Bitcoin Forum

He's a taxi driver and wants to accept bitcoin as payment.

What's his best option? He has an android phone, I was also thinking I could make him a paper wallet and have the QR code on his phone that people could make payments to, this being more secure.

What do you all advise?

Thanks,

Sp00d3r

Mycellum wallet and have him put clear window sticker clings (http://honeybadgerofmoney.com/product/bitcoin-window-decal/) if he can spare the space. 

paper wallet is not good idea. The driver should have wallet application installed in his phone. Once the customers get on the car, they can scan the qr code and pay with btc. Before they get to the destination, the drivers's wallet will get at least one confirmation from the phone wallet. 

Get him a Coinbase account so that he can access his wallet from his phone. He can then print his QR code on back of driver seat or anywhere on his cab. He can convert BTC to USD whenever needed via Coinbase.

I would advice a nice "Bitcoin Accepted Here" sticker on the outside of cab too.

Mycelium (sorry, but you had the name wrong :P ) indeed. It can handle addresses without a private key (watch only addresses). That way the coins are not lost in case of a robbery. Or if that is not a concern your friend could also offer currency exchange via "Mycelium local trader" on the side (not sure if youd need a permit for that though).

In any case when someone wants to pay with bitcoins Id currently advice your friend to negotiate a fixed price for the ride and have the customer send the TX durring the drive. That way "services" like bitundo[1] are not a problem. Maybe give a little discount for bitcoin payment ;)


[1] http://www.bitundo.com/

But that's not really how it works when paying for a cab. You usually pay at the end of the fare the amount you owe the driver.

In my opinion he should just have stickers of the QR code in the car so people can scan it, send the payment (here the driver will check on his ipad or phone if the transaction went through) and the customer leaves. Don't think there is any need for a confirmation with something like this. It's not like people are going to try and double spend in a cab, on their smartphone/laptop anyway.

^ yes this is what I thought, I would make him a laminated public address that people could scan and make payments to, and he can just have the blockchain.info link to his address in his phone to check if a transaction has been broadcast. Simple?

What is the correct android app though? Who is the developer? I'm less trustful of this method because if I generate the private key offline and print the keys I know that no one else can ever know the private key.

Sp00d3r, have you looked into https://coinkite.com? I haven't used it personally however it looks promising.

• Easily accept Bitcoin, Litecoin & Blackcoin from Coinkite Debit Cards or any other Wallet by QR code
• Retail PoS and Exchange Terminals
• Vault-as-a-Service and Bitcoin API

https://coinkite.com/static/img/home/coinkite-multi-device.png

This ^^. Confirmation is also important, as much as paying. Wallet application payment at beginning is a good idea.

I think an online wallet on his phone is a good option. If his wallet starts getting fat he can transfer some out later. He could also go with a QR code sticker that patrons scan. He could then check the balance on blockchain with his phone. This protects his bitcoins from theft because he can only receive coins while he is working. 

Yeah if I were him I'd have a QR code sticker in the back of the cab for customers to scan and send him the coins. He can then check if he received the coins by using his phone to check the Blockchain (not actually log into anything). Then once a shift or every night transfer all the coins out of the address to various other addresses. Otherwise if he has a bunch of coins in one address AND/OR he can access it on his phone, it will encourage people to potentially rob him.

Thats why you use watch only mode on the phone. No private key, nothing to rob, yet you can make custom QR codes with the amount coded in. You can still use the sticker as fallback.

The Sticker however would mean all the coins on one address. Watch only addresses can easily be scanner before ever shift. That way you can even check later which day was a good one for BTC, just by checking the adresses history.

Ok I have no experience with the android wallet. Is it possible for him to have a watch only address within an app that can also generate QR codes with a set fee already? If this is so, I would just generate the private key offline and make sure he keeps it safe. People are much better at physical security than digital security.

Too many people that I know, and have recommended bitcoin to have had theirs stolen or lost due to forgetting passwords, losing backups etc.

What I would do here is suggest that he transfer the Bitcoin that he doesn't need to convert to fiat just to run a business over to a "cold wallet" -- essentially a hard drive that isn't connected to the Internet but can still receive Bitcoin because the blockchain remembers every transaction. If he doesn't feel like hodling, suggest that he use Bitcoin for as many transactions as possible in his daily life.

All he needs is some QR codes printed out for backup and a good Phone App to monitor transactions and provide calculations. Accepting Bitcoin will definitely increase his publicity and encourage repeat customers.

Having the paper wallet would be helpful, but if he goes for the official Bitcoin wallet on Android, the phone creates a QR code for them to scan as well. Paper could get lost or ruined, but you'll always be able to scan the QR code from the Bitcoin wallet.

this looks like a cool idea - havent seen this before

The whole issue with robbery would be the same if he took cash... except from he can easily transfer the Bitcoin away from his ''hot wallet'' from his taxi, so surely that is a hell of a lot safer.

In fact safety would be the main advantage imo...

Robbery will never be able to be excluded in face to face situations like this. Even with bitcoin. Watch only mode with a coinbase app or similar services would work fine.

Thats a pretty cool idea.
What country is he in ??

Guessing its not Australia as the taxi gov place would probs rape you if you tried to accept anything other than AUD :(

Just advertising here could potentially generate him a fair bit of work.

Android phones can use the coinbase merchant app, it will let you request the exact price with QR and will notify you once the payment is sent.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.blockchain.merchant&hl=en

Put in your bitcoin address that you generated at home, no private key on your device to be robbed from.

Hey spoderman buddy sounds a good idea hope it works out :)

Warren

Thanks for the tips everyone. So far the android blockchain merchant app seems like the best bet.

I think it is a good way of generating more business for sure, though he doesn't seem to struggle to get clients. He just wants bitcoin :P (don't we all!).

What country is he in? If people started to pay with BTC for taxi I would start being a taxi driver today.

You can use a paper wallet address. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your cash register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay. For a more convenient solution you can use a dedicated app or web app that generates a QR code on the fly including the amount..

The way it works is that you "add" an address to your addresses/keys. You can do this by just scanning the QR code e.g. bitcoin-core gives you. Mycelium sees an address and warns you that it does not know the private key. When you request payment for this address you get another warning that the private key is not know (this is actually visible to the customer when scanning the QR code - which is important IMHO). On the same screen (depends on the screensize ofc) you can also set an amount in either fiat (supports so many FIAT currencies it feels like all of them) or btc. If you set it in fiat it will be automatically converted to BTC.

Test is in german, which ofc can be changed :)

https://i.imgur.com/Qh0746Z.png



I dont know this app, so I can not and did recommend it. Its probably wise to make some testdrives with your friend and test several options before you make final decision.

Tell him to take payment when passenger enters the cab, to get enough time for confirmation. QR code printed on a piece of paper will work well..

That’s a great idea, it is too easy to stop any robbery, this is an amazing ideas – I have watched this for first time.  ;D

@bitcoinbadger pfft I don't think he should worry about double spends. You'd be more productive making your client come with you to a bank while you verify if the cash they give you isn't faked. This would be a more likely scenario too, but how many people do this? Like here in the UK I think it's between 1%-3% of £1 coins that are fake. But everyone just assumes the money they receive is legit.

Thank you Sherena. What software is that? Myceluim? Can you get that on phones?

Yep, thats Mycelium I use it on Android [1] not sure if there is an iPhone/iPad/iEtc version.


[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mycelium.wallet

I think he can open a website for his taxi schedule and take his payment online.

Use barcode  :D
And give step to send BTC

Maybe bitpay / coinkite can help you friends  :)


It's good idea to send BTC when enters the cab.

Why is everyone suggesting taking btc on entering the cab? No one is going to try and double spend. It's not going to happen. It's nowhere near likely enough to taint bitcoin's reputation with paranoid merchants. Merchants will and do use bitcoin because it's FAR more reliable that credit card/cash.

I would not advise on paper wallet with private key on it, even covered up. Cab drivers get robbed all the time and a papper wallet would be like taking his cash, too easy for a half smart criminal.

He can get an Android phone or even better a Trezor wallet so you dont have to get your phone in front of people everytime, I would be worried they would steal it or something.

Nice app!

CoinBase wallet on his phone is easiest option. But there more sophisticated services like https://coinkite.com/
Check them :)

You can visit a reddit and ask users of /r/Bitcoin. They will help you! They have already help a lof of BTC taxi drivers