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How to Add a Bitcoin Donate Button in WordPress Using BitPay

Bitcoin is quickly becoming a popular way to accept payments online. It's fast, digital and profitable. Due to the tremendous increase in the value of Bitcoin, it has drawn the attention of the traditional media. One of our users asked us how they can accept Bitcoin payments on their WordPress site. In this article, we will show you how to add a Bitcoin donate button in WordPress using BitPay. This button could replace or go directly next to your PayPal donation button which gives your visitors an alternative way to make payments while saving you money on transactions.

How to Add a Bitcoin Donate Button in WordPress Using BitPay

What is BitCoin and BitPay?

BitCoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency that was introduced as open source software in 2009. It is fully digital, meaning it is stored and traded online. However, it doesn't mean you can't exchange it into paper currency of your choice. It is called peer-to-peer currency because there is no regulatory authority or bank involved in currency exchange. At the time of writing, 1 Bitcoin valued at $644 USD.

BitPay is an electronic payment processing system for the Bitcoin currency. It allows merchants to easily accept and process Bitcoin payments. Think of Bitcoin as the US dollar and Bitpay as Mastercard, Visa or PayPal. When a user pays you in Bitcoins, you can get those Bitcoins in your wallet or exchange them in your local currency and transfer them to your bank account.

Getting started with Bitcoins

BitPay allows you to get your Bitcoin payments in your local currency. But if you want to receive your payments in Bitcoins, then you will need a Wallet. A Bitcoin wallet is software installed on your computer where you store your digital currency. There are a number of options available for desktop, mobile and web services. We recommend using Blockchain.info, which provides a simple web-based application that works on any device.

How to Add a Bitcoin Donate Button in WordPress Using BitPay

Once you have created your wallet, you will be able to receive payments in Bitcoins from Bitpay to your wallet.

Add a Bitcoin Donate button using BitPay

The first thing you need to do is sign up for a free BitPay account. After registration, your application will be reviewed and approved within a few hours. You will receive an approval notification by email. Once approved, you need to visit the BitPay website again and set up your password along with other account details.

In your BitPay dashboard, you need to click on Accept bitcoins Link from the top menu. A page will open showing different solutions, but you need to click on eCommerce .

How to Add a Bitcoin Donate Button in WordPress Using BitPay

On the eCommerce checkout screen, you will be presented with several options. You have to click on Accept donations button.

How to Add a Bitcoin Donate Button in WordPress Using BitPay

The next screen will show you the options to configure the donate button settings. The first option is to decide if you want donors to enter the amount or if you want to use a fixed donation amount. If you choose 'Donor Chosen Amount', your Bitcoin donate button will appear with a form that donors will need to fill out to donate.

If you choose the fixed donation amount, then the donation button settings page will display additional fields. You can enter the fixed amount for donations, choose currency and add description.

How to Add a Bitcoin Donate Button in WordPress Using BitPay

Under payment notifications settings, you can enter the URL of a page on your WordPress site where users will be redirected to once they have made a payment. Usually this page is a thank you page that you can create in your WordPress. You can also add an email address where you would like to be notified when a user makes a donation.

Once you have finished setting up your Bitcoin donate button, you need to click on Generate button. This will generate your Bitcoin donation button code with three button size options. You can choose between a small, medium or large button by clicking on it.

How to Add a Bitcoin Donate Button in WordPress Using BitPay

After that, you need to copy the displayed code and paste it into a text editor like Notepad because you will need this code in the next step.

Showing the Bitcoin Donate button on your WordPress posts or pages

The code generated by BitPay is an HTML form, and if you embed it in your blog post, there's a good chance the WordPress post editor won't handle it right when it sanitizes the content. This is why you would need to create a shortcode to add the button to your posts, pages or widgets. To do so, simply copy and paste this code into your theme's functions.php file or a site-specific plugin.

 función wpb_bitpay_donate () ob_start (); ?>  

To display the donate button, all you need to do is add [bitpaydonate] shortcode in your post, pages or widgets.

That is all. Now you can receive Bitcoin donations. You can store them as Bitcoins in your wallet or convert them to your local currency and deposit them into your bank account using BitPay. If you keep your Bitcoins in your wallet, make sure you understand the risks and always back up your wallet.

We hope this article helped you add a Bitcoin donate button to your WordPress site using BitPay. For questions and comments, you can leave us a comment below. Let us know what you think about Bitcoin and its future as a digital currency?