Bitcoin Forum

Other => Beginners & Help => Topic started by: mrpink on February 10, 2013, 05:32:05 PM



Title: Do you use Bitcoin for payroll?
Post by: mrpink on February 10, 2013, 05:32:05 PM
I'm interested in making it easier for software projects to attract passionate developers, regardless of which country they live in, who also want to be paid for their contributions. Prior to Bitcoin it would have been challenging for a small software organization to collect revenue and distribute payments internationally to perhaps dozens of contributors in many countries.

Wondering if anyone out there has experience using Bitcoin as the primary means of paying people for their work? This could be one-time payments or ongoing. I see many here donating small amounts to eachother, but I'm more interested in hearing about people using Bitcoin to pay people at a rate closer to what they might need to support themselves and their families.

On the surface it seems Bitcoin solves this completely, but there must be things that can be added to make the process simpler? For example, how do you handle the accounting end? For those of you actually doing this, what are the challenges associated with paying people with bitcoins?

Thank you.

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Title: Re: Do you use Bitcoin for payroll?
Post by: UnsignedFloat on February 10, 2013, 05:51:36 PM
I'm not doing this at the moment, but looking at starting too, so also interested in hearing about others' experience. My main concern is that it is hard to cash out of Bitcoin in many locations.


Title: Re: Do you use Bitcoin for payroll?
Post by: 21after2 on February 10, 2013, 05:57:54 PM
I've paid a couple of people who did work for me with Bitcoin. One of them was already using the currency. The other learned of it through me. Both were satisfied.

The problem with consistent payroll via Bitcoin is the fluctuation of the price. Easiest way would be to pay someone a value in fiat converted to Bitcoin: if you paid someone $100 a week, you'd pay them with $100 worth of Bitcoin. Then you could just record that $100 as wages paid in your books without complicating your accounting process. You might be able to claim the fees you pay for converting the fiat to Bitcoin as a business expense. I haven't personally pursued that, so I can't say what kind of fight you might have to put up.

Using BTC exclusively makes the accounting process a pain in the ass. I personally keep a separate book for BTC expenses that I do with a custom Excel spreadsheet. I know there's an open source program that allows custom currencies that seems popular around the forum, but I haven't had the time to check it out.


Title: Re: Do you use Bitcoin for payroll?
Post by: Stephen Gornick on February 11, 2013, 11:34:07 AM
For those of you actually doing this, what are the challenges associated with paying people with bitcoins?

P2P Foundation offers to its employees the ability to have a portion of (or all of) their salaries payable in bitcoins.

Bitcoin Foundation pays salaries in bitcoins.   The compensation rate in BTCs is computed periodically (e.g., quarterly) and then the same amount of bitcoins as compensation is paid out each payday.  I don't know if the value for W2 is computed based on the exchange rate on payday or if it uses the rate at the beginning of the quarter.


Title: Re: Do you use Bitcoin for payroll?
Post by: davos on February 11, 2013, 10:11:25 PM
Using a nominal bitcoin value in any payroll situation is either going to hurt the business or hurt the employee. Whatever the currency is that the company conducts its business in (primarily) is always going to be a better choice for payroll for sake of predictability. I think bitcoin might be better suited to annual or quarterly bonuses.


Title: Re: Do you use Bitcoin for payroll?
Post by: dstriker on February 11, 2013, 10:15:49 PM
I would like to get paid in BTC.  Simple Direct Deposit with no way for my employer to take money from my bank account, because they said they made a mistake.