Accept Bitcoin without turning your shop into a trading desk.

Why businesses accept Bitcoin

The honest reasons are practical, not ideological:

• A new customer set. Some people prefer to spend bitcoin. If you do not accept it, they spend it somewhere else.
• Lower friction for some payments. Lightning invoices can settle in seconds, including from visitors who do not have a Canadian card.
• Optional treasury. You can convert every payment to CAD the same day — or keep a defined slice as long-term savings. That is a policy choice, not a personality test.
• Signal. “We accept bitcoin” tells a specific customer that you are paying attention. Use it if it matches the business. Do not fake it.

What it is not: a guarantee of more revenue, a way to skip taxes, or a replacement for a bank account.

How Bitcoin payments work

A customer pays an invoice denominated in CAD (or in sats). Software quotes a bitcoin amount at the current rate, usually with a short expiry. When the network confirms (or Lightning settles), you have been paid.

Two rails matter:

• On-chain: the base Bitcoin network. Fine for larger invoices. Fees and confirmation time vary.
• Lightning: faster, cheaper payments on top of Bitcoin. Better for coffee, tickets, and retail.

You do not need to explain any of that to a customer. They scan a QR code. You see “paid.”

Is Shakepay for Business a till? No.

We checked Shakepay’s own business page and help docs (as of August 2026). Shakepay for Business is not a point-of-sale system. It does not generate a CAD invoice QR at checkout, lock an exchange rate for this sale, or show staff a “paid” screen for that coffee.

What it actually is — and it is good at this:

• A business treasury account for CAD, bitcoin, and ethereum
• Buy and sell bitcoin with no trading commission (their current business pitch)
• Move CAD with Interac e-Transfer and same-day wires to/from a bank account in the company’s name
• Statements, recurring buys, and (if you opt in) interest on the CAD balance, paid in bitcoin

A customer can send bitcoin to your Shakepay business deposit address. That is a wallet transfer, not a till:

• No locked CAD price for this sale
• No automatic match to an invoice
• On-chain payments can sit unconfirmed while a line forms
• Easy to mix with other deposits and lose the audit trail

Exactly how to accept bitcoin at the till

The till job is always the same, whatever software you pick:

1. Ring the sale in Canadian dollars as you already do (tax included).
2. Open the Bitcoin POS on a phone or tablet. Type that CAD total.
3. Show the customer the dynamic QR (Lightning for small tickets, on-chain as a fallback).
4. They pay from a Lightning/Bitcoin wallet (Phoenix, Strike, Wallet of Satoshi, and similar).
5. Wait for the green Paid. Lightning is usually a few seconds. Then hand over the goods.
6. Keep the invoice ID with the CAD amount, sats received, rate, time, and fees.

That is the whole customer experience. You should not explain channels, nodes, or mempools at the counter.

Pick one of these three setups

Our default recommendation for a Canadian till: start with Swiss Bitcoin Pay on a dedicated device this week so staff can practice the 30-second sale. Move to BTCPay Server POS when you want the invoices and exports on infrastructure you control. Put Shakepay for Business beside that as the CAD off-ramp and company bitcoin/CAD treasury — not as the checkout.

If you already run Lightspeed Retail, add the BTCPay Lightspeed plugin instead of a second till app.

What not to do at the till

• A printed, unchanging bitcoin address or Shaketag
• A personal wallet on the owner’s phone as the “company till”
• Telling the customer to “just send $20 of bitcoin” without a quoted amount and expiry
• Handing bitcoin sales through a personal Shakepay account

Whatever you choose, confirm before go-live: CAD pricing, Lightning for retail tickets, a paid/unpaid screen staff cannot miss, and an export your bookkeeper can open.

Convert or hold — and where Shakepay fits

Write this down before the first payment hits. The till collects bitcoin. Treasury decides what happens next.

• Convert 100% to CAD. Simplest. Bitcoin is a payment rail. Sweep from the POS wallet into Shakepay for Business, sell to CAD, Interac or wire to the company bank for rent and payroll.
• Hold a slice. Example: convert 90% on Shakepay Business, keep 10% in bitcoin under a written cap (say, one month of expenses). Rebalance on a calendar, not a feeling.
• Hold more. Only if the business can pay rent without that bitcoin. Move savings off Shakepay onto a company hardware wallet with a two-person process if there is a team.

Do not mix the till wallet with the savings wallet. The till device should hold as little as possible. Sweep on a schedule (end of day is fine for most shops).

Canadian GST/HST and bookkeeping notes

This is the part owners skip — and later regret. Take it to your accountant.

• CRA generally treats bitcoin as a commodity, not as Canadian currency.
• When you sell goods or services for bitcoin, you still have a sale. GST/HST is typically calculated on the CAD fair market value at the time of the sale.
• The bitcoin you receive then has a cost base. If you later convert it to CAD at a different price, there may be a capital gain or loss (or business income, depending on how you operate).
• Issue invoices in CAD (and show the bitcoin amount / rate / time if useful). Your accountant will thank you.
• Payroll, trusts, and regulated industries have extra rules. Do not improvise those.

Record for every payment: date/time, CAD price charged, sats/BTC received, FX rate used, fees, invoice ID, and destination wallet. Keep those records at least six years.

For personal holdings vs business holdings, see the Canadian tax guide.

A simple one-page policy

Print this, fill the blanks, and stick it by the till:

1. We invoice in CAD. Software converts at the quoted rate until expiry.
2. We accept Lightning (and on-chain fallback) through: ________ (Swiss Bitcoin Pay / BTCPay / OpenNode — not Shakepay).
3. Till wallet maximum: $________. Sweep schedule: ________ (usually end of day → Shakepay for Business or hardware wallet).
4. Convert to CAD on Shakepay for Business: ________% of each day’s take.
5. Treasury cap: $________ of bitcoin, held in: ________ (hardware wallet / Shakepay Business).
6. Who can spend / who has the backup: ________.
7. Bookkeeping export: weekly / monthly, stored with our accountant package.

First-week checklist

1. Read this page with your bookkeeper.
2. Pick convert-only or a written hold slice. Open Shakepay for Business for the CAD off-ramp if you need one.
3. Install Swiss Bitcoin Pay or BTCPay POS on a dedicated tablet. Do not use the owner’s personal phone as the till.
4. Run a $5 Lightning test payment. Confirm “Paid,” then export the receipt.
5. Train one backup person. Write the “what if the tablet dies” step.
6. Add a small “Bitcoin accepted” note at the till — after it actually works.