How one company is making it easy to pay staff in Bitcoin
Employees who have been wishing they could switch their monthly pay packet from government controlled currency to Bitcoin may now be able to do so, thanks to the world's largest digital currency payment processor.
Bitpay has introduced Bitcoin Payroll API – which allows employers to offer employees, as a payroll benefit, the chance to receive some of their post-tax salary in Bitcoin.
Employers that make use of the service won't assume any of the currency risks associated with Bitcoin's volatility, and will not need a high level of expertise.
However, it is yet to be seen whether Bitpay has access to enough Bitcoin liquidity to provide the service on large scale.
The company explained how the new service will work on its website:
The BitPay Payroll API offers employers the ability to fund batch payout instructions in all of the codes listed at Bitcoin Exchange Rates and to specify the date and time at which the batch should be executed.
BitPay computes the volume-weighted average price of Bitcoin over the previous 24 hours from your choice of one of two available Bitcoin exchanges. This Bitcoin price is used to calculate payouts for the batch instructions.
The Atlanta-based company is undertaking pre-availability testing of Bitcoin Payroll API. Bitpay currently provides services to over 20,000 merchants and is growing exponentially – adding 1,000 new merchants a week.