Bitwage Rolls Out Payroll Solution

Would you want to be paid in bitcoin? Blockchain FinTech company Bitwage believes there’s a market for this and is rolling out a new payroll solution that allows employees to choose the currency with which they’re compensated.

Reports on Wednesday (April 13) said Bitwage has debuted Bitwage Payroll services for Individuals (BPI). The tool allows employees and independent contractors to receive their wages through Bitwage, even if their employer is not signed up for the platform.

Employees can receive euros, gold, silver, bitcoin or many other currencies or choose to see their wages uploaded in euros to a prepaid card. The BPI tool can integrate into existing payroll solutions and allows employees to track their funds and gain insight into when they’ll see their money.

The solution, Bitwage said, is available in Europe.

“Given the success of our Wage Payments platform in the U.S. and abroad, we wanted to illustrate how easy international and domestic wage payments could be in Europe by offering our service to individuals,” the company explained in a press release.

In a statement, Bitwage Founder and President Jonathan Chester pointed to the economic growth of Europe as a key factor behind the launch.

“In 2015, the European Union had a higher GDP than the United States,” he said. “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.”

BPI links users to a U.S. or EU bank account number. Employees can then invoice their employer, using that bank account number to direct a payer where to send payroll. Bitwage said that employees can see their funds the next day.

The rollout of BPI follows just weeks after Bitwage introduced an API to integrate into corporate payroll systems to pay cross-border contractors and employees.