PEY payment platform encourages other German businesses to follow the suit. Current legal status of bitcoin in the country makes it possible to pay it out both as a salary and tax-free benefit.

In its blog post, the t3n magazine based in the German city of Hanover claims to be the first employer in Germany to offer a part of salary in cryptocurrency. The new option is powered by BitPay and the German bitcoin payment company PEY. To participate, employees need to register on the PEY platform, specify the part of their salary to be converted to bitcoins and link the PEY app to their bitcoin wallet.

The new feature was first made available in November 2015 when some t3n’s employees began to receive €20 in bitcoin monthly. From now on, the amount can be increased or reduced. The blog post specifies that the employees are free to do whatever they wish with the digital currency.

According to the magazine, the reason for the decision was the desire to make the digital currency more accessible. It says there is only one place to buy bitcoins in Hanover, a bitcoin ATM, but many places to spend them. The trendy district of the city claims to have the longest bitcoin shopping street in Europe, with restaurants, pubs, hairdresser shops, a photo shop, travel agency and theatre, all accepting the cryptocurrency.

The other reason is the professional interest. As t3n is specialising in IT and technology, the editors are curious to see how the new technology can be adopted for the everyday life.

Since bitcoin is not recognized as legal tender in Germany, employers can also pay tax-free benefits of up to €44 in bitcoin.

Alexey Tereshchenko