Having been successful in the US and beyond, Bitwage Payroll for Individuals (BPI) is ripe for Europe.

In their recent press release, Bitwage have announced the launch of the Bitwage Payroll for Individuals in Europe. The announcement reveals that this service will allow users to receive their wage in a variety of outputs including Euros, Gold, Silver, Bitcoin, 20+ other national currencies or even a Euro denominated debit card with as fast as same or next day payout speed.

Jonathan Chester, President of Bitwage, says:

“In 2015, the European Union had a higher GDP than the United States. With our launch in the European Union, contractors and freelancers all over the world will have a much easier way to receive their wages abroad from one of the largest economic zones in the world. All without the friction involved in trying to convince clients to change their payment solutions.”

What is Bitwage Payroll for Individuals?

Bitwage claim that the BPI is compatible with any existing payroll systems like Intuit, ADP, Bill.com, Gusto, TriNet and freelance marketplaces like Upwork. And users can track their funds like fedex packages, knowing when the funds were sent and where they are during transmission.

According to Jonathan Chester, Bitwage Payroll For Individuals was released in November of 2014, where employees, contractors and freelancers anywhere in the world could receive wages through their system in digital currency from US employers without them needing to sign up.

He says that since then, Bitwage has enabled local currency outputs in countries such as the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico and India. People have been receiving wages from large companies and organizations such as Facebook, Google, GE, Uber, UpWork, the US Navy and the World Health Organization.”

No need to sign up

How effective this system will be remains to be seen, since according to the President of Bitwage, the company has been working continuously to make Bitwage more accessible to all users.

Saying that the Bitwage Payroll services for Individuals (BPI) enables anyone, whether an employee or an independent contractor, to receive wages through Bitwage without their employer or client signing up.

Chester explains:

“This is why employees from Google, Airbnb, Facebook, the World Health Organization, and Uber are receiving their salary through Bitwage. Users can select if they want to receive part or all of their wage through Bitwage and manage their account through our Android, iOS or web application.”

Procedure and Benefits

The process of receiving international contractor payments with BPI includes:

Bitwage issues a US or EU bank account number depending on users’ client/employer's location.

Users invoice their client/employer using that bank account information (tell your employer or payroll provider to send any percentage of your payroll to that account).

Users receive Digital or Local Currency on the Next Day after Deposit.

Chester claims that the benefits of using Bitwage Payroll for Individuals to accept the payments in the EU is the reduction of costs for both the users and their employers, and having whatever asset(s) chosen sent straight to the user's’ digital wallet, debit card, or bank account.

A spokesperson for Cheesecake Labs, Mobile Apps Development Company, about the Bitwage BPI says:

“Bitwage is the best option since it doesn't require the client to create any kind of account, they can simply pay it using Wire or ACH as they've been done their entire life. The process is also really quick since it takes about just 2 business days to make the payment appear in my account. The fact that you guys don't put an initial transfer limit value is really a huge upside specially when it comes to companies that usually need to handle big amounts of money.”

Why Europe?

Nevertheless, Chester sees the great degree of differences between cultures as a major challenge that this innovation might encounter in Europe.

Each market in Europe has it’s own language and customs that need to be considered when providing customer support and reaching out to new users. Luckily, the European regulators are quite open to innovation around digital currencies.

Chester concludes: