We can send funds across the world using bitcoin, we can also use it to pay for goods and services and we can also trade it against other currencies and commodities. When we can do all these things with bitcoin, why can’t we just get paid in the same digital form which we can spend comfortably?
Actually, we can. There are many such services that allow companies to pay their employees’ salaries in bitcoin. It is just a matter of adoption and not many companies have opted for it yet. But the scenario is slowly changing for good. PEY, a German bitcoin services company has announced that it will be launching its bitcoin payroll solution soon in the country and it will be used by one of the leading German tech publication named t3n.
PEY will be adding bitcoin payroll solution to its already impressive service offering in the coming days. Based out of Hannover, Germany PEY has further extended its partnership with Bitpay by integrating its bitcoin payroll into their offering. PEY is already using Bitpay’s bitcoin payment gateway API from last year to offer merchant payment gateway solutions in Germany.
T3n, the publication that will be offering bitcoin payroll option to its employees has also released an announcement regarding its plans. According to t3n, employees can choose to choose to either receive the whole salary or a portion of the salary in bitcoin. Since bitcoin is not considered a legal tender in Germany, the employer can offer bitcoin as a tax-free benefit. According to reports, t3n employees may be entitled to receive up to 44 euros as tax-free benefits in bitcoin.
The adoption of Bitpay’s bitcoin payroll API by PEY was announced by the company in its official blog post. The company is already providing its bitcoin payroll API to OPSkins, a Canadian gaming marketplace and US-based Zuman HR platform. T3n will become the first German company to pay bitcoin salaries. By including bitcoin into the payroll, companies can save a lot of time and transaction costs otherwise associated with conventional fiat transfers.
While this comes as a welcome development to the bitcoin community, it is not sure how the governments will receive it. The European Union is already weary of bitcoin and other alternative payment methods. The governments believe that the digital currency may be misused for money laundering, tax evasion and other illegal activities. Following the Paris attacks, there have been calls from various EU nations to either ban the use of bitcoin or introduce tough regulations to rein in the digital currency ecosystem in the region.
However, the governments should not be concerned about the use of bitcoin in payroll as the companies using bitcoin payroll will be required to maintain records and report the same to government authorities on a regular basis.
If there is any objection by the government or any other regulatory body regarding the implementation of bitcoin payroll in Germany, we will soon get to know about it. We believe that it is a good move by PEY and t3n to enable bitcoin payroll and hope for more companies across the world to follow suit.
Ref: Bitpay Blog