The Internet Archive does benefit from being among the first to accept Bitcoins and also being a service that many Bitcoiners use and support therefore they got a fair number of coins ... 822 BTC show as the total received and a balance yet of 336 BTC.
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http://blockchain.info/address/17gN64BPHtxi4mEM3qWrxdwhieUvRq8R2rIt would be great to know the intentions of the employees who are opting to receive some of their salary as bitcoins. Are they doing so because they are going to keep the coins (e.g., as investment / speculation), or do they plan to make purchases with bitcoins, or are they simply going to cash out to a local currency?
I know that organizations that need to send funds to a global workforce are constantly challenged with payment networks which have high conversion costs and limitations. Bitcoin cuts through so much of the burden for the employer that using bitcoin instead will be a natural progression. So far it is the P2P Foundation, Bitcoin Foundation and the Internet Archive as the first organizations to publicly state that they pay salaries using bitcoins. When that list includes other org oDesk, Freelancer.com, eLance, etc. -- all of which would benefit greatly from offering Bitcoin as a funds transfer method for their businesses we'll know there's no turning back.