While it may have occurred already in smaller Bitcoin companies across the globe, the announcement that BitPay now has rolled out a Payroll API system, making it possible for companies to pay their employees in Bitcoin, has been quite a shock to many. While we don’t expect any mainstream corporation to integrate the system in any near future, the question still rises – How many employees in the Bitcoin industry actually wants to be paid in the virtual currency?

There will without a doubt be some people interested in it, either because they have no problem selling the coins to receive cash or because they want to see if the Bitcoin rises in value so they get a higher paycheck, but the general employee will properly still prefer to get the salary in his/her banking account. However since Bitcoins are completely anonymous, it might be speculated into receiving salary through Bitcoins to avoid to pay tax.

Bryan Krohn who is the CFO of BitPay made the following comment:” Since all payroll and withholding taxes are taken out first from the employee’s gross income, bitcoins can be sent from the net pay tax-free, and the employer’s gross income reporting to the IRS remains unchanged.”  

We are looking forward to see the first reports of how many companies exactly that has chosen to integrate the Bitcoin salary payment system.