How to Pay Employees or Get Paid With Bitcoin

Paying or getting paid with digital coins is the norm in the cryptocurrency sector. Participants in many other industries, however, may also be tempted to take advantage of the benefits offered by decentralized currencies. In the case of bitcoin cash (BCH), that means fast, secure and low-cost transactions. Some platforms facilitate crypto payments between companies and their employees, while peer-to-peer settlements remain a viable option as well.

Also read: BCH Can Be the Global Coin for Daily Spending, Says Italian Crypto Executive

Crypto Payroll Services Offered

Businesses exploring the possibility of introducing crypto payments for their employees and contractors may need the help of companies that specialize in this type of accounting. Bitwage is a well-established platform that provides payroll and human resource services for this day and age, when the use of digital currencies in payments is growing rapidly around the world.

Bitwage helps international companies pay their vendors faster and cheaper using crypto. Many of its clients are employers who want to offer their workers and contractors benefits associated with digital assets. At the same time, it provides individuals who would like to get paid with coins the option to receive some or all of their salary in cryptocurrency.

The platform, which has offices on both sides of the Atlantic and customers from Brazil to India, is working with businesses that need extensive payroll and HR services. It offers a wide range of flexible solutions and pricing to both employers and employees. For payroll funding, Bitwage currently supports bitcoin core (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) as well as multiple fiat currencies including U.S. dollar, Chinese yuan, Russian ruble, and euro.

Once Bitwage receives the funds, workers can choose to be paid in either cryptocurrency or local fiat. In the United States, it also gives companies the option to settle payroll taxes in crypto through a partnership with another American company, Simply Efficient HR. Since January, Bitwage clients in the U.S. have also been able to cover employee benefits such as health insurance. Tax obligations related to cryptocurrency income vary between jurisdictions and taxpayers should check their local regulations.

The establishment and advancement of other platforms providing payroll services is likely to entice even more businesses, especially those employing remote workers, to start paying wages in cryptocurrency. For now, Bitwage doesn’t have too many competitors at the same level but there are others with interesting proposals. For example, an employment service called Laborx has set out to cut banks and redefine salaries by facilitating real-time remuneration using cryptocurrency.

In its vision of what payroll management should look like, the Australian startup considers the current monthly and weekly payment arrangements outdated and allows companies to pay their employees as they work. At the end or even during the working day, employees will be able to spend what they’ve just earned. When the instant payment system was announced last year, it was meant only for members of Laborx’s hiring ecosystem using its Labour-Hour tokens. However, decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash can be used for the same purpose, as BCH transfers often cost less than a U.S. cent.

Paying Directly With Bitcoin

Many companies from the crypto industry often prefer to fund their entire payroll with cryptocurrency. Bitcoin cash is the coin of choice in the case of Bitcoin.com for its obvious advantages over other digital currencies, including fast and safe transactions processed at a negligible cost.

No third party services are needed to implement such payments. All your employees and contractors would need is a secure and easy to use crypto wallet app. The Bitcoin.com Wallet is available for free on the App Store and Google Play. And for desktop applications you can try out the Badger wallet.

With the wallet, you can make and receive payments to and from any bitcoin cash and bitcoin core address and Badger has some useful features. One of them is the integration of an exchange service called Sideshift, which will let you swap BTC and BCH at very low cost and you’ll receive the exchanged amount directly in your wallet. You can also purchase coins with a credit card and without visiting an exchange.

But even if you work with people from countries where smartphones are rarer and internet connection is not as reliable, you can still pay them with bitcoin cash. Cointext is a platform that facilitates offline crypto transactions. The platform enables users to transfer BCH using simple text messages.

Create and Send Crypto Invoices

Invoicing is an important part of day-to-day business relations between companies and contractors. Multiple platforms now offer accounting services for businesses and professionals in the crypto space and beyond, including tools that will help you create and send cryptocurrency invoices like Gilded, Anypay, Blockonomics, CD Pay, and Coinpayments.

At the same time, platforms such as Piixpay allow you to pay bills and invoices with digital assets, including bitcoin cash, to entities that still accept only fiat money. To do so takes only a few steps before sending the electronic cash, like providing the exact amount in fiat currency, the recipient’s name and their bank account number.

The expansion of all these services has allowed many companies, and not only those operating within the crypto industry, to start paying wages, bonuses and other remuneration partially or fully using cryptocurrencies. For instance, platforms such as Openbazaar, Augur, Uber and Airbnb are among Bitwage’s clients.

Others have introduced arrangements allowing part of the salary payments to be made in crypto. Japanese internet giant GMO implemented such a system early last year. And in May 2019, in response to Peter Schiff’s claim that “there is no way people are going to work for salaries paid in bitcoin,” crypto exchange Kraken revealed it just paid over a quarter of its employees in cryptocurrency.

Finding a Job Paid With Cryptocurrency

Technological advances, including the spread of cryptocurrencies, have made the world smaller and the importance of freelancing grows with every passing year. A study released in 2017 predicted that freelancers will form the majority of the workforce in the United States within a decade. Remote jobs are a phenomenon that’s rapidly gaining traction globally as well.

Right now, cryptocurrency is as close to a frictionless, borderless means of payment as possible. It can serve the expanding freelancing space very well. A survey exploring the payment preferences of freelancers in the U.S., conducted by Humans.net in 2018, showed that almost a third of the respondents would like to be paid partially or entirely with crypto.

If you are a freelancer looking for employment in the crypto industry and you want to be paid with cryptocurrency, there’s a bunch of online platforms that can help you find the job you want. Check out, for example, sites like Crypto Jobs List, Angel List, Peopleperhour, Moneo, Hire Match, Blocklancer, and Bitjob.

Workingforbitcoins is another option that gives the opportunity to connect with businesses hiring people for crypto. The platform supports major currencies such as bitcoin cash (BCH) and will let you pick a job paid with your favorite coin. You can also find thousands of job ads offering crypto remuneration on Crypto.jobs and a service called Freelance for Coins enables users to place offers and bids for freelance services.

Is your company using cryptocurrency to fund its payroll? Are you interested in taking a job paid with cryptocurrency? Tell us in the comments section below.

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