Bitcoin Forum

 So, I am some how pained, though I very much understand that there is nothing I could have done about this back, but assuming I am still working with this company, I probably would have approached the manager and asked that all my pensions be paid in bitcoin, and make my bitcoin wallet available to them, and also teach them how to do it just incase they don't know.

  Why this?, I was going through my text messages today, and came across an sms alert I received on the 30th of September, 2023, from Stanbic IBTC pension managers, the pension company that my previous company was paying my pension to when I was still working with them, and indeed, my pension balance saddened, upon the realization that if my pension balance was in bitcoin, by now, I will be a millionaire.

Short History
I started working with this company in June of 2014, and started receiving full salary from the end up July same year, the company opened a pension account for me with Stanbic IBTC pension managers in the same July, and by July ending when salaries were being paid, pension was deducted from my salary and was paid into my pension account.

I worked for this company for from July, 2014 to October 2017 when I left the company to start up my won business, so, I worked with this company for 3 years plus. When I left the company, my pension balance was around 99,000 Nigerian naira (which is equivalent to approximately $99 using today's NGN/USD exchange rate).

It will be worthy to note that back then in 2014 through 2017, a dollar to naira was between 150 Nigeria naira to 300 Nigerian naira, but today, a dollar to naira is a little above 1000 Nigerian naira.

So, I had the said above balance in my pension account when I left the company in 2017 and started my own small business, so, I stopped getting pension credit alert since I was no longer working wit the company, and amazingly, I never did gave attention to my pension balance or alerts until today when I was just scanning through my text messages and saw several text messages from Stanbic IBTC pension manager, I opened and the last text was sent on the 18th of October 2023, and I contained information of my pension account balance as of 30th of October, 2023, and behold, my balance was just a mere 114,000 Nigerian naira (approximately $114 using today's NGN/USD exchange rate).

https://talkimg.com/images/2023/11/07/t15to.png

That is, after 6 whole years I stopped paying money into my pension account, the only interest this has yielded is just approximately 15,000 Nigerian naira (approximately $15) after six year..

Absolutely unbelievable and I am really sad 😔, I just can't help but imagine that this money at the time was being paid to me in bitcoin, by now, I will be a millionaire, if not in dollars, in fiat atleast.

This is another good example and confirmation that saving fiat money in banks is the worst way for anyone to lose money, the interest is not just small, naira in itself have lost a lot of value, this 114,000 naira can literally not feed me and my family for 3 months, let alone the 15,000 naira the bank added as an interest after 6 f*king years.

If I knew then, what I know now about bitcoin, I would have approached this company, and demand that they pay me my pension in bitcoin, or don't pay me pension at all, but pay me my salary in full, and from my salary, I will create a bitcoin pension for myself.

No bro, what I'd like to happen is the other way around, to have my pension be paid in bitcoins and be able to convert that bitcoin pension fund into fiat when I claim it at my local social security branch and given my belief in bitcoin that it's going to eventually cross the million dollar price point somewhere along my lifetime, I think that it's a win-win situation for me to do that but on the flip side though, some financial advisor would probably say to me that it's not a good way to save up for your pension and I do agree, even if you have a solid belief that bitcoin will never crash or be gone in your lifetime, you can never be wrong when you're playing it safe, always diversify.

If a person does not plan to invest in bitcoin, hold bitcoin for a long time, receiving Bitcoin through salary or pension payment will not be cool for them. Because they will have to move their bitcoins to an exchange, sell it, lose some money for on chain transaction fee and trading fee. We have to take into account volatility of Bitcoin price too. For those non Bitcoin investors, they don't like it.

If a person is an Bitcoin investor, it is cool to receive salary or pension directly in Bitcoin. It means more if they don't have to be charged on chain transaction fee as a deduction of their salary or pension.

Well, if you live in a country with a good economy, which ensures that the fiat currency of the country isn't losing value and purchasing power as each day breaks, then maybe that term "always diversify" could mean something.

And besides, the word "diversify" is commonly used to describe the terms "do not put all your eggs in one basket", which speaking from an investor's point of view simply means that, one should invest in different assets, fiat to me, is not an asset, and neither should one hold it for several years, and refer to it as an investment., completely makes no sense to me honestly, fiat I keep is fiat I am ready to spend immediately or few days coming, I do not keep fiat long term in my account, for it will only lose value, as well as purchasing power.

I consider it a mistake to believe and trust a Bank gives you money as an advantage.  All the time, they take something from you in return.

It is a difficult situation.  While Bitcoin SEEMS to be here to stay we still get a lot of hatred from leaders around the globe.  You just never know.  Of course the past six years seem miraculous for Bitcoin investors.  But that is only today because we can see its history.  You do not know if the next six years will follow the same miraculous pattern.

On the other hand.  Naira is losing value.  Fiat itself is losing value all the time.  With recent inflation and tough times we get Fiat losing value more than ever before.  I do not know what advice I can give you.  If Naira keeps losing value it could be a good thing to move from holding pension funds in Naira to holding pension funds in Bitcoin.

Take care and do not suffer.  Mistakes happen and you only notice when there is a history of how things could have gone.

You're not alone. So many of us in the global South got fked over by our pensions -- though I note even in the "first world" they're not immune (just remember Greece pensioners grieving in the wake of 2010 banking crisis).

Sadly, you won't be the last. Many countries experiencing hyperinflation now and in a few decades, all those hard-earned savings for Argentinians, South Sudanese, even Turks and Jordanians, will have their value wiped out.

DCA. Not because Bitcoin guarantees (I personally think it does) but because you should spread your risk.

Bitcoin price in October 2017 was $4K, assuming you get paid by Bitcoin at that time, you're only earn 8x right now which is $800, how you can say you will become a millionaire?


If you think your pension funds should be deducted every year from 2014 where Bitcoin price was below $1K, your company will not think same since they will think and choose an option where they can pay you as small as possible.

Well, as much as I understand perfectly what you mean and sure agree with you, let me also point out that I never said one's pension being paid in bitcoin is something that will be accepted by everyone, and if you read again, you will also realize that I never mentioned receiving salary in bitcoin, my 100 percent focus was on pension and not salary per say.

For some one like me, nothing would have been more fulfilling than receiving my salary in fiat normally, and my pension paid in bitcoin into my bitcoin wallet.

I don't know how this is done in other countries, but over here in Nigeria, funds on one's pension account cannot be accessed by the until he or she is 50 years old and above, this is only when you can asked to be paid this money, if they can lock up my pension in bitcoin instead of do it in fiat, I don't mind, after all, I have a next of kin registered who will request payment of the bitcoin if before 50 years, I am no more.

The management could only pay you if they are accepting bitcoin or transacting with bitcoin and also depends non the country and I believe country you residing does not accept bitcoin transaction and many companies obey the rules and regulations of the operating country so it will be very difficult for them to pay you with bitcoin.

And one thing you said is still confusing me. I thought pension is the retirement money paid to those who were working in a firm, organizations and institution. It is the money giving to those who could not work again bear of old age. But from the way you explain, I am really confused. They (the company) stop paying you because you are no longer working. Please tell me more on that part, I want to know something from that sentence. I thought it is the money giving to to someone after work and not when the person is still active in the company. When you are still active in the company then it is salary that you supposed received and not pension.

I understand how it feels OP, but the duration of 3 years is still ok, but quite not a big duration to make you lots of money. Regarding the amount of money you've saved in your pension account. I've experienced that first hand in the case of my parents. They've been saving up on their pension account for more than 20 years and the generated amount wasn't anything if they had saved the money in bitcoin. Although, it's all on a different dimension of thoughts. Not every company would want to do that for their workers. In the terms that the worker saves the money themselves, they would have done that in bitcoin. One good thing about the banks or pension companies they'll hold the money until the specific time has reached before disbursing it. But, if you did that in bitcoin, how sure are you that the funds would be there till 3 years without being spent by you. That's in the case where you're in-charge of saving the funds. It's all good having such thoughts in mind, yet if we didn't take such choice. Then, nothing else can be done about it. Especially, when we are aware of spending the money. We all wants to be millionaires, that's why we tend to feel sad when we miss such an opportunity.

If you received the pension in bitcoins, it will be worth more by now. The Nigerian economy is in a terrible state, the value that N114,000naira would have had before in 2014, is not the same value now, It has greatly reduced.

It would have been difficult to convince the company you worked for to pay you the pension in bitcoins especially when they have no knowledge of it, but it was worth trying so you even could have had the option of full salary and no pension, and then would have had more to DCA with.

As an employee, the habit of investing a percent of your fiat income to purchasing bitcoins is very encouraged, so if your employers do not accept to pay you pension in bitcoins, you will not be so worried because you are already DCA-ing.

It's risky, pension fund is like your survival money, it should be in Fiat, someone who gets pension is someone who already can't work anymore, at least under the government, I have seen old men who aren't paid their pension fee and that's all they have left to feed their family, and they suffered a lot.

If I have to advice any government worker that's going to retire very soon I will tell them to get prepared and find something they can do that can bring money at old age, with very limited stress because most times the government delays this payment, or owe them for years before paying at times, imagine relying on this for your health treatment every month?

Back to receiving Pension payment in Bitcoin, this will sucks so bad because such people can't be ready to keep their money in Bitcoin, it's very hard to come by such people, this type of money is going into bank account for personal use not for investment or holding any Bitcoin.

october 2017 btc was worth $4k/btc
if you converted your pension of $99 to btc on that date you would have 0.02475 which today ($34.8k/btc) = $862
which yes is better then the current balance your pension has of $115

as for "millionaire". well thats a bit of a dream buzzword.. id probably guess maybe $50k by now.. not millionaire status// lets play it out

i know the dream would have been to become a millionaire by trading at the exact moments of best opportunity by taking that october 2017 0.02475:
sell at december 2017 ATH ($20k/btc) to get $495
wait for december 2018 correction low ($3.4k/btc) $495= 0.14558823
sell at june 2019 high ($12k/btc) to get $1747
wait for march 2020 correction low ($5.2k/btc) $1747= 0.33596153
sell at november 2021 ATH ($69k/btc) to get $23,181
wait for december 2022 correction low ($17k/btc) $23181= 1.36358823
which today (at $34.8k/btc) would be $47,452

yes it seems like you would be (in nigerian lifestyle value 'rich') but thats a dream no one can achieve to play the markets that precisely

dont be so hard on yourself that you are only sitting on a nest egg of $115 instead of $862 or $47452
no one and i mean this no one has had a best case event of perfect investment.. EVERYONE could in hindsight seen there was more opportunity they could have taken to maximise investment more..
emphasis no one can predict perfect conditions and everyone could have done better if they had a time machine

A pension fund is for security when you get old. You'll receive it from the government or a private institution on a monthly basis to fund your needs. So, I don't think we should put that at risk. Although we can say that Bitcoin is a good investment that could potentially increase the value of the pension received, not everyone is willing to take that risk, especially if a person does not have many income sources after retirement.

First of all I understand your regret.

Now neither bitcoin nor any other investment is going to knock on the door of your house, it is about information.

So , a little flash back to your revelation:
This is a problem that has been treated since the late 70s, it became more acute in the 80s.  A global problem, un fact, it has been in the news for decades.

So people who worked for years had something as simple as a fixed term in the bank and with interest of 10-15% (+ etc.) savings plans were enough, without mentioning other financial incentives that the banks offered.

That ended decades ago, not 4.5, 15 years ago, and it is in a way a crisis of the elderly in many countries, but it has been partially solved with pension funds, trust funds, etc.

Any person must establish a retirement plan for the future, and perhaps bitcoin is a partial and not a total alternative, which is the issue in most cases, since other types of investment may not guarantee millions but stability and tranquility, so that you can have a happy old age.

Information is a good investment in happiness and is catalyzed differently depending on the country and the individual, hence bitcoin is not necessarily your 100% solution for your pension. (Imo)

We are missing the most important thing which is the inflation of Naira which has devalued drastically against the international exchange rates. A dollar as at October 2017 then was around 360 Naira.
Converting the pension 99000 Naira as at then will be equivalent to $275 and a purchase as at that time will be equivalent to 0.06875 which would amount to $2,392 and would today be equivalent to more 2 million naira in the Nigeria currency. Although this isn’t a super rich person but OP will be a millionaire in his local currency wealthy today. Following up your calculations it could also be $142,353 and not $47,451 if he had done it base on your calculations

Also another area to consider again is the bitcoin wouldn’t have actually been bought that 2017 but would have be bought gradually if the salary deducted was converted to bitcoin straight away from that 2014. With bitcoin relatively low then and the dollar to Naira exchange been around 150 naira we could have a very higher numbers up there.

But the question we should be asking is would OP be able to hold on to that amount until now without selling it off?

It seems your main issue is devaluation of your local currency. It really has nothing to do with Bitcoin investment. In your case it would have been profitable if you had invested your pension fund into Bitcoin. But that might not be the case for many others here.

 The main reason for your less savings compared to USD is that the value of naira has gone down to a great extent. Also what your calling as pension fund is not really a pension fund. You are not dependent on this money. Pension fund is something which takes care of your retired life. You can still start building one by investing in Bitcoin in small amounts and averageing out the buying price.

Pension funds would really benefit if you put at least 1% to 10% of the total money that is deducted from your salary and left it in the form of Bitcoin to receive when you retire. They still prefer low-risk investments since for some people the pension means everything, but I expect It should have a good percentage of investments in Bitcoin in the future, especially if Bitcoin obtains some legal acceptability and some global awareness that there would be a US ETF or a market capacity exceeding at least 3 trillion.

That's a pretty poor return, it yielded you something between 2.5%-3% a year on average, most likely way below the inflation rate.
But it's not like you had a fortune there anyway. You might want to look around and see if you have any option to choose how your pension funds are invested. If not, you could just transfer your money to a different pension. Who knows, maybe when Bitcoin spot ETFs are approved, it will be possible to invest your retirement funds in them.

Paying your contributions directly to your wallet, whether bitcoins or fiat, would be defying the purpose of employee pension schemes. It would be just an equivalent of you getting a small rise and being responsible for your own retirement.

I doubt that you would be a millionaire even in current bitcoin price. Though you would be able to earn a lot compared to the current pension money you have today. I also think that pension funds aren't supposed to be invested on any other things but as a way to survive in the future when you don't earn anymore in your current job. We all have regrets in life and one of those are the chance that we missed on investing on bitcoin or on other cryptocurrency, I myself had spent bitcoins too just to buy a latest iphone which is now unusable and can't keep up to the current technology. We still have chance to buy some, unless you still want to miss the chance again.

can you have the option to just accept pensions in BTC during bull run and accept stablecoin in the bear market?

aa old as a pensioner may be, he wouldn't really need to worry about the form of his pension unless he still troubles himself into investing in BTC while any second he could accidentally slip and die. though if he is to give the BTC to his favorite grandkid, then maybe this investor is as smart as old Buffet and wants to trade still even in the Casa Tranquila.

  Stacking up bitcoin will for the long run is a great idea of saving for retirement, because with bitcoin gaining more recognition in the every part of the world, it’s a very lucrative investment for the long run same way most retired workers invest on stock for their retirement plans. Bitcoin is a very important asset for every investor to own, because of its flexibility and freedom. Once you have na idea about the market strategy of bitcoin you can achieve success in bitcoin.
    Personally I will prefer my pension fund paid in bitcoin, because I know about the risk involve in hodling, I also have knowledge about the cryptocurrency market and how I can go about other related projects. I believe in Bitcoin and its possible potential. The future of bitcoin is so bright that when it’s finally get adopted we will see Bitcoin in its glory once more.

This is indeed really funny on how the naira has been speedily crashing against the Dollar.
Your experience just reminds me of a video I came across on Facebook of a young man who narrated his painful experience of how his father bought shares so many years ago in his name when he was way much younger.

This young man stated that his father bought a whooping 1 million Nigeria Naira Share in a well known company. Of course you'd feel very relaxed knowing that you have a share worth that much money in your name, I believe he said this happened over 30 to 40 years ago.

So in this recent video, the young man lamented on how the so called 1 million naira share has magically turned into an 11,000 Naira share.

It was funny and at the same time a food for thought, made me ask myself what direction is Nigeria really taking with all of these. It's actually really frustrating.

As pension is a person whole investment throughout his life in a job, I don't know about your country, but the same thing happens in my country if a person passes by the pension and he works for the government too much even all of his life. Then he is given as his pension, and getting pension in the bitcoin is too risky. Because if the person gets money may be he did something valuable with it, but if he gets it in the bitcoin, may be he has some relatives who has investment in the bitcoin and they get all of his bitcoin and they got loss in trading.

Although trading is better solution after the pension of a job, if the person didn't have money and if he didn't have a job. Then it would be a better choice of a person to go towards the trading after completing his pension.

Stop being sarcastic,  ;D you want to become a millionaire with that amount in pension, any way you could have covered your entire pension pay to Bitcoin since your company may not consider that option of paying your pension with Bitcoin because of government regulations in line with pension payments.


I don't think the company will want to go through the stress of having everything changed because of a single staff who wants to get paid with Bitcoin,  s9 is The only option open to you is to have the payment converted manually at some point.

Before i got to know Bitcoin, i didn't know how investment worked, $1 will be as long as $1 but 1 BTC today will not be the same as 1 BTC in the next few years, i don't have a job but i founded a small business and i like the stability of the income i generate, but for my retirement i don't put it in fiat, gold or property, i put it in the form of bitcoin of course with the DCA concept, and i'm sure that in the next few decades the value of the money i spend will increase many times the value of the money i now spend.  as long as the number of bitcoins does not increase and bitcoin is forever decentralized then there is a big chance for the price of bitcoin to continue to increase, one day we will definitely see bitcoin at more than $100k/btc ^{(Bitcoin is the best for anyone's retirement fund)}

I don't really know how op want it or expected his own pension to be paid looking at some of the problems the pension company might face trying to covert the actual payment into Bitcoin couples with the network fee that would be involved. I don't see any need for this. If we really want to receive our pension in Bitcoin, while not get the pension and use part of it to purchase Bitcoin. The market is somehow shaking and the way prices moves is like a trajectory. Anybody that want to invest in Bitcoin can as well use part of the pension money to invest in Bitcoin for as long as possible.

The best approach ever to having a business and also setting aside a percentage of your income to invest in Bitcoin for future purposes in form of investment and that will go a long way to sustain you at your retirement age and will fund your bills, u know that having your own business and funding it properly will allow you the time to manage yourself and investment since you will not be having any other form of income in the form of retirement plans and also not keeping any other engagement that can fund your old age aside from the business that you own and run all throughout your lifetime.

It would be literally a hassle for the company to convert the fiat money amount to Bitcoin, which can be done by the pensioner if he/she wants to invest in Bitcoin for future purposes. Not only that the transaction fee would be an issue since sometimes there's traffic in the transaction plus the high gas fee for just a single transaction, so I think it wouldn't be a good idea to use Bitcoin for this kind of business.

Plus if they try this method for one customer wanting to be paid in Bitcoin, for sure they would need to be knowledgeable and understand the crypto industry, cause they might click-click not knowing anything that causes the money to be lost. I also find pension money to be risky to use in terms of investment cause it might just provide all your essential needs so you might not have the spare money (based on experience), but it really depends cause we all have different pension amounts that might be managed for investment.

I can understand OP’s disappointment because we are from the same country. The naira is weakening day by day and the banks do not give good interest rates on savings accounts. This is part of the reason why Bitcoin is so popular amongst Nigerians, because it’s a means to hedge against inflation. OP, even if you tried, I doubt the company would have agreed to pay your pension in bitcoins. Things were different in 2017, remember it was the rise of ponzis in Nigeria, and the company would have assumed Bitcoin was just another ponzi.

As to your question, anyone wearing a signature definitely enjoys getting paid in bitcoin. Me especially lol

This is the tragedy of fiat. Not only is it going to lose value through the years as designed, it also loses value due to incompetence, greed, perhaps necessity as well, and all kinds of abuses by the government. All in all, the speed at which our money loses value makes savings worthless.

And this kind of problem prevalent in fiat can be traced back to the very day this soft money has taken over. Another problem that this fiat standard caused is the discrepancy of worth between different fiat currencies, as illustrated by the ratio of your Naira to USD which changed from 150-300 Naira per USD to more than 1000 Naira to USD after just a few years.

I guess it's a nice though, but I wouldn't beat yourself up over this.  It doesn't matter if you knew about bitcoin at the time or not, bitcoin was never going to be paid out as your pension payment, or your pension turning over to fully being established with bitcoin.  I've not heard of anything of this sort happening anywhere in the world, and highly doubt they would have gone for it.  Bitcoin is still simply too new, and too much needs to happen in order for this to happen anytime soon..IMO.

I think it's better to have some in bitcoin and some in fiat . The percentage really depends on how much pension fund I'll receive. While it's true that there's a certain thrill in owning bitcoin , life in my country still requires fiat to get by. I can't make purchases with bitcoin here, so fiat still plays a central role in transactions.

I like having Bitcoin because when there's a Bitcoin balance in my wallet, the temptation to sell is quite low. I prefer to hodl it until my fiat runs out, waiting for its price to rise... owning Bitcoin but also being financially stable with fiat to avoid messing with my psychology and prevent rushing to sell Bitcoin is something I dream of.

In my case I do not want to have a pension plan in Bitcoin because it implies that the Bitcoin is held by a centralized entity and for that I have my pension plan in stock market, with a very good profitability, unlike that of the OP, and the Bitcoin I hold it apart.

I believe that preparing for retirement age should be part of an overall wealth building in which a pension plan is only one part.

Bitcoin is a volatile asset and investing in it is just like your existing business, it can bring you profits but also has the risk of losing you money and going bankrupt. Congratulations that your business is bringing you a steady stream of income, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way if you don't know how to maintain it. Bitcoin is the same, the future is unpredictable, it can bring you profits of thousands of percent, but it can also make you bankrupt overnight. So the idea of putting your entire pension into bitcoin is actually an unwise idea. Instead, why don't you diversify into assets other than bitcoin? When we talk about the future, don't assert or be certain about anything.

Bitcoin is a volatile asset but with time, its volatility becomes smaller.

The change is organic because when Bitcoin market cap becomes bigger, it's harder to manipulate the price with big volatility. With more regulations on Bitcoin, it will be clearer and there will be less space for FUD than in the past. There will still be FUD as it exists in all market but I believe with more regulations from governments to protect this market, investors, and more education aims at Bitcoin users and investors, they will become more knowledgeable and will be less affected by FUD.

Bitcoin is not dead. I share you this website to say the opposite, Bitcoin is NOT dead.
https://buybitcoinworldwide.com/bitcoin-is-dead/

I'll start from the very end. How naive you are. No one will give you your pension savings, no one will pay your salary in full, no one will pay your pension in bitcoin. But you can create a pension for yourself in bitcoin. Yourself. Just buying with free money.

The system is designed in such a way that people have no choice whether to pay part of the money from their salary to the pension fund or to form their own pension themselves. This is a worldwide practice. We are simply obliged to do this, whether we want it or not. In fact, contributions to a pension fund are another form of taxes (functionally very similar to a tax on fools). This money is collected from all employed people for the entire period of their active work, but only a portion of it is paid. That is, the majority of people who paid pension contributions don't live to see retirement or don't live in retirement for a long time. Roughly speaking, the pension fund has collected 100% of contributions, but pays out only 20%. Profit.

Next point. This is inflation. Inflation hits these pension contributions stored in the pension fund. In 20 years, the money that will be paid to you in retirement will be negligible. In some countries (if I'm not mistaken, in Scandinavian countries), pension funds invest money in securities and even cryptocurrencies. But there are very few such countries. In most countries, your money in the pension fund will either be greatly depreciated, or you simply will not receive it or will only receive part of it (try to live and then live a long time in retirement).

I repeat. No one in any country has the opportunity to refuse to pay pension contributions. Consider this your free forced gift to the state system. But there is an alternative. You yourself can create pension savings for yourself, which will increase every year (more precisely, every 4 years).

Pension is like a remuneration paid after retirement thus it's a period to start enjoying the fruit of one's labour after working for several years, from my personal point of view it's not a good idea to have such payment in Bitcoin because at that age a pensioner suppose to live well while ignoring any form of earning or investing in Bitcoin and at the age there is also a limit on doing any form of complex stuffs that require full concentration like doing complex transactions instead at that age every form of transactions should be done with fiat, transfer and deposit of fund via USSD codes, using simple App etc considering the fact that old people tend forget things easily.

Bitcoin will never die and that is the eternal belief of every Bitcoin investor, including me. But we need to acknowledge the fact that we have no evidence for that, it's just our beliefs and hopes about bitcoin. Even you or I, we cannot know how many years we will live, so we should never make any assertions about the future of bitcoin or anything in this world. The future is impossible to predict.

In the future, if bitcoin's volatility gradually decreases and gradually becomes more stable, will there be any difference between receiving a pension in bitcoin or fiat? Because as I see it, people are hoping that if they get their pension in bitcoin, they will have a chance to double their pension when the price of bitcoin increases. But if you think bitcoin will stabilize, will everyone's hopes be dashed?

That reasoning might work but not all retirees are going to be senile or too stupid to work out basic computer things, in my opinion, I do think that it's a big factor that if you are working in computers at a young age and that you won't have any problems when you're old because there's just some muscle memory that's too difficult to remove even when you are old or you've stopped a long time, the familiarity won't easily go away. Regards to the question, wouldn't the agency or administration paying you in bitcoin would have a hard time doing it? Plus wouldn't your address not become anonymous anymore because they have to know who's bitcoin address they're going to send that bitcoin to so it's not really financial freedom of you to dream of having your pension paid in bitcoin right?

OP, your story is a very interesting one. For me, I wouldn't be looking at the fact of inflation dealing with the local currency. I would've looked at the price rally of Bitcoin. At the time that pension was payable, it was the period Bitcoin was trying to gain global attention. 2017 was that period it hit it. So, imagine what your pension would've been in dollar worth if it was in Bitcoin, even if naira is strong against the dollar in today's reality. This should be my concern, and not necessarily because naira is collapsing. From that period, it means you would've bought below $18k (which was the ATH in December, 2017). Today, Bitcoin price is double of that price despite declining from its current ATH of $68k+.

Anyway, the thing with hindsight is that it makes us see the past in the present and then judge ourselves. I'm sure if the cash was paid directly to you then, you wouldn't have invested it in Bitcoin and hedl till date. Not so? I don't judge but that's the reality with many of us, including me.

Bitcoin is a good thing and investing in it is a great idea but I want to save Bitcoin and invest in Bitcoin in my youth but I don't want to tie up my pension money with Bitcoin. Because it will be my last age. When one crosses the pension age he is almost ready to die and the price of Bitcoin fluctuates constantly and it is not possible to hold Bitcoin for a long time.  So I don't support paying pensions in Bitcoin.But being able to get paid in Bitcoin would be great and I would love to have it

The older that I get, the lesser risk that I should take. If the pension that I will have is paid in Bitcoin, if it's possible to choose on how much it would be in Bitcoin then I'll choose that option. Because it's better for me to have that assured amount that I'll receive in pension while minimizing how much I'll receive in Bitcoin. Maybe a 60/40 or 70/30 will do for me. I know that I can't be the same as I get older because of some instances. But that doesn't mean that I won't be staying in Bitcoin. I just have to choose what's going to be best for me because if not, I might suffer with the volatility that I'll take through it.

The ones who knows the value of Bitcoins will surely accept this decision. For them Bitcoins are like safe investment, whose values increases day by day. Hence they will become the happiest if they are paid in Bitcoins. But the main reason arises when the governing bodies won’t allow to give pension in the form of Bitcoins. As Bitcoins are valuable coins, hence they will like to store more of it for the welfare of the nation. So if we practically see then it’s not possible.

I believe there’s same topic like this before and you are not wrong on your preference over Bitcoin when use to pension. But some people is not relying that much on pension when they are old since they have other savings that’s why they can afford to take risk on Bitcoin since they are already on the last stage of life.

But this is a case to case basis depending on the understanding of someone on Bitcoin since it’s useless to use Bitcoin to pension in general if the majority doesn’t know how to use it and just learning Bitcoin for the sake of claiming pension. Maybe an optional is the best approach on implementing this.

You can't ask company to pay your pension funds in bitcoins because this process is regulated and your pension is protected by your government and reserves are stored in national bank. This is a widespread method and I think Nigeria won't be an exception but it would be really good if they let people to choose where to invest this money. If I had that option, I would store them in bitcoins and some altcoins like you because inflation eats years of hard work and finally you are left with nothing. It's not fair, forced pension system is a robbery from governments. Low salaries, high taxes, this is not enough, let's add pensions. Eh, sad reality of our days.

in last everything comes to the point that you missed the opportunity to invest in bitcoin when the prices were too low, and this type of regrets are in everyones life,
I was also not curious enough to learn about bitcoin after knowing the name of bitcoin in 2018.
And the company will not start to pay salary or pension in bitcoin because of it's volatile nature and majority of the employees/people are not bitcoiners to accept payment in bitcoin.
or company will may not pay in bitcoin to you individually.

And that's the reason why many of us here are saving for our retirement and that is because we all know that there's gonna be a huge profit and value from holding Bitcoin.

We're even doing that so it's a yes that if pensions are gonna paid with Bitcoin, most of us will be happy to accept it.

Reading some of the posts, some are uncertain and it's okay and understandable but for the ones that are sure to accept that, we're all in with that. We can take Bitcoin's volatility and it's already part of our life and even our aging.

Do you think bitcoin is a safe investment?  if you thought it was safe, would you invest all your money in it?  furthermore, this is a pension and old people will depend on it for the rest of their lives, so I don't think this is a wise choice.  Bitcoin has never been considered a safe investment even though its value is increasing every day, don't forget that the higher the profit, the higher the risk.

One more thing, even if bitcoin becomes more scarce, you can still buy bitcoin at any time as long as you have the money.  so, there will never be a situation where the government does not use bitcoin to pay people's pensions if that happens.  Bitcoin is a financial market and will always be traded in the market.

I think he knows it's not possible to have his pension paid in Bitcoin but he was just thinking out loud. But seriously the topic made some sense, It shows how Bitcoin can be used as a safe landing for the failing fiat. Let's assume he wasn't promoted and he's on the same salary scale for 30 years... He's going to receive $1,140, which is actually nothing much. But if his pension was in Bitcoin or if he could device a plan to be doing DCA for that number of years, he's going to retire f*cking rich.

I don't think the company will want to follow what you want to happen either. Then I have not seen any company in this era, even before no one has done such a thing that a company paid their employees via Bitcoin.

So, if you receive your pension, you should exchange it for bitcoin if you also want to hold it long-term, and this is the best way to at least somehow get a profit from bitcoin.

I feel your suffering. The dramatic swing in the Nigerian Naira against the dollar and Bitcoin'sdevelopment show the difference between traditional and digital asset investing. Traditional pension schemes provide unsatisfactory returns, especially compared to bitcoin investments. Your experience emphasizes financial literacy and the necessity to comprehend and use emerging financial technology like Bitcoin for long-term wealth growth. While the past is unchangeable, your insights can help others make similar decisions. The "Bitcoin pension" you created for yourself is original and reflects personal finance trends. It promotes financial self-education and technology adaptation. This lesson is about more than Bitcoin's potential: we need to constantly examine and change our financial strategy to match the changing economy and our personal aspirations.

Haha, First of all, OP TBH I'm not a government employee and there are no pension sources as I'm a freelancer even in the future. This topic was quite hot in the previous Bull Run as well, where I think a multi-national company tried to plan to pay their employee's pensions in Bitcoins but that was just a statement never executed.

Bitcoin is payment mode and there's nothing to wonder about if even my salary is paid to me in Bitcoin, I'm still able to utilize it exception it should be accepted in the day-to-day marketplaces, I can even explore more compared to the fiat due to their boarder limitations. TBH if Op are you trying to express the pension in Bitcoin as an investment for the long term no doubt it will be greatly helpful even in the current regulatory circumstances.

On the other hand, if you are saying that pensions should be paid in Bitcoin so that people can spend as they always wanted to it will require developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem, especially in the regulation of Bitcoin acceptability. AFAIK a pension is paid for stable day-to-day living for senior citizens why they would be interested in making more out of it? Rather than considering the pension in Bitcoin better Prefer the salary here as young ones are more interested in breakthrough through their financial cycle.

I think this is only possible to happen if a company is in the I.T field because they probably get used to BTC. The same goes to the workers of it. If not, then yeah it may not really be possible because number one; The owners may not be aware about BTC;

And number two, other employees are not going to do the same thing. For now, the only best thing that the OP can do, is to follow your advice there of manually converting his fiat into BTC, if that's what he wants. The best way to profit from BTC is I think via doing trades, and not thru investing because in trading, it is possible for one to earn unlimited profits in a short period of time only, as long as they are already well skilled.

In the past, we've seen some companies paying their employees (part of) their salaries in bitcoins (I think BitPay was one of them). But for the purpose of pension schemes, all you really need is a pension fund that lets you choose instruments you want to invest in and a reliable BTC spot ETF.


In most countries, you won't be able to freely access your pension fund money and withdraw it to invest in something else (they would be pointless if you could). Those would usually be restricted e.g. until you reach a certain age.

However, in all the countries where bitcoin is legalized, this scheme may be introduced in those countries, but so far I have not seen any country paying salaries, pensions, and remittances through bitcoins. Although these processes are very difficult to implement, some countries accept Bitcoin only in banks as well as in some local markets.Accepting payments through Bitcoin is seen in a small number of applications, particularly coffee houses, party bars, ice cream shops, etc., but has yet to be implemented in the areas of salaries or pensions. However, in the future such a decision may come, there is nothing to be surprised if it is implemented.

I agree that saving money in banks seems like a poor choice once we learn about Bitcoin. But at least your cash earns some interest, and you can still get it compared to when you withdraw it and leave it in your wallet. You might spend it on nonsense things or lend it to someone who will not pay it back.

If you had a pension scheme in Bitcoin, you would definitely be much better position today. It would indeed have been a landmark decision if such an initiative had been taken by the government. But such thinking will not be useful because if the government does not support it. Bitcoin must be validated first. Bitcoin is completely illegal in my country so even thinking of something like this makes no sense. It can be implemented if the government in your country supports it. People get their pension money after working for a long time. Doing something like that would be really profitable for a Bitcoin holder. We want to holt but many times we fail to hold due to various reasons but if a pension scheme account can be opened with Bitcoin then it will undoubtedly be a good idea. Bitcoin pension holders will be ahead from all kinds of holders.

Getting paid in Bitcoin could actually be beneficial for employees because it could help employees save money on fees associated with traditional banking and payment systems and can also help employees avoid inflation just like in the case of Op since the supply of Bitcoin is limited. But one question that's related to this topic is whether we'll see companies offering the option to get paid in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Right now, it's pretty rare to find a company that offers this option but as Bitcoin becomes more mainstream, maybe it's possible that we are going to see more companies offering it as a payment option. And, I will have to agree with you because it's definitely important to consider our risk tolerance and the different factors that could impact our financial stability in our old age.

The government will not really allow the system to send the pension payment to the pensioners in Bitcoin because, first of all, the majority of the government is against Bitcoin.

And apart from what you said, if bitcoin is really a good long-term investment, would we allocate all our money to it? No matter who is rich or a billionaire, they will not put all their money into Bitcoin; of course, they have other resources in their business.

I don't see any benefit here, I don't see any difference between multiplying pensions in fiat or bitcoin while fiat is still major currency. If you really want to save on bank-related fees and avoid inflation...then when you get your pension, you can also buy bitcoin right after. It doesn't have to be bitcoin because you still need to convert bitcoin into fiat currency to spend.

Pensions in fiat or bitcoin have nothing to do with our spending because we can convert both very simply. Saving or having a better life depends on our plans and decisions.

Unless the amount to be paid will be defined in Bitcoin then that would make a lot of sense. I mean if you are paid $99 dollars but then sent in Bitcoin, it makes no difference cause you could equally purchase it with the $99, But if the company had a fixed amount of Bitcoin to pay you as a Pension then why not? Adding to that, you are already acquainted with Bitcoin and it is a payment method, so this shouldn't even be a question as I assume you will be happy and impressed if that were the mode of payment for your pension.

Also, I understand how you feel but remember you cannot force the company to pay you in Bitcoin. If they aren't used to it or do not know about it, they won't do it just because one person asked. And Isn't Nigeria the country that once banned Bitcoin or so?

I agree with you whether the pension is paid in fiat currency or in bitcoins both are good but fiat is better because the price of bitcoins always fluctuates so if the pensioner is not bitcoin friendly it will not be pleasant for him.  But if the pension is paid in fiat currency then he can buy and hold bitcoins as per hibitcoin.  So it is better to pay pension money in fiat currency rather than bitcoin. I would support this and invest some money in Bitcoin after pension and keep the rest as fiat.

Many countries have declared Bitcoin illegal. Bitcoin carries both profit and risk. The government will never allow pension payments to be made through Bitcoin.  If the pension received was through Bitcoin it could help create a guaranteed income for the individual's regular life. Pension basically provides a payment for past service or work over a specified period of time. At the end of a long service life, a jobber gets a lump sum of money. People would know more about Bitcoin if pensions were paid in Bitcoin from now to the future. Bitcoin is the most talked about among young people but most people who have retired from work within the last five years are unaware of Bitcoin. However, if this medium is introduced, it will be a revolutionary change for Bitcoin.

I think governments' opposition to bitcoin will be resolved soon.  once an ETF is approved and bitcoin's popularity becomes even more widespread, countries that are banning bitcoin will soon legalize it or else become obsolete compared to the rest of the world.  but using bitcoin to pay salaries or pensions would be a completely different matter and not easy to do. 

Bitcoin is a potential investment and can bring high profits but it is not the safe asset that anyone wants.  up to now, many people have known about bitcoin but they still decided not to choose it and they have their reasons.  frankly, bitcoin is a volatile and risky investment, it's good but it's not perfect like many bitcoin investors are propagating it.

That amount in pension even if left untouched for several years will not earn anything significant in terms of profits,  this is because Bitcoin at the moment is expensive that amount will only get you a few dollars in profits,  so for sure it may be against inflation holding that pension in Bitcoin,  but should not be taken as a potential retirement investment,  since your daily expenses will already consume all without any possible left over as an investment.

Even though the company will not opt-in for such a formula of payment,  ops will still need to make a direct conversion of his pension into Bitcoin before he can hold it and if that is necessary.

But with OP, I don't think he was already a bitcoin investor that time when he was still working. It's only now that he was able to realized that he should have talked the company and demand to receive his pension in bitcoin.  But I don't think the financial institution will also agree paying in bitcoin because bitcoin that time was not yet fully known and established, so the safest option by that time is to pay his pension through fiat.

But to be honest, if he had converted his fiat into bitcoin during that time, I don' think the term millionaire is applicable for him. Yes, he might saved a good amount of bitcoin considering he started earning from 2017 up to the present but since the value of their currency is only low, then it also means that he could only save a little amount of bitcoin even up to the present when bitcoin at the present is now very expensive.

While saddening, I don't think you should be disheartened, Pension shouldn't be something that you'd rely upon for future investments, since it's only meant for spending when you actually retire, and while it must suck that your money now is worth peanuts compared to way back then, there are still ways for you to actually make something out of this.Not sure about how Nigerian Pensions are but are you able to cash this ahead of time? If so, then perhaps you could convert this into bitcoin and start your journey from here, it's still possible you know, something could still be done out of this situation especially since we're slowly moving towards yet another bull cycle, if things go well you could ride the wave and actually earn dividends, as if you won millions once again. Idk man, just food for thought.

Bitcoin prices have always been volatile, so no company would be foolish enough to make it a rule to pay a fixed amount of bitcoin that is not measured in fiat currency. As long as currency exists, paying pensions in bitcoin or gold is meaningless as the value will be determined by fiat at the time. So why don't we use fiat as usual instead of making things more complicated? The government does not have enough free time to set up a bitcoin payment system and then rely on the fiat value to pay our salaries.

This may not be an easy effort. Basically, it is possible to pay pension funds using Bitcoin under the following conditions:
- It is valid and legal to use Bitcoin as a salary/pension fund, because if it is prohibited, this will automatically violate the regulations and the company will not take that risk.
- Very familiar with Bitcoin, at least the financial management of this company. because if not, this will be quite compliant for them, because of course they will need to convert their fiat to Bitcoin to pay it to you. The question is, will they? Meanwhile, it is something new for them and they are still in the same condition.
- I don't mean to be pessimistic, but it does require more efforts to realize this plan, at least trying to approach the manager could be the first step.

This seems Impossible in my country as Government is paying for our pension with that it is a nationwide approach and not individually .
But if given a chance since i am almost 10 years away from having my pension ? I would love having Bitcoin instead of cash .
there are cases that we can get it Lumpsum so I may take this advantage and will invest all in bitcoin ,
I may have back pay from My private company and those are what I planned in using for small business while in my retirement as I already have my own house and car, so only a small capital will be enough to feed me and my wife in the future, and with my Bitcoin investment will be used for our plan to go around the world.

The thing is, Bitcoin is doing well now... but it could have been the other way around... where the Bitcoin price might have fallen and your Pension might be worst than what it would have been in a stable investment fund.

Most of the Pension funds invest the workers capital into long-term stable investment options with low risk to secure the pension fund payments in the future.... and Bitcoin is seen as a high risk investment with extreme volatility.  :P

Not that I'm not optimistic, but don't expect to receive pension payments in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies,
as this would be very risky and there are certainly many people who would disagree.

Bitcoin has a high volatility price and this will affect the value of Bitcoin in fiat.
If it goes up, of course, it will be profitable, but when it goes down it will create panic.

The right thing to do is to receive your pension as usual in fiat money, and then you have the option to invest in Bitcoin or not.
That is the best way because investing is a choice and each person's choice will be different.

We will be happy when we receive our pension and the price of bitcoin increases by 10%, but we will be very disappointed if the price of bitcoin drops by 10% right after we receive it. Meanwhile, if we receive our pension in fiat currency, we will be more proactive in investing in bitcoin. To be honest, I'm not pessimistic but what I see from receiving a pension in bitcoin is not as beneficial as many people are saying. I prefer to receive fiat currency and invest in bitcoin according to my plan rather than receive my salary directly in bitcoin.

I don't think it's possible to invest your pension funds in Bitcoin even in the countries when Bitcoin/crypto are legal. That's where spot ETFs could be really handy and they could potentially have huge impact on the BTC price.
That being said, there are potentially ways to bypass any bans on investing in Bitcoin, i.e. by investing in companies that have huge exposure to Bitcoin and their stock price moves in line with Bitcoin's. The best example would be Microstrategy, who slowly becomes an effective Bitcoin ETF without officially being one just by virtue of their huge BTC holding.

Pensions are the greatest treasure for many and can make a difference when bitcoin has a lot of value in some years. For many, bitcoin will be unpurchasable but if they can advance it from now on, it doesn't matter if it goes up, but advancing it would be ideal. , because it is not known if in 10 to 20 years the bitcoin will be at $800k, and until now they will pay someone with a value of almost $40k, this is something incredible, I couldn't do it better if not now, that's it. It is also something to be patient because in almost everything you can have the base that is so good that the last Ath was $70k, the next one could be double, or triple.

In my opinion it varies from region to region depending on their current environment. My current situation in this regard is that my environment is not yet familiar enough with Bitcoin that it would be any better to get pension through it. And even if I accept that, I don't think the main purpose of Bitcoin will be fulfilled. Because I have to convert it back to fiat or stable currency to be risk free.  Because our real life exchange system has not yet absorbed Bitcoin.
But personally I think pensions play a very important role in late life and the volatilities of Bitcoin can sometimes put a person at risk if he wants to keep that pension. But if the environment is such that Bitcoin is not being valued by fiat currency ie: 1btc = 1btc, then the matter will be different.

I wish we had at least the choice, and we could choose to be paid in BTC in the future. I guess this is quite unlikely now, and the governments are not interested in this, in fact, the pensions are the perfect mechanism where they can keep distributing FIAT, and enforcing people to take it

Naturally, it's not profitable for governments. Bitcoin does not give governments the freedom to manage citizens' money. No government in a developed country would accept that. For governments, cryptocurrency means, first of all, loss of control over citizens' finances, concealment of taxes, financing of various criminals, etc.

The pensions in my country are also in decline. They show growth on paper, but in reality you're getting less due to inflation, but many people don't get it and that's why they don't openly go against these institutions. The government even decided to give pensioners some money so that they don't become the poorest class of society after working for over 40 years... It's shocking, but they're really screwed. People like me avoid putting any money in pension funds and save up in bitcoin, but probably the most screwed group are going to be people who are in their 40s and 50s today and have been paying these pension funds for the last 20-30 years. They'll get to learn the hard way how bad the system is, because we have the least people paying this pension tax since it was established, which means that the system won't have money for the current 40 year olds who will become pensioners in 20 years, but the government and pension management keep their mouths shut, afraid of starting a panic.

I'd love my pension to be voluntary.

In my country you can't decide to save up on your own. Want it or not, your pension is subtracted from your paycheck and that's done because the system is flawed. They have no more money in the system and it would all collapse if not for new money coming in. Your money!

I save in bitcoin for this exact reason and know this will turn out to be a life-changing decision for me, one way or the other.

Holding fiat will only be eroded by inflation - meaning fiat will continue to lose value. I wouldn't and probably never will after getting to know investing - but of course bitcoin isn't the only option to choose from.

Changes need to be made so that we no longer need to save more than the amount we need for our daily needs. Let fiat be an investment asset instead of holding it in a bank account that provides low returns every year - I think that's a good idea regardless of whether you choose bitcoin or another investment asset.

Saving money in banks has always been an indirect way of enriching these banks with our hard earn money while we receive a penny, and so will this method continue until people wise up knowing that banks is the worst place to add value to our funds, because imagine just only have your pension paid in dollar, your money would have gotten more value than it is today, not to talk about had it been invested in Bitcoin, as you probably would have made a fortune off your pension savings.

Because imagine if only had your entire 99,000 Nigerian naira converted into dollar back then in 2017 when the rate of dollar was still at $1/#150 Nigerian naira, it would have give you 99,000/150 = 660 (i.e $660, which is equivalent to 660,000 Nigerian naira, instead of 99,000).

Hence, if you live in a developing country, it's far better to save funds in either Bitcoin or stable coins such as USDT