Bitcoin Fueling the Gig Economy

[DoublerHunter]

AFAIK, Gig economy is really a good thing. Bitcoin is playing a vital role with it now, as well.
However, Paypal is the primary money transfer platform the companies uses for their employee payrolls. For now, labor and employment companies that use bitcoin as the currency is still young and immature. The people especially the professionals did not yet adopt the bitcoin in the gig economy. But, it has been initiated and was also an effective way to pay the employees if they would accept it too. It would be nice to look forward to bitcoin to be used for the gig economy.

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[magneto]

The growing gig economy is firstly facilitated by the birth and massive adoption of internet connectivity anywhere in the globe...this remains to this day an evolving revolution that pole-vault many industries into what they are today. What was previously impossible is now one of the best options for people to work, to study and even to play. The coming of bitcoin 10 years ago put a very important layer on top of the internet hence bitcoin has become the money of the internet greatly enhancing the gig economy as anyone can seamlessly be paid with this currency wherever he/she can be in the globe. Plus the whole cryptocurrency revolution opened up a big can of opportunities to work and do business with crypto-focused fintech companies.

I think that what bitcoin does in terms of helping the gig economy is not only just from the aspect of lower transaction fees and not needing to deal with wait times.

These benefits lead to much more in terms of connecting the global labour markets. The barriers of entry for labourers are essentially lowered as a result of BTC as a form of payment, which in the long term can even start bridging the gap in wages between first world and second/third world countries.

People may talk about Paypal as a more integral part of the gig economy, and right now, they may be right. But as more and more disgruntled users see that Paypal's reversibility and policies are a pain in the ass and sometimes unfair, as well as the fact that their exchange rates are complete garbage, they'll turn to alternative means. Also, remember the fact that Paypal verification isn't something that everyone can do, especially with the unbanked. Again, this contributes directly to the barrier of entry that's preventing people from accessing the global labour market in the first place.

[FanEagle]

I am a walking proof of this. I last worked a normal job 3 years ago, I had a short 2 month stint somewhere in between but my last decent job was 3 years ago and I can testify that for the past 3 years I have been paid with bitcoin (and to some extend altcoins) because that is an easier method.

In my country you can get paid with paypal as well but then you need to spend it on paypal and can't withdraw it to your bank account, so you end up with a lot of money on your paypal that you need to spend online and can't turn into fiat cash in your hands whereas when you get bitcoins you can get it to your bank account via exchanges and then using ATM can get cash for it too so it makes it that much easier.

[TheCoinGrabber]

The "gig economy" means freelancing,right?
I wonder how can people from the western world compete with all the third world freelancers with their extremely low payment rates.It's impossible to do freelancing gig for a living.
--

Well you have a point. But I think it's possible for certain groups of people in the West to get paid in crypto, for example musicians doing literal gigs. Maybe just ask to get paid in bitcoins instead of cash when playing at a bar, or fixing people's plumbing, etc.

[eaLiTy]

With the rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, can the blockchain help facilitate a new form of employment and help workers around the world earn a fair living from their efforts?"

Bitcoin will help facilitate the so called gig economy or its market, usually people used to rely on paypal for these sort of transactions and you really cannot reply on paypal if you are holding a large amount of money as they usually block your account without any warning and if that happens you will hardly hear from their customer support and it will take up to a year to sort the issue which is not an optimal way and with the advent of bitcoin it has taken over the monopoly of these micro payment systems.

Cryptocurrencies won't make the gig economy better due to the irreversible crypto transactions,which increases the risk of scams.

The site which facilitates the work will act like an escrow and the irreversible nature of crypto transaction will not increase the risk of scams, with paypal and other payment methods even if you get the amount and you sent the work they proposed, they could arise a despite after sometime which is the biggest scam in the past and to get that money you need to wait for a long time.

[dothebeats]

And with the gig economy rising at this day and age comes the never ending pursuit of the tax men for profits. I love that we're moving forward with literally almost every aspect of the economy nowadays but whenever bitcoin excels on something, G-men always ensures that they will screw it up and establish their "dominance" over that certain area where bitcoin is proving its worth. I myself am a freelancer, and I have suggested my clients to pay me with bitcoin instead of the traditional Paypal and bank transfers but they are still wary about the said payment method since they don't know whether they'd be breaking rules by doing so or not. Perhaps until we have some clearly defined regulations on bitcoin we'll see more and more use-cases for it appearing everywhere.

[Kakmakr]

Exactly, and it is more relevant to 3rd world countries where there are higher unemployment figures. There are lots of jobs/gigs in 1st world countries that are not very desirable and normally these tasks are "outsourced" if it can be done in other countries with cheaper labour. 

Work like translation services and scanning and archiving services and also sorting of large amounts of data can be done in other countries and Bitcoin payment is ideal for that, because you can do micro payments for these micro tasks. <Payment per pay or per word is possible> 

[ricardobs]

Anyone who is working on gigs and independent shouldn't be making use of cryptocurrency. The reasons I'm saying this because you can get scammed. Yes that's the truth because I have also worked as a freelancer and I know the kind of problems I faced while working as that. There are some people who will approach you just for them to get free works from you and when you finish working for them, they wouldn't pay you, they just take the work for free and there is nothing you can do about it. So if you want such work, you have to make use of the platforms that are meant for such purposes, cause they are going to be the ones to provide you with escrow services and protect you from getting scammed .

[South Park]

The "gig economy" means freelancing,right?
I wonder how can people from the western world compete with all the third world freelancers with their extremely low payment rates.It's impossible to do freelancing gig for a living.
Cryptocurrencies won't make the gig economy better due to the irreversible crypto transactions,which increases the risk of scams.

There are many jobs that cannot be done online so an independent contractor can still get a great pay in the first world and just use the internet to get clients, but if the job can be done remotely then there is only one way for people in the first world to compete, and that is to simply to offer a service of better quality, if you are going to charge more money then you need to justify the greater pay, you could offer better costumer service, better skills, or the option to be physically present some of the time which is something that a person at the other side of the world cannot do.

[damberg]

What I wonder about are fees. If you order some gig for, let's say, $15, would you be willing to pay more than $1 on top as Bitcoin transaction fee? I always thought that Bitcoin is the least suitable coin for this purpose. Am I wrong?

[el kaka22]

Considering the economy world has right now and the unemployment at sky high numbers in many parts of the world and people who graduate from college (more than ever in history of earth) can't find jobs at their educated areas and start working in irrelevant jobs or even stay unemployed the fact that freelance getting more and more common is great for people who live in third world countries and can survive on 15 dollars per day vs people who are in first world countries where just the rent is over a thousand dollars who will be screwed even bigger with this.

They need to find jobs and get paid to live there and survive whereas I can do the same job 10 times cheaper so company hires me freelance and that dude is having hard time finding a job. I am telling you even though it helps me a lot, its still sad for others.

[SvonioneFromMangoCoinz]

The "gig economy" means freelancing,right?
I wonder how can people from the western world compete with all the third world freelancers with their extremely low payment rates.It's impossible to do freelancing gig for a living.
Cryptocurrencies won't make the gig economy better due to the irreversible crypto transactions,which increases the risk of scams.

exactly. There are too many cases to say that electronic money is not suitable for being a general means of payment. I do not support this because fiat money also benefits countries. The market of fiat money (Forex) is even bigger than the crypto market. It will not be easy to change things.

[TheUltraElite]

Well you have a point. But I think it's possible for certain groups of people in the West to get paid in crypto, for example musicians doing literal gigs. Maybe just ask to get paid in bitcoins instead of cash when playing at a bar, or fixing people's plumbing, etc.

Talking about gigs in music is something more professional. I think this topic is more inclined towards those who are trying to make some cash doing freelancer work. Something similar to upwork and so. Now the biggest group of people entering as service providers here are the third world country.

They face a good money value since the dollar is higher price there. I dont know who would want to accept bitcoin there but is locally it is easily trade-able then obviously its demand will be there.

What I wonder about are fees. If you order some gig for, let's say, $15, would you be willing to pay more than $1 on top as Bitcoin transaction fee? I always thought that Bitcoin is the least suitable coin for this purpose. Am I wrong?

You are not wrong, but again for a lower economic country reisdent even that remaining 14$ is a good amount of cash for a day or two.

[southafricadude]

Can confirm, freelancing for people around the world and using bitcoin as a payment method has been a game changer for me over the last few years. I give nice discount for bitcoin payment as opposed to the likes of paypal, and it works like a charm.

[Theb]

Cryptocurrencies are not the main reason why we have this “gig economy” going on in our world,it has push people especially the millenials to be part of it. People (including me) felt underpaid with their 8 to 5 job that is why they arebforced to look for other modes of revenue and getting paid with their skills through freelancing is one of them. Some people earn even without any kind of skills through blogging or streaming their games, they are literally earning money for every user who watch, subscribe, or donate to them. This "gig economy"" you are referring too might be a big part of any country's economy especially when the next generations will be more involve into tech.

[Alijiindahaus]

I think that those people who managed to catch the wave, very correctly used the opportunities to achieve success.  I have repeatedly met people who previously had no relation to high technologies, or programming, and even more so to cryptocurrency, but showed quite good results and today are experienced traders, investors and other users of cryptocurrency.

[Aptekary]

I think that those people who managed to catch the wave, very correctly used the opportunities to achieve success.  I have repeatedly met people who previously had no relation to high technologies, or programming, and even more so to cryptocurrency, but showed quite good results and today are experienced traders, investors and other users of cryptocurrency.

I think it is today when the cryptocurrency market shows low positions so many people have the opportunity to get really good experience in the cryptocurrency market.  I also strongly hope that my professionalism will be much higher when the cryptocurrency market begins to recover and my husband to use all his experience to get really good results.

[South Park]

Considering the economy world has right now and the unemployment at sky high numbers in many parts of the world and people who graduate from college (more than ever in history of earth) can't find jobs at their educated areas and start working in irrelevant jobs or even stay unemployed the fact that freelance getting more and more common is great for people who live in third world countries and can survive on 15 dollars per day vs people who are in first world countries where just the rent is over a thousand dollars who will be screwed even bigger with this.

They need to find jobs and get paid to live there and survive whereas I can do the same job 10 times cheaper so company hires me freelance and that dude is having hard time finding a job. I am telling you even though it helps me a lot, its still sad for others.

The truth is that technology has become so disruptive that we have not gotten used to it before a new change arrives, and while this can be considered unfair to some it is just the way the economy works and you need to adjust accordingly, business owners will always look for ways to reduce costs, it is up to the worker to find a way to distinguish himself from the rest so he can get a good pay for his efforts, unfortunately many are incapable to do this and they lose their jobs.

[BitHodler]

Some people earn even without any kind of skills through blogging or streaming their games, they are literally earning money for every user who watch, subscribe, or donate to them. 

In the last couple of years there has been a massive influx of crypto related influencers on social media monetizing their content to bank on the booming crypto market, and quite a few of them are doing pretty well.

I haven't seen other industries where social media influencers on a larger scale do well. Usually only a few become very large and the rest lags behind to eventually give up because it's no longer worth their time.

Crypto has truly opened the door to people from every part of the world and every financial class. At this stage even those who outside crypto don't stand a chance to make a good living still manage to grow here creating content.

[TheUltraElite]

Can confirm, freelancing for people around the world and using bitcoin as a payment method has been a game changer for me over the last few years. I give nice discount for bitcoin payment as opposed to the likes of paypal, and it works like a charm.

As long as a market for the service providers remain for exchanging bitcoin you will be able to do this trick. But as soon as governments begin to impose restrictions on bitcoin trades this will gradually fade away and paypal would come back to its original prime.

I think that those people who managed to catch the wave, very correctly used the opportunities to achieve success.  I have repeatedly met people who previously had no relation to high technologies, or programming, and even more so to cryptocurrency, but showed quite good results and today are experienced traders, investors and other users of cryptocurrency.

I beg to differ here. Skilled workers are generally not good investors and reverse is also true. You have to understand that the society is built by a mixture of all these people. There are investors who dont want to work and make people work for money - humans as resource. So whether they invest in crypto is a big question because that will pull the market up because of their high new worth and average investment amount.