In the future will we see people who sign up to some service... and they send their payroll paychecks to it.. they get immediately exchanged into bitcoins?
A paycheck sent via Direct Deposit is, in the U.S., using the ACH network. Oftentimes, an employer or payment distribution service will require that the recipient account must be in the employee's name. So this bitcoin conversion service would need to provide and individual account number for each customer so the account could be in that person's own name. That isn't all that difficult but the demand today is probably too low to warrant developing such a service to do that. Additionally, though paychecks from employers are rarely reversed, that doesn't mean they are non-reversible. So this service would need to charge a fee sufficient to accommodate fraudulent transactions where it delivered bitcoins and at a later time the funds are clawed back for whatever reason (e.g., fraud where it really wasn't a corporate payroll but someone getting a direct deposit sent through fraudulent means.)
Until that day comes that a service like this exists, a service such as Coinbase (in the U.S.) can draw funds from a bank account using the direct deposit/ACH network. It takes a few days for the coins to be delivered but it is a way that proceeds from a paycheck can be used to buy bitcoins without having to visit a bank or ATM.
A bank account might not even be needed. Some prepaid card providers (e.g., Western Union prepaid card and American Express prepaid cards) provide an unique account number and allow Direct Deposit/ACH debits (for loading) and credits (for drawing form the balance). AMEX BlueBird and Green Dot Go Bank also might have this service, if I remember correctly. So presumably you can use the card for direct deposit of pay and then have Coinbase draw from the card just as if it were a bank checking account.
