Bitcoin Fueling the Gig Economy

[CryptoBry]

"...the gig economy is fast becoming the main source of employment for people all over the world; facilitated in no small part by the Internet’s ability to connect remote workers with prospective employers. At the time of writing, over a third of Europeans and Americans are working as independent contractors in the gig economy. That number is set to rise to 50% by 2020, and there is now growing pressure on the existing economic infrastructure to keep pace with that rise.

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?"

Further Read: https://blockonomi.com/cryptocurrency-gig-economy/

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.

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[davis196]

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.

[darklus123]

@davis

I don't agree with you mr. Maybe in US it is impossible to do freelancing gig as a living where the prices are also not that cheap
 
But if you do live on a third world country exploring blockchain technology can already provide you enough to live(maybe you were trying to define living as a luxurious kind of living)

[Febo]

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.

I dont understand why irreversible transactions would increase the risk of scams.    Yes people will have to be more cautious with who they trade. But eventually after transition happens I see only upsides.

[elda34b]

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.

There is more than 1 kind of jobs that you can do in freelancing. I'm pretty sure programming or web development is not 'low payment rates'.

I dont understand why irreversible transactions would increase the risk of scams.    Yes people will have to be more cautious with who they trade. But eventually after transition happens I see only upsides.

He might want to say that because it's irreversible, anyone would be able to request payment and then stop their work, so the employer got scammed. But that case is weak, knowing the risk of crypto beforehand should definitely make you able to avoid a shitty situation like this.

[Genemind]

There are lots of opportunities being offered in Freelancing. It actually decreases the percentage of unemployment rate in our country and surely if it will collaborate with cryptocurrency, things will surely get better and even the growth will go faster. Blockchain will surely be an advantage in the freelancing industry.

[Ailmand]

Freelance jobs is growing in time. In our country some people opt to find jobs online rather than apply for a position in a company. It has a lot of benefits since you can earm bettet, create your own rate depending on your skills, manage your time, no boss your own rule, etc.

Blockchain tech can create even more job opportunities to other people.

[gentlemand]

The gig economy is a fine way to turn us all into even more cowed slaves than we already are. You can't really build a future on the basis of what it offers. You become ever more dependent on the crumbs they throw at you.

Good for dipping in and out of but that's probably not the end game here. The best thing Bitcoin can do for anyone is to pull them out of the need to participate in the gig economy altogether.

None of the above applies if you're outside first world countries, but soon enough the first world countries won't be first world.

[Shenzou]

As a freelancer who lives in a third world country i can confirm that bitcoin is probably the best option for anyone like me, since payment methods are limited to where i live i have looked for years about ways to provide my services as a freelancer but the only easy and convenient way i found is cryptocurrency and more specifically bitcoin, and with it becoming more and more popular among the gig due to the fact that it is more profitable to work and get paid in bitcoin which its value goes up rather than jut getting paid with fiat, i ma sure that freelancing for fiat will no longer exist in the future.

[kryptqnick]

I think it's true. Maybe it's not only about Bitcoin but also about the world that keeps changing. People are more connected with each other, information is traveling faster than ever, competition is higher, so things have to get done faster, and largely online. Jobs related to specific short-term projects or simply people doing freelance are getting more popular, and Bitcoin certainly helped to expand the market of such jobs. Moving from company to company, from topic to topic lets people develop different skills and not get bored by routine. And flexibility allows to combine different kinds of activity as well as spend more time with loved ones or on hobbies.

[exstasie]

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.

The domestic "gig economy" in the US looks quite a lot different than Mechanical Turk or this forum. Here it just means transitioning from employment (full-time, benefits included) to independent contractors (project basis, no benefits). Only so much work can be outsourced to low wage countries, especially manual and skilled work.

So we see less taxi drivers and more Uber drivers, less delivery drivers on restaurant payrolls and more DoorDash/UberEats drivers. Lots of coding/debugging work that used to be done in-house is now outsourced on a project basis. These types of things.

It doesn't mean people here are working for crumbs, but it means they are losing medical/retirement benefits, financial reliability, and so on.

[Twinkledoe]

I think it's true. Maybe it's not only about Bitcoin but also about the world that keeps changing. People are more connected with each other, information is traveling faster than ever, competition is higher, so things have to get done faster, and largely online. Jobs related to specific short-term projects or simply people doing freelance are getting more popular, and Bitcoin certainly helped to expand the market of such jobs. Moving from company to company, from topic to topic lets people develop different skills and not get bored by routine. And flexibility allows to combine different kinds of activity as well as spend more time with loved ones or on hobbies.

That is the wonder of our digital technology today. You can do a lot of things online now. You don't have to go out of your room just to make a transaction to someone or somebody and talk important matters. And now, with cryptocurrencies on the rise. Many people have already benefitted its advantages with tx speed and fees. The world is changing fast. And we are reaping its benefits.

[mindrust]

Freelancers in my country used to use paypal.

And for some weird reason which nobody knows, paypal got banned a few years ago here. Freelancers ask about the paypal alternatives in public forums and whenever I see one, I tell him/her about bitcoin.

It is so sad most of them are thick as a brick they don't even want to hear and understand about it. Some smart ones are already using btc and obviously I don't need to tell them about it...

Sometimes people just create their own hell by ignoring the technological developments.

[hatshepsut93]

"Fueling" is way to big word here, because I personally know that Bitcoin freelancing is far smaller now than it was 3 years ago - there's barely any new job offers on sites like XBTfreelancer or in Services board of this forum. Maybe in the future it will change, but for now employers don't see any good reasons to look for workers that can be paid in BTC, and there's too little new Bitcoin businesses that would employ Bitcoin workers. Gig economy is real, and it's growing, and things like Uber or Lyft are also part of gig economy, but Bitcoin doesn't have it's own Uber, and Bitcoin's versions of Upwork don't have even 0.01% of Upwork's volume.

[passwordnow]

The "gig economy" means freelancing,right?

Yes.

but it means they are losing medical/retirement benefits, financial reliability, and so on.

This is the reality for freelancers, if the employer is too good enough they would think of those benefits. But if the employer just pass the tasks and let it done for the certain time, pay afterwards then communicate, rinse and repeat, they won't be the one to have that kind of concern unless you address it to them first.

My conclusion, majority of the employers are still not open to pay bitcoin. They still use popular payment processors like PayPal, Transferwise, Xoom, etc.

[romero121]

50% of works getting turned towards the independent economy generation completely affects the growth, because even now the competence is high. Using it as a way the works were meant to be done for low profit. However things get regulated this gets functional on vendor and the worker terms. As one of the user mentioned if this continues soon first world countries won't be first world country as such a way of economy boom is found much in those countries than the third world rated countries.

[ityandsyn]

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.

      I'm from a Third World country and you're right freelance worker in the internet are really growing and we are payed maybe not much but quite enough to have decent living in the  country and even better than those people working in the company and it's fueling the countries economy.
     Blockchain technology can help to be more efficient of kind of job.
      

[BitHodler]

It is so sad most of them are thick as a brick they don't even want to hear and understand about it. Some smart ones are already using btc and obviously I don't need to tell them about it...

Sometimes people just create their own hell by ignoring the technological developments.

People's ignorance is mostly caused by stupid friends who don't know what Bitcoin is. They paint it off as a scam or fraud because their government said so, but without even knowing how Bitcoin works or what it really is.

That's also the main reason I dislike people posting here that India banned Bitcoin recently, while nothing has been confirmed at all. I even read that the central bank has rejected these claims.

Most average people are sheeps--when one says Bitcoin is banned, the rest follows as if that's their only mission in life. The only thing we can do is educate people where possible so that they at least know the other side of the story.

[Astvile]

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.

People in third world who is doing freelancing will surely cant be compared to western freelancers.Payments are so damn low but because theyre in that country they cant do a thing but to be contended and work hard in order to live.Freelancing can make your life better im telling you no matter where country you are third world or country above all.Knowledge and hardwork paysoff.

[CryptoBry]

@davis

I don't agree with you mr. Maybe in US it is impossible to do freelancing gig as a living where the prices are also not that cheap
 
But if you do live on a third world country exploring blockchain technology can already provide you enough to live(maybe you were trying to define living as a luxurious kind of living)

Actually in USA there are also many who are into the gig economy or freelancing but of course they are offering higher-priced services as compared to those in developing countries. There are many niches in this industry that when we talk about quality those in the USA can amply provide. Of course, this industry is booming with those in countries with lower standards of living where freelancers are charging "cheap" labor while the buyers of the services are saving lots of money...producing a win-win situation actually. And of course, we are now seeing a slow shift to the use of cryptocurrency instead of the usual PayPal.