Can Bitcoin help to balance salaries across the world?

[Mahanton]

Bitcoin is the first truly global currency. It can be used by anyone having access to the Internet, in any country.

Imagine now a world where salaries are paid in Bitcoin. This would enable us to compare salaries all over the world. And at least regarding work done online, like programming, graphic design and other typical freelance and digital work, it could help to establish a "global" salary level and thus help to balance inequality. [1]

There are freelance sectors where this already is the case, like our signature campaigns here, but also the Value4Value economy on Nostr, but it's still niches. Of course for this to work on a bigger scale than now, Bitcoin price would have to become more stable.

Also you could counter this argument that on freelance platforms the USD is used as a kind of substitute global currency, and international freelancers are competing there without country limits. However, there are several countries where the access to the USD is restricted, or where the conversion to a convenient rate is difficult. Thus a truly global currency like Bitcoin still could help to make salaries more "comparable".

What do you think?


[1] You could of course argue that the inequality has also to do with differences regarding the education level. But even regarding "digital" work, there are still salary differences which can't be explained by this - i.e. where a work of similar quality is more expensive in some countries than in others.

When it comes to Inequality then this would really be always be the difference in between to those who do earn less and more basing up on the position, education attainment, experience and on where you do live.
Lets say that we are focusing when it comes to online works or job then come to think that foreign companies or bosses would really be wanting on hiring up people on which they are living on 3rd world countries.
Why? because the labor cost is really that just too cheap in comparing into those 1st world and thats why you cant be able to say that you are earning more just because your employer do give out that said currency.
There's always those main difference in between things on which this is something inevitable and cant really be eradicated. As for Bitcoin payment or salary then it would be understandable that it could be equalled
but come to think that they would really be still that basing up on USD or fiat value which we know that there's still that gap or difference.

[Ishicryptic]

It would be an excellent idea if Bitcoin is used for payments and salaries around the world but I don't think that it will be possible for it to balance salaries across the world. The whole countries in the world have their own fiat currencies so Bitcoin is only accepted as an alternative currency, furthermore the standard of living differs from one country to another. Workers can be paid in Bitcoin but it will either be in the value of the country's fiat or USD. If the adoption of Bitcoin increases to the level that it is accepted for payments everywhere in the world and the gap between the rich and poor countries is not too much then Bitcoin can balance salaries across the world but it is near impossible for this to happen.

[summonerrk]

It would be an excellent idea if Bitcoin is used for payments and salaries around the world but I don't think that it will be possible for it to balance salaries across the world. The whole countries in the world have their own fiat currencies so Bitcoin is only accepted as an alternative currency, furthermore the standard of living differs from one country to another. Workers can be paid in Bitcoin but it will either be in the value of the country's fiat or USD. If the adoption of Bitcoin increases to the level that it is accepted for payments everywhere in the world and the gap between the rich and poor countries is not too much then Bitcoin can balance salaries across the world but it is near impossible for this to happen.

And this is true. Firstly, people will not perceive Bitcoin as something really valid, I mean a means of payment. They will exchange it for dollars immediately after receiving their salary.

And secondly, all countries have their own currencies, depending on many factors, and 99 percent of countries will not agree to exchange them for Bitcoins. Because they cannot control the first cryptocurrency.

[reefsea]

A person with a low income in his country will look for opportunities to find a higher income by looking for a job on the internet that is paid with Bitcoin.
Why should it be measured by the balance of the salary that someone gets with fiat in this part of the world.
Bitcoin is unique, I think those who are paid their salaries with bitcoin are happier than with fiat because they can hold and use it for their investments.

In addition, a country will have different incomes that will be obtained by workers, both in government and casual workers. Also in some countries Bitcoin is only an investment tool because doing anything else will be against the laws that are applied because they have their own currency.

[UchihaSarada]

A person with a low income in his country will look for opportunities to find a higher income by looking for a job on the internet that is paid with Bitcoin.
Why should it be measured by the balance of the salary that someone gets with fiat in this part of the world.

In different countries, companies will provide different salary offers to their workers. Even Google, Facebook, Apple, international giant tech companies, they don't provide similar salary offers to their employees at same positions but are working in different countries.

Salary is related to life standard and general income in a nation and companies are smart enough to adjust their salary policies in different countries.

In forum, we have different companies with their signature campaigns and their pay rates to users are different too.

Signature campaign: The lowest and highest payment BTC and USD in 2013-2022

[MarbCoin]

At the moment I do not think we should all have the same salary because in every area the cost of living is different. If you live in San Francisco or NYC you cannot pay rent with 2000$, while in some countries rent would be only 250$ a month. Same with health care, food, etc.

[Accardo]

At the moment I do not think we should all have the same salary because in every area the cost of living is different. If you live in San Francisco or NYC you cannot pay rent with 2000$, while in some countries rent would be only 250$ a month. Same with health care, food, etc.

In the first place, salaries shouldn't be based on location, but the offline cooperate companies have to pay according to the cost of living in your environment... Subsequently, the online market stopped to care about such a concept of payment. Thus, every online worker started earning as a result of the level of impact they add to the company or industry.

For example, freelancers on same level of skill like Op mentioned earn similar salaries regardless of their nation. In a nutshell, with bitcoin being the medium of payment the location of a writer in USA won't be enough reason to earn higher than another writer in Africa. What now determines their salary is the skill and impact they've got to offer for the brand.

[MarbCoin]

In a nutshell, with bitcoin being the medium of payment the location of a writer in USA won't be enough reason to earn higher than another writer in Africa.

that would work in a world where everything is equal. The point is that a freelancer in africa would be happy with for example 1000 usd for a month of work, and someone in the usa or europe would not do anything for that amount of money, bacause it wont be enough to make a living. And freelancers will compete on price. Years ago we had a job posted on some freelance site. First an offer of 3k from the usa, than 1.5k from GB, and then more and more offers from india, ending @ 400 or something.

[iBaba]

And this is true. Firstly, people will not perceive Bitcoin as something really valid, I mean a means of payment. They will exchange it for dollars immediately after receiving their salary.

And secondly, all countries have their own currencies, depending on many factors, and 99 percent of countries will not agree to exchange them for Bitcoins. Because they cannot control the first cryptocurrency.

It will be difficult for the world to accept bitcoin as a universal means of payment of salaries aside from the differences in the policies of different governments, which differs as to the ideology of these leaders, the volatility of the bitcoin market and its decentralization may not allow governments to adopt the bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a good alternative for the centralized system, but isn't meant to take over everything because as a technology, it comes with its own limitations. In the end many people who will receive their salaries in bitcoin will change it to their local currencies or at least stable coins to be able to use it in the market, which makes the process longer and tiring.

[summonerrk]

At the moment I do not think we should all have the same salary because in every area the cost of living is different. If you live in San Francisco or NYC you cannot pay rent with 2000$, while in some countries rent would be only 250$ a month. Same with health care, food, etc.

That's right. And this salary/price situation in certain places creates interesting moments. For example, I think it's cool to live in a small city where everything is cheap, and at the same time earn a big salary, best of all through remote work. Because a person with such a stack will keep more money for himself than someone who earns a lot, but also spends a lot. And as a result, the latter may have more expenses than earnings, I've seen such situations.

[d5000]

In forum, we have different companies with their signature campaigns and their pay rates to users are different too.

Signature campaign: The lowest and highest payment BTC and USD in 2013-2022

Signature campaigns are actually an interesting example for the effect I wrote about in the OP.

I don't know what you refer to exactly when you wrote "their pay rates to users are different", probably to the higher/lower payments per campaign, or per user group (Legendary, Hero etc.). But the payment is the same regardless of the geographic location of the user (which is unknown in most cases).

So with signature campaigns we have one of these rare cases where a payment for a service is already "balanced across the world".

This however has probably some consequences to the type of users who write for signature campaigns. While in some less developed countries a signature campaign payment may be already similar to the income of a regular job, in the US or Europe it probably is an additional income, or done by students for example. This is not so different for other simpler freelance work open for international applicants, like simple programming tasks to help IT students, SEO texts and so on.

The "balancing" effect was actually even more pronounced in the past when most signature campaigns even calculated their payment in BTC or other coins, and not in USD.