CoinGate

Crypto payments rarely fail because of the technology. They fail because the conversation reaches the board unprepared.

Most boards are not against crypto. They’re cautious about decisions that introduce new risk without clear ownership. And when the proposal sounds like "we should try this because it’s innovative," the discussion stalls before it starts.

Here’s what actually happens in those conversations:

The first question is never about crypto. It’s about why this is being proposed at all. Is it driven by real customer demand, competitive pressure, or internal enthusiasm? The strongest answers ground the idea in business reality that already exists.

Risk is the real topic. Not whether risk exists, but whether it’s understood and bounded. Boards don’t want to hear that crypto is low-risk. They want to see that risk is defined, segmented, and allocated. Which risks does the provider absorb? Which stay with you?

Finance quietly decides the outcome. Even when finance isn’t leading the discussion, their comfort level often determines the result. If they can’t explain how crypto payments move through the books, approval is unlikely. Involve them early.

Doing nothing is also a decision. Boards compare the risk of acting with the risk of not acting. When the downside of inaction is specific and measurable, crypto stops looking optional.

Your company starts accepting crypto payments. The first transactions go through, customers are happy, everything works.

Then your finance team opens the books and asks: how do we actually account for this?

It’s a fair question. And the answer depends almost entirely on one decision: do you convert to fiat instantly, or do you hold crypto?

If you convert instantly, your accounting barely changes. The customer pays in Bitcoin, the processor converts it to EUR in seconds, and what lands in your account looks identical to a card payment. No fair value adjustments. No unrealized gains or losses. No end-of-period revaluation. Just revenue in your reporting currency with a clear timestamp.

One of our clients, PlainProxies, where 45-50% of all payments come through crypto, reported saving over 10 hours per month on accounting after switching to instant fiat settlement. Crypto payments just appeared as EUR deposits. Their finance workflows didn’t need to change at all.

Holding crypto is a different story. Under FASB ASU 2023-08 (effective since December 2024), crypto must be measured at fair value each reporting period with changes flowing through net income. Every price swing shows up on your income statement. Under IFRS, the treatment is even more conservative.

On top of that, EU reporting is tightening. CARF and DAC8 are entering force, requiring crypto-asset service providers to report transaction data to tax authorities. Documentation standards are rising.

For most businesses, the practical takeaway is simple: instant fiat settlement removes the complexity. Choose it as your default, and crypto payments become just another line on your books.

Last Thursday, we turned our ping pong room into a camera obscura.

Kęstutis Pleita, a professional musician in Lithuania's National Opera symphony orchestra and a devoted analog photographer, visited our office and showed us how light actually works. Not in a PowerPoint kind of way. In a "seal every window, sit in complete darkness, and watch the city skyline appear upside down on the wall" kind of way.

All it takes is a dark room and a tiny hole. The same principle people figured out over a thousand years ago. Also the same principle your eyes use right now to read this post.

Kęstutis develops his own film, prints in his personal darkroom, and has held four solo exhibitions. He brought antique bellows cameras, matchbox cameras, coffee tin cameras. Some of us watched a photograph slowly appear on a blank sheet of paper. Real darkroom magic, live.

In a world that runs on screens and instant everything, spending an afternoon in a dark room learning how a single ray of light can create an image felt... different. The good kind of different.

These are the moments that remind you there are people out there who still do things by hand, slowly, with intention. And that slowing down once in a while is worth it.