to the sale in your ShelfPerks reports.
- Record the dollar value at the time of each payment.
- Record every transfer from your crypto account to your bank.
- Hand the whole file to your accountant at year end.
How do you set up crypto payments and train staff?
Setting up crypto payments is mostly a business decision, not a technical project. A simple rollout looks like this:
- Ask your customers. Add one question to your next newsletter or put a sign at the register: "Would you pay with crypto if we offered it?"
- Open a Coinbase account for your business and connect it to your ShelfPerks account as a payment provider.
- Write a refund policy. Crypto payments cannot be pulled back by a bank, so decide in advance how you will handle returns, for example as store credit or a refund to another payment method.
- Train staff on one thing. They do not need to understand blockchains. They need to know how to start a crypto payment at checkout, how to confirm it went through, and what the refund policy is.
- Review after three months. Count how many customers used crypto and what they spent. Keep it if it earns its place.
Is accepting crypto worth it for a small store?
Crypto will not replace cards or cash in most stores any time soon. But with tens of millions of Americans holding crypto and very few stores accepting it, it can set your store apart for a specific group of customers at a low processing cost.
If you want to test it, ShelfPerks lets you offer crypto through Coinbase Commerce next to your existing card processor, and you can learn more on the ShelfPerks payments page. Our related post on accepting crypto payments in US and Canadian stores covers the wider pros and cons. Start a 14-day free trial of ShelfPerks Premium features, with no credit card required.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Coinbase Commerce charge per transaction?
Coinbase Commerce charges a 1% fee on crypto payments, according to its help center. ShelfPerks also charges a payment provider integration fee of $20 per provider account, per location, per month.
Will my store lose money if the price of Bitcoin drops?
ShelfPerks says Coinbase Commerce payments are automatically converted to USDC, a stablecoin designed to hold a value of one US dollar. That means the amount you receive does not move with the price of Bitcoin or other coins after the sale.
Can customers get a chargeback on a crypto payment?
No. Crypto payments cannot be reversed by a customer's bank, so there are no chargebacks. You should still have a clear refund policy, such as store credit, for returns.
How many people own cryptocurrency?
Security.org's 2026 report estimates that about 30% of American adults, or 70.4 million people, own cryptocurrency. Spending is much lower: TSG reported in 2024 that less than 1% of US online shoppers were using crypto for transactions.
Do I pay tax on crypto my store receives?
Yes. The IRS treats digital assets as property and taxes crypto received by a business as ordinary income, and the Canada Revenue Agency has its own crypto-asset guidance that covers income and GST/HST. Keep records of every payment and talk to an accountant before you start.
