Despite the abundance of different providers, hosting continues to be an enigmatic field for a large majority of website owners. As a matter of fact, it is much harder to choose a hosting provider now than due to the sheer amount of different plans and features that each business can offer.
This resulted in both US and EU-based companies having to step up their game and build better and more powerful hosting solutions. But while they could buy hardware, companies also needed to make sure they meet their users’ expectations by offering exceptional customer service, 24/7 technical support and alternative payment methods.
An example of one such a company is VPSBG, an European hosting provider known for their strong privacy-protection and data security policies, which made them one of the most trusted and reliable hosting providers on the continent. However, in addition to their powerful cloud servers, it was ultimately the fact that the company began accepting BTC as an alternative payment method for their services all the way back in 2014 that put the provider on the map.
How accepting Bitcoin propelled the business to success
While interest in crypto has gone up substantially over the last decade, the early 2010s were not that popular when it comes to Bitcoin with the cryptocurrency closing the year within the $300-$500 price range. So why did a small, at the time - local, hosting provider start accepting BTC?
Bitcoin can offer a lot more than just a different payment channel. As a matter of fact, it was during 2014 that the company began to search for foreign customers across Europe as well as overseas in both America and Asia. However, transaction fees were extremely high as bank transfers and other options such as PayPal made it substantially more expensive to make a purchase.
This is where Bitcoin came in clutch. Back in 2014 its price was already stable enough for it to become commercially utilized across different markets with hosting being no exception. It also made sense - overseas customers looking for a cloud server in Europe would definitely be interested in a hosting provider that could offer cheaper international transactions, given that a payment had to be conducted on a monthly basis.
Combining this alternative with powerful servers is what ultimately led to the provider’s success. However, these weren’t the only benefits when it came to paying for hosting using crypto.
What are the advantages of paying for a server using Bitcoin?
First and foremost, paying with crypto protects your privacy. A Bitcoin transaction for example involves sending BTC from one wallet to another, with each wallet corresponding to a given address. This anonymizes each transaction, protecting both parties’ privacy in the process.
While many will say this is exactly why paying with crypto can be dangerous, making it the ideal tool for illegal activities, it is important to mention that every transaction is stored in the blockchain, meaning that each one can in theory be tracked. Also, based on the Chainanalysis’s Crypto Crime report, transactions involving illicit addresses represented just 0.15% of cryptocurrency transaction volume in 2021.
Secondly, your wallet is a digital asset that you can access from your mobile device. This makes it more convenient when it comes to paying using BTC, as you can simply open up your device and make a transaction in a matter of seconds. Additionally, if you don’t have a wallet, you can set up one within a few minutes as you only need a device that is connected to the Internet. This way you will never have to worry about forgetting to pay for your server.
Another advantage of paying with crypto is that transactions can be carried out much quicker than traditional bank transfers. In addition to the lower fees, there is also BTC Lightning Network that allows for instant transfers, which can be extremely practical when paying for your server if you are not located in the same country or geographical region.
Finally, some hosting providers such as VPSBG have their own BTC payment processing implementation, which is substantially more secure than using any third party payment gateways. Companies that process crypto payments using such self-hosted implementations are more reliable and secure.
VPSBG took a risk, but it paid off
This smaller European company’s growth was a direct result of their willingness to accept crypto as an alternative at such an early stage.
Orders started to come in globally and Bitcoin payments soon followed, allowing the hosting provider to expand their reach and become one of Europe’s most trusted hosting businesses. Not only that, but they remained true to their standards, keeping the company privately-owned. This allowed VPSBG to lead an independent business model and reinvest a vast majority of their profits into creating better and more powerful servers, built using only premium-grade hardware.
As a matter of fact, the provider was one of the first adopters of some online privacy protection ideas, as they refused to utilize any third-party cookies anywhere across their website including avoiding the use of software such as Analytics. The company was also one of the first ones that implemented innovations like AMD EPYC CPUs and NVMe drives.
VPSBG also accepts Litecoin and Lightning Network (on top of Bitcoin) payments as well, which allows for faster payments.
Ultimately, the company’s focus on privacy and their early implementation of Bitcoin payments is what led to their successful business model, allowing them to become one of the most trusted hosting providers in Europe. Despite them still being under most people’s radar, over 90% of their users would praise and recommend the provider for their security and reliability.