Getting Started

What is BitBooks?

The short answer BitBooks is bookkeeping software built for businesses that hold or earn Bitcoin. It looks and feels like QuickBooks or Xero, except it actually understands what Bitcoin is, where it lives, and how its value moves. You use BitBooks to: - Track every dollar and every satoshi your business sends, receives, and holds - Connect your Bitcoin wallets so transactions import automatically - See your profit, your balances, and your tax-ready reports in one place - Hand a clean set of books to your accountant, your investor, or the tax preparer If you're used to QuickBooks for your dollar accounts and a separate spreadsheet for Bitcoin, BitBooks puts them in one tool. The problem BitBooks solves Every accounting tool ever built was designed for one assumption: money is a number that doesn't move. A US dollar today is a US dollar tomorrow. Old accounting tools record an amount, store it, and forget about it. Bitcoin breaks that assumption. When you receive 0.1 BTC, that 0.1 BTC might be worth $6,000 today, $7,500 next month, $5,200 the month after. You haven't done anything, but the value of what you own keeps changing. Old accounting tools don't know what to do with that. So Bitcoin businesses end up doing this: 1. Use QuickBooks for everything except Bitcoin 2. Track Bitcoin in a spreadsheet 3. At month-end, manually combine the two 4. Hope nothing got missed BitBooks replaces all three steps. It's one tool that knows about both kinds of money. What you can do in BitBooks today Track wallets and accounts Set up wallets the way you actually use them. One for your Lightning hot wallet (the one that sends and receives small amounts daily), one for cold storage (the long-term reserve), one for a fiat checking account, one for a credit card. Each wallet has its own balance, its own transaction history, and its own currency. Auto-import Bitcoin transactions Connect a wallet provider (Blink today, more on the way) and BitBooks pulls in the transactions for you. No CSV exports, no copy-paste. The connection is sealed with a password that only you know. More on this in the Bitcoin Connections article. Record any kind of transaction A customer paid you in Lightning? Record it. You bought a laptop with the company credit card? Record it. You moved BTC from the hot wallet to cold storage? Record that too. BitBooks handles purchases, sales, transfers, payments, refunds, and journal entries. See live numbers Your Insights page (what other tools call a Dashboard) shows you revenue, expenses, gross profit, working capital, and your wallet balances. Everything updated as you work. Compare to last month, last year, or any custom period. Run any standard report Profit & Loss. Balance Sheet. Cash Flow. General Ledger. Trial Balance. Activity log. The same reports your accountant expects from QuickBooks, except the Bitcoin numbers are correctly handled. Multi-currency by design Most businesses track everything in one currency (their "functional currency"). BitBooks lets you pick yours: US dollars, euros, Canadian dollars, pounds, or Bitcoin itself. You can also pick a second reporting currency that shows up alongside the first on every report. Useful if you operate in CAD but report to a US parent in USD, for example. Display Bitcoin the way you think about it A Lightning developer thinks in satoshis. A long-term holder thinks in BTC. A merchant thinks in dollars. BitBooks lets you flip between all four display modes, and your team can each pick the one they prefer. How BitBooks compares | | BitBooks | QuickBooks | Xero | A spreadsheet | |---|---|---|---|---| | Bookkeeping basics (P&L, BS, GL) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Painful | | Auto-imports Bitcoin transactions | Yes | No | No | No | | Tracks Bitcoin value changes properly | Yes | No | No | Manual | | Lightning payments | Yes | No | No | Manual | | Multi-currency including BTC | Yes | Limited | Limited | Manual | | Period close, audit log, immutable posts | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Sats, BTC, or Bitcoin display modes | Yes | No | No | Manual | The short version: if you don't touch Bitcoin, QuickBooks is fine. The moment Bitcoin enters the picture, BitBooks does work that the others simply weren't built for. Who uses BitBooks - Small Bitcoin businesses (coffee shops, online stores, freelancers) that accept Lightning or on-chain payments and need clean books - Bitcoin treasuries, companies holding BTC as a reserve and needing to report its value correctly to investors and tax authorities - Bookkeepers and accountants managing one or several Bitcoin-business clients and tired of the spreadsheet-and-prayer workflow - Mining operations tracking electricity costs against block rewards - Lightning startups, companies building products that move sats every second and need their books to keep up If your business has any Bitcoin exposure beyond the occasional hobbyist transaction, BitBooks pays for itself by removing the spreadsheet step. What BitBooks isn't A few things it deliberately doesn't try to be: - Not a wallet. BitBooks doesn't hold your Bitcoin. Your coins stay in your wallet (Blink, your hardware wallet, your cold storage, wherever they live now). BitBooks only reads the transaction history. - Not a tax filer. BitBooks gives you the reports your tax preparer needs. It doesn't file your taxes for you. - Not a payment processor. It records what happened. It doesn't accept new payments on your behalf. - Not an exchange. You can't buy or sell Bitcoin inside BitBooks. You record those transactions after they happen at your wallet, exchange, or counterparty. The principle: BitBooks records the truth about what your business owns and what it has done. The actual handling of money lives at your wallets and your bank. A quick mental model If it helps, here's the simplest way to think about it: BitBooks is a notebook with very strong opinions. Every dollar and every satoshi your business touches should land in the notebook. The notebook then turns those entries into reports, for you, for your accountant, for the tax authority. The notebook is double-entry. Every transaction has two sides, one side puts money in somewhere, the other side takes it out somewhere. It's permanent. Once you mark something final, it stays final, with a paper trail of any corrections. And it understands Bitcoin. A satoshi today and a satoshi next month aren't the same dollar amount, and the notebook handles that for you. Where to go next - First time using BitBooks? Start with Setting Up Your First Organization. - Want to connect a Bitcoin wallet? See Connecting Your Bitcoin Wallet. - Curious about an accounting concept? Check the Glossary for Bitcoin Users. - Stuck on something? Use the chat widget at the bottom-right of any BitBooks screen, or email support@bitbooks.com. A real person will get back to you. BitBooks Insights (dashboard) page showing a populated example. KPIs at top, working capital row, wallet snapshot card, expense donut

Setting Up Your First Organization

What an "organization" is in BitBooks In BitBooks, an organization is one set of books. One business. One legal entity. If you run one company, you have one organization. If you run two separate companies, or if you do bookkeeping for several clients, you have one organization per business. Each organization keeps its own wallets, contacts, transactions, journal entries, and reports. Nothing crosses between them. You can switch between organizations using the dropdown at the top of the left sidebar. Sidebar with the organization-switcher dropdown highlighted, showing two example orgs Before you start Have these handy: - Business name as you want it to appear on reports - Functional currency (the main currency you'll do business in: USD, EUR, CAD, BTC, etc.) - Whether you'll also want a secondary reporting currency (optional, e.g., a Canadian business that reports to a US parent in USD) - Your accounting framework: IFRS, US GAAP, or "I report under both." If you don't know, IFRS is the worldwide default and a safe pick. You can change this later. - Calendar year vs fiscal year: most small businesses use calendar (Jan to Dec). If your tax year ends on a different month, you'll pick fiscal. If you're unsure about any of these, you can pick a sensible default now and refine later from Admin → Settings. Step 1. Create the organization When you sign in for the first time, BitBooks walks you through a short setup wizard. The first screen asks for the basics: 1. Organization name (e.g., "Acme Coffee Roasters Inc.") 2. Functional currency. This is the currency your books are kept in. Almost always your home country's currency (USD for US, CAD for Canada, etc.) unless you specifically operate as a Bitcoin treasury, in which case pick BTC. 3. Secondary reporting currency (optional). Useful if reports need to display in a second currency for stakeholders. Leave blank if not needed. Click Continue when these are filled in. Onboarding wizard step 1, organization name + currency selectors If you've already finished the wizard and want to add a second organization later, go to Admin → Organizations and click Add Organization. Step 2. Pick your accounting framework You'll see three options: - IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). The default for most countries outside the US. Pick this if you're outside the US, or if you don't have a strong opinion. - US GAAP. The standard inside the US. Pick this if you're a US business and your accountant uses GAAP. - IFRS and US GAAP (both). Pick this if you produce reports under both frameworks (rare, mostly large multinationals). The framework affects how some calculations are presented in reports, especially around Bitcoin value changes. Most users stay with the default (IFRS) and never need to change it. Step 3. Set your accounting year Two choices: - Calendar year (January 1 to December 31). The default. Most small businesses. - Fiscal year (any 12-month period that doesn't start in January). Common for businesses whose natural cycle doesn't match the calendar. If you pick this, you'll pick the start month and end month. If you're not sure, pick calendar. You can change it later but doing so mid-year is more complicated than just picking right the first time. Step 4. Localization preferences A few formatting choices: | Setting | Options | Notes | |---|---|---| | Date format | MM-DD-YYYY (US) / DD-MM-YYYY (most of the world) / YYYY-MM-DD (ISO) | Pick what your team reads naturally | | Time format | 12-hour or 24-hour | | | Number format | US Standard (1,234.56) or European (1.234,56) | Affects how amounts display | | Time zone | Your business's local time zone | Used for timestamps on entries | These are all changeable later from Admin → Settings. Step 5. Bitcoin display preference BitBooks shows BTC amounts four different ways. Pick one: - BTC High Precision (BTC 0.00050000) - BTC Consequence (BTC 0.00050 000) ← default - Bitcoins (0.0005 Bitcoin) - Satoshis (50,000 sats) If you're new to Bitcoin or your team is mixed, leave the default. See BTC Display Modes for the full breakdown of when to use each. Step 6. The chart of accounts is created for you Behind the scenes, BitBooks creates a default chart of accounts (about 40 accounts) covering all the standard categories: cash, accounts receivable, fixed assets, accounts payable, equity, sales, cost of goods sold, marketing, labor, general and administrative, etc. These are the same categories any QuickBooks or Xero user would expect. You don't need to do anything for this. The accounts appear automatically. You can review them at Admin → Chart of Accounts, and add custom accounts there if your business has unusual categories (a coffee shop might want a separate "Coffee Beans" account under Cost of Goods Sold, for example). Admin → Chart of Accounts table showing the 40 default accounts, grouped by Asset / Liability / Equity / Income / Expense Step 7. (Optional) Connect your first wallet You're done with the basic setup. From here, the most useful next step for most Bitcoin businesses is connecting a wallet so transactions start flowing in automatically. Go to Admin → Connectors → Add Connection and follow the prompts. The full walkthrough lives at Connecting Your Bitcoin Wallet. If you'd rather start by entering a few transactions by hand to see how BitBooks works, skip this step. You can always connect later. What you'll see when setup is done You'll land on the Insights page (the dashboard). Until you have transactions, BitBooks shows you a sample preview so the page isn't blank. You'll see KPIs (revenue, expenses, profit), a working capital row, a wallet snapshot, and an expense breakdown chart, all populated with example numbers. Insights page in sample-data mode with the "Sample Future Insights" banner visible The "Sample Future Insights" banner tells you these are illustrative numbers. As soon as you record real transactions or connect a wallet, the sample data disappears and you see your real numbers. Common questions "Can I use BitBooks just for personal Bitcoin without a real business?" Yes. Set up an organization called "Personal" or your name. Pick your home currency. Connect your wallets. You won't use the contacts or payment-requests features much, but the wallets, transactions, reports, and Bitcoin gain/loss tracking all work fine for personal use. "What if I make a mistake during setup?" Almost everything is changeable from Admin → Settings. The one decision that's harder to change later is the functional currency if you've already entered transactions. BitBooks won't stop you from changing it, but it requires an audit reason and an effective date because it has knock-on effects on historical reports. "Can I delete an organization?" Yes, from Admin → Organizations. Be careful: deletion is permanent and removes all wallets, transactions, journal entries, and reports for that organization. Always export your data first if you might need it. "I have multiple businesses. Should they be one organization or many?" Many. One organization per legal entity. Don't try to mix two companies' finances in one organization, even if they're related. Your accountant and the tax authorities will thank you. Where to go next - Connecting Your Bitcoin Wallet for auto-import setup - Inviting Team Members to add your bookkeeper or accountant - The Three-Currency Model Explained if you're working in multiple currencies - Understanding Your Insights Page for what you see on the dashboard

Inviting Team Members

Why invite people BitBooks is multi-user from day one. The owner doesn't have to do everything. Common splits: - Owner signs in occasionally to review and approve. Sees everything. - Bookkeeper does daily entry, runs reconciliations, drafts reports. Lives in BitBooks. - Accountant comes in monthly or at year-end to review, post adjustments, and produce financial statements. - Viewer (an investor, a partner, a board member) can see reports but not change anything. Each person gets their own account. They each sign in with their own email and password. How to invite 1. Click Admin in the sidebar 2. Click the Users tab 3. Click Invite User 4. Fill in their email, pick their role, click Send Invite Admin Users tab with the Invite User button highlighted, then the modal showing email + role fields The invitee gets an email with a magic link. Clicking it sets up their account in their browser. They pick a password (or sign in with magic link only) and they're in. If they don't see the email, check their spam folder. The sender is noreply@bitbooks.com. The five roles | Role | What they can do | Typical user | |---|---|---| | Owner | Everything. Can delete the org. There's only one owner. | Founder, CEO | | Admin | Everything except deleting the org and changing the owner. | Co-founder, CFO | | Accountant | Full read/write on books. Can post journal entries, run all reports, close periods. | External CPA, fractional CFO | | Member | Day-to-day bookkeeping. Create and edit transactions. Cannot change settings, manage users, or close periods. | In-house bookkeeper | | Viewer | Read-only. Can see reports and transactions but cannot change anything. | Investor, board member, partner | If you're not sure, Member is the safe pick for a new bookkeeper. You can promote them later. Demote is harder than promote, so err on the side of less access. What each role sees All roles see the same screens and the same numbers. The difference is what's clickable. A Viewer opening a transaction sees all the fields but can't edit. A Member opening Admin → Settings sees the page but most fields are disabled. The UI doesn't hide things, it just blocks the actions you don't have permission for. Multiple organizations If your invitee should access several organizations (say, your bookkeeper handles three of your client books), you invite them to each one separately. Each invitation is per-organization. In their account, they'll see all the orgs they belong to in the sidebar's organization-switcher dropdown. You can also bulk-invite: from the user creation flow, tick Add to all my current organizations to invite the same person across every org you own with one click. Removing someone 1. Admin → Users 2. Click the user 3. Click Remove This removes their access immediately. Their historical actions stay in the audit log (so you can still see who did what), but they can no longer sign in or make changes. If they were the contact on transactions, those transactions stay linked to their name in the audit trail. The data isn't lost. Changing someone's role Same place. Click the user, change their role, save. The change applies on their next page load. Demoting someone in the middle of a workflow can interrupt them (e.g., they were typing a journal entry that requires Admin permissions). Tell them ahead of time when possible. Two-factor authentication (recommended) Strongly recommended for everyone with Admin or Accountant roles. See Two-Factor Authentication for setup. The owner can require 2FA at the organization level so all members are forced to set it up before they can sign in. Common questions "Can I have a 'time-limited' user, like an auditor for two weeks?" Not directly. The workaround: invite them with the role they need, then remove access when they're done. Their work stays in the audit log. "What's the difference between 'Accountant' and 'Admin'?" Admin can change organization settings (currencies, frameworks, etc.) and manage users. Accountant has full access to the books but can't reconfigure the organization or invite people. Most external accountants want Accountant, not Admin. "Can a user belong to multiple organizations with different roles?" Yes. They might be Owner in their own organization and Accountant in three client organizations. Each role is per-org. "What happens if I delete a user who created transactions?" The transactions stay. The audit log still shows their name. Future syncs and changes are attributed to the system. Where to go next - User Roles for the full role-by-role breakdown - Two-Factor Authentication for hardening sign-in - Multiple Organizations if you manage several - Audit Log to see what each user has done

BitBooks vs QuickBooks: Key Differences for Bitcoin Businesses

The 30-second answer If your business never touches Bitcoin, QuickBooks is fine. Stay with it. If your business holds, earns, or pays in Bitcoin, BitBooks is built for that and QuickBooks isn't. The longer you put off switching, the more spreadsheets you'll be juggling. What QuickBooks does well - Mature product, decades old, very stable - Huge ecosystem of integrations (bank feeds, payroll, e-commerce) - Almost every accountant in North America has used it - Strong support for fiat-only businesses - Good mobile apps - Inventory, payroll, time tracking add-ons For a small fiat-only business, QuickBooks is hard to beat. We don't try to compete on its home turf. What QuickBooks doesn't do (and why it matters for Bitcoin businesses) | Capability | QuickBooks | BitBooks | |---|---|---| | Auto-import Bitcoin transactions from your wallet | No | Yes | | Track BTC value changes (FX revaluation) | No | Yes | | Lightning payments | No | Yes | | Display amounts in sats / BTC / Bitcoin | No | Yes | | BTC and fiat in the same Chart of Accounts | Awkward | Native | | Multi-currency including BTC as functional | Limited | Full | | Transaction templates designed for Bitcoin operations | No | Yes | That's the gap. If you're a Bitcoin business in QuickBooks, you've been working around these gaps with spreadsheets, manual entries, and your accountant's patience. What BitBooks gives up vs QuickBooks To be honest about the trade-offs: - No payroll. QuickBooks Payroll is a major product. BitBooks doesn't do payroll. - No bank feeds for traditional banks. QuickBooks connects to thousands of banks for auto-import. BitBooks doesn't (yet). You can import bank CSV/OFX files, but that's manual. - Smaller integration ecosystem. QuickBooks has 700+ official integrations. We have a handful so far. - Less mature mobile app. Our mobile is functional, not full-featured. - No 1099 contractor management. QuickBooks generates 1099s. We don't. If your business needs any of these, you'll either keep QuickBooks for those workflows, or solve them through other tools alongside BitBooks. How to think about the switch Three common patterns: Pattern 1: Switch entirely Best if Bitcoin is your main thing. Your books are mostly Bitcoin transactions, you don't need payroll integration, and your accountant is fine working in either tool. Pattern 2: Run both, BitBooks for Bitcoin only Keep QuickBooks for fiat operations and payroll. Use BitBooks for everything Bitcoin-related. Reconcile at month-end. This works but you'll need a process for transferring summary numbers between them. Most teams do a single monthly journal entry in QuickBooks that captures the BitBooks Bitcoin activity in summary. Pattern 3: Phased migration Start by using BitBooks alongside QuickBooks. Connect a wallet, get familiar, run reports. After a quarter or two, migrate fully when you're comfortable. This is what we recommend if you're risk-averse. You don't bet your books on a tool you've used for two days. Migrating data from QuickBooks BitBooks has a built-in QuickBooks importer that handles: - Chart of Accounts. Your existing accounts come over, including custom ones. - Contacts. Customers and vendors transfer with their names, emails, addresses. - Open balances. Account balances on the start date are recorded as opening balances. - Recent transactions. A recent slice of transaction history (default last 12 months, configurable). Things the importer doesn't bring over: - Payroll detail. Payroll line items aren't represented (we don't do payroll). - Some custom fields. QuickBooks lets you create custom fields. We map common ones; rare ones you'd recreate. - Multi-currency rate history. Historical exchange rates from QuickBooks aren't preserved; BitBooks fetches its own. See Importing from QuickBooks for the full walkthrough. When NOT to switch Don't switch if: - You don't have any Bitcoin in your business yet - You're tax-filing-deadline week (terrible time to switch any tool) - You're a contractor business that lives off QuickBooks 1099s - Your accountant won't work in any tool but QuickBooks (consider the cost of changing accountants vs the cost of staying in QuickBooks) What our customers tell us The most common feedback we hear: - "I no longer have a Bitcoin spreadsheet that nobody else can read." - "Year-end took 2 days instead of 2 weeks because the books were already accurate." - "Our accountant was skeptical at first, then she saw the Trial Balance and was on board." - "The display modes alone are worth it. Sats are how my team thinks." The biggest pain in switching: getting comfortable with new conventions. The Insights page isn't called Dashboard, the term "Bitcoin Connections" is new, the way wallets show up in the Chart of Accounts is different. Two weeks of muscle memory and these become second nature. Where to go next - Importing from QuickBooks for the migration walkthrough - Setting Up Your First Organization if you haven't created an org yet - Connecting Your Bitcoin Wallet to set up auto-sync - The Three-Currency Model for the multi-currency foundation

Understanding the BitBooks Workspace

The big picture BitBooks has a left sidebar for navigation, an organization switcher at the top, and a main area for the page you're on. Same as Gmail, Slack, or any modern web app. Once you know the seven sections, you know the whole app. Full app screenshot with annotations pointing to the sidebar, org switcher, main area, and notification bell The sidebar (seven sections) | Section | What's here | |---|---| | Insights | The dashboard. KPIs, working capital, wallet snapshot, expense breakdown. | | Wallets | All your wallets and bank accounts. Balance, sync status, history. | | Payments | Payment requests (invoices and bills) with approval workflow. | | Transactions | Day-to-day transactions. Simple Mode entry. | | Journal Entries | Advanced Mode entries. The accountant's view. | | Reports | P&L, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, General Ledger, Cash Flow, Activity Log. | | Admin | Settings, users, chart of accounts, contacts, connectors. | Click any section to open it. The current section is highlighted. Organization switcher Top of the sidebar. A dropdown showing every organization you have access to. If you only have one organization, the dropdown shows just that name. If you manage multiple (e.g., you're a bookkeeper with several clients), pick the one you want to work in. Switching organizations changes everything: the wallets you see, the transactions, the reports, the team members. You're now operating inside that org. Org switcher dropdown open, showing a list of two example organizations Insights (the dashboard) The default landing page. Read Understanding Your Insights Page for the full breakdown. Quick version: - KPIs at the top: revenue, cost of sales, gross profit, net profit - Working capital row: cash, receivables, current liabilities - Wallet snapshot: top wallets and their balances - Expense breakdown: donut chart of where money is going Wallets Lists every wallet (Bitcoin or fiat) in the organization. For each wallet you see name, currency, current balance, sync status. Click a wallet to open its detail page: full transaction history, opening balance, sync controls, statement, reconcile. This is also where you go to manually create a new wallet or trigger a sync. Payments Manages payment requests. Two flavors: - Invoices you've issued to customers (waiting to be paid) - Bills you've received from vendors (waiting to be paid) Each request has a status: Draft, Pending, Approved, Rejected, On Hold, Paid, Cancelled. The full approval workflow lives here. For one-off transactions where there's no formal request, skip Payments and use Transactions directly. Transactions Simple Mode entry. The everyday tool for recording what happened. Each row is one transaction: date, wallet, amount, contact, category, memo, status. Click any row to view or edit. Click New Transaction to create. This is where most users spend most of their time. Journal Entries Advanced Mode entry. For accountants and bookkeepers who want to write the underlying debits and credits directly. Same workflow as Transactions, but you control every line of every entry. Useful for adjustments, depreciation, accruals, closing entries. If you're not sure whether to use this or Transactions, use Transactions. They produce the same results; Transactions is just easier. Reports Where you produce financial statements. Tabs across the top: - Profit & Loss (P&L) - Balance Sheet - Cash Flow - Trial Balance - General Ledger (and per-account detail) - Activity Log Pick the report, pick the date range, the report renders. Export to PDF or Excel. Admin Every configuration option lives here. Tabs: - Settings. Organization-level: currencies, frameworks, BTC display, lock dates, time zones, formats. - Users. Invite, remove, change roles. - Organizations. Switch, archive, create new orgs. - Chart of Accounts. The accounts list. Add, edit, archive. - Contacts. Customers, vendors, employees, others. - Connectors. Bitcoin wallet connections (the Bitcoin Connections feature). - Categories (the "To/From" list, used in some flows). If something feels missing, it's probably in Admin. The header Across the top of every page: - Page title (e.g., "Insights," "Transactions") - Notifications bell. Recent activity that may need your attention. - Ledger health icon. Green if your books are internally consistent. Red if Trial Balance is off. - As-of date. The date being used for the current page's calculations. Some pages also have a period selector (Year to Date, Last Month, Custom, etc.) and a search/filter bar. Mobile BitBooks works on phones and tablets. The sidebar collapses into a hamburger menu. The pages reflow. Most things you can do on desktop you can do on mobile, just with smaller buttons. For heavy bookkeeping, desktop is faster. For checking numbers on the go, mobile is fine. Where to go next - Understanding Your Insights Page for the dashboard deep dive - Wallets overview for the wallet list - Reports overview for the financial statements - Admin Settings for organization-level configuration