28 Jan 2014 / Wall Street Journal – A majority of U.S technology professionals would welcome being paid in bitcoin, according to a survey by event organizer Tech in Motion.
Out of 847 responses to a questionnaire sent to Tech in Motion’s 18,000 members, 51.12% answered “yes, absolutely,” to the question “Would you be interested in being paid for your work in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin?” A further 18.06% ticked “Maybe, let’s see where Bitcoin is in a year or two,” with the remainder saying that they would prefer to be paid in traditional currency.
Just 9.92% rejected the option because they “do not think Bitcoin will last,” and 1.18% said they didn’t know what bitcoin was.
The results will be encouraging to bitcoin payment processor firms, which are trying to convince U.S. payroll processors to offer crypto-currency options to their clients’ employees. Bitpay is developing such a service in the U.S. and, according to Chief Executive Anthony Gallippi, is talking to various payroll processors about the prospect of signing them on to it. In Canada, payroll management firm Wagepoint already has partnered with Canadian virtual exchange VirtEx to integrate bitcoin options into its services.
Payroll is seen by bitcoin advocates as a powerful driver of bitcoin adoption in the future. Obtaining the digital currency is currently cumbersome and inefficient, partly because exchanges and brokers have struggled to establish solid relationships with traditional banks to allow their customers to easily exchange dollars and other fiat currency into bitcoin. They say an expansion of bitcoin wage payments–even if employees opt to receive only a small portion of their income this way–would create a more seamless way for people to acquire and start using the crypto-currency, delivering it the same way they have always received their dollars….. Read more
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/01/27/pay-me-in-bitcoin-it-professionals-say/
