Bitcoin Forum

Are you using BitWage (http://www.bitwage.co) to get any of your salary converted to bitcoins?

If so, how much?

Doing a quick calculation, after the next halving if just 4000 people with an average salary of $1k per week were getting paid in bitcoins (at a price of $300) we would have money flowing into the Bitcoin ecosystem equal to the amount of every miner cashing out all of their bitcoins.

That's not counting new people discovering Bitcoin and buying some.

My employer owns some BTC and is open to it, however Just buying them myself is also working. I am still considering it.

I'd get my whole check in btc if I had a job. Maybe I'll get a job just so I can use BitWage. Nah, working sucks. lol

I would make a try starting with 5% but they don't offer their services in Canada yet  :-\

That is awesome service, but will never take off in my country. I would love so much to get btc directly, but it will be just a wet dream for now. Will see how it is in a couple of years.

actually you can, and even without this service, there are many ways to get bitcoin directly, by doing online tasks and the best one we already know what is it

Whats the benefits of BitWage over having your wage paid in fiat as usually, and then being able to choose where to buy, when and at what rates you buy the Bitcoin? I guess its a lot quicker but you may be losing money by doing so?

The benefit is having the option of dropping your bank account. By setting it up on a regular basis you take advantage of dollar cost averaging which is a safer way to convert your currency.

My purchases spread out over the first 6 months of the year buying once every 2 weeks when my paycheck went through averages $245/BTC. That's with the start of the year being over $300/BTC.

i personally have some bitcoin but never get paycheck in bitcoin by using this service of bitwage, i would like to give them try for their debit card to get withdraw some coins through them.

I am currently unemployed, but I think I wouldn't use such a service, for now. We all have months in which we spend more, and others less. I like to have the possibility to buy the amount of Bitcoins I want without committing with a percentage, constantly changing the amount of coins I buy and the amount of fiat I spend.

Unfortunately, I still need fiat for more than 95% of my yearly expenses...

I signed up a couple weeks ago (I think, time flies). I get paid monthly, but starting with the next paycheck it will be 100% Bitcoin.

I'm ready, and excited.

You can skip the bank part. That is what is awesome about it.

I hate banks.

I haven't tried it yet, but seems like a nice way to introduce btc to more people.

I think it's for people that are all-in. Others would just use exchanges, or maybe something like recurring purchases on Coinbase.

If I got a job, I'd be willing to accept my salary in bitcoins, though I don't think how BitWage is still necessary when I can just request my employer to just send it to me directly.

I would have to agree with others in that it sounds great and the idea to not have to deal with banks is also a positive, but the reality is Bitcoin is still too volatile to put your entire wage into it. About the time you need that money (bitcoin) you been saving up for something, is the time the market will be down.

For right now it is more of an investment no matter how much people want it to be a long term currency. So putting 10% of your wage in Bitcoin is great as it could grow, but also won't wipe out your personal finances if it should drop back down to $100 or lower. The only value it has as a currency right now is if you buy the bitcoin and plan to spend it in the near-term.

Not as volatile as you think. If I receive my salary right now, and spend the bitcoin before my next paycheck, the odds of me losing a lot of my paycheck to volatility is actually quite low. Bitcoin has been quite stable for the last several months.

Yes, that is why I said "long term currency". What you describe would be considered near-term, which if you look above I agreed with, and yes that would be the only way to do it.

If you used it for long term currency, say saving up for a down payment on a house, car, etc. and saved up 100 BTC, which at current rates would be ~$30,000, maybe the exchange rate would only be at $150 per BTC at that point in the future, so you would need to save up even more. Of course you could get lucky and it might be worth $500/BTC, but as you can see that's why it is volatile.

Yeah I see your point.

I'm a long term HODLER & massively bullish but I'll admit I have 0% of my salary paid in bitcoin. I buy bitcoin regularly & I HODL.....but......my employer (funnily enough my Dad) isn't interested in integrating bitcoin into his business or wage paying systems.

I don't see the point in getting paid a high % of your salary in bitcoin right at this moment for a number of reasons.

- The bitcoin price fluctuates
- You can't spend bitcoin in many places in every day life

I'll watch from the outside on this but most people need to pay pills, what if they get paid 5,000 USD a month. Wages go in Friday night. Saturday morning the price has dropped 10%. Average Joe can't afford for that to happen.

You can't pay for gas with bitcoin, you can't get your weekly food shop with bitcoin. For me bitcoin is a long term investment not something I can use every day.
Don't get me wrong, I would love bitcoin to be accepted everywhere but until that day comes getting paid any more than say 10% of your wage in bitcoin is stupid.

The way I do it for bills is that I am paid every 2 weeks, if I get paid on Friday and the price goes down I cut back my spending for that 2 weeks. If I absolutely have to, I just pay my bills on that next Friday.

But what I have noticed is that at some point in those 2 weeks the price is higher than when I got paid. When that happens I pay for things I have been putting off. While people are posting pictures of rockets and trains, I'm paying bills.

And the Bitcoin price doesn't fluctuate all that much lately.

I already thought that BitWage won't start high because there are simply too many things you only can pay with a bank account and not with bitcoins. But when they allow a partly paycheck to be converted?

Though i wonder if an employer in fact would split payment and send them to different bank accounts.

my answer to that question is no. I don't really have a job right now so I don't get no paycheck

Do you know what BitWage charges employers or the employee for this service? They have to make their money somewhere...perhaps they're taking a piece when they convert from fiat to BTC, they're getting the spread...that's my guess.

The responses so far are pretty polarizing, only a few people are into it but of those who are they're all in!

No fees while in Beta. My guess is that they make money on the exchange.

I guess one or two of the advantages of doing this would be the following :

1. You do not have to do the buying yourself. {Save you some time}
2. The employer pay for the fee's or commisions {Depending on how it is bought}
3. Your salary could increase every month. {The oposite is also true}
4. You pay less banking fee's {stop orders / withdrawal fee's}

You could have the best of both worlds, if you ask your employer to only pay say 50% of your salary with Bitcoin, or only the % you would have bought, when you were paid in fiat. {Say 10% every month}  ;)

 

To be honest I don't see the point if it is only for part of your paycheck. If it is only for part, you still need a bank, and if you still want to keep your bank, you could make purchases of Bitcoin yourself on exchanges of your choice and it could vary every month according to the needs of the month.

I think this is for people who are sick of banks monitoring your life and want to get out of the system. Going back to the coffee cans of freedom.

I got my first paycheck in bitcoin from Bitwage - it cleared today.
My electronic transfer company needed two months to complete the switch, so last month they sent me a paper check.
Pretty awesome! I'm excited!