If one were to look at the history of how people have gotten paid, or paid for goods and services, (See Wikipedia and other references) you will find that through history, there have always been changes or shifts in what one would accept as payment. From bartering to the transfer of legally tendered paper or coins, civilization has always figured out a way to get what we need through the exchange of a valued currency.
There have been a lot of questions regarding bitcoin as a currency, especially related to its’ success, volatility, ambiguity, and even its’ security. Bitcoin is simply another dot on the extremely long timeline of how we have leveraged currency. Bitcoin, in a way, is similar to the way we exchange gold. Gold is mined, just like bitcoin. Gold has a value on any particular day in multiple currencies (Dollar, Yen, Pound, etc.). If I want to exchange my gold for bills or coins in a particular currency, I will need to find an entity to exchange the gold into my desired currency. Once exchanged, I can then acquire other goods or services that accept that form of payment. Again, Bitcoin is no different. It is simply a virtual, digital currency.
I spent some time this week talking with Kris Dunn from FistFullofTalent.com. The topic of his podcast show, The CYA Report, was about bitcoin and what it means from a payroll and HR perspective. He had a lot of questions. Our conversation touched on multiple aspects of bitcoin. You can listen to the podcast here.
In retrospect of our conversation, I’d like to put bitcoin into the following frame of mind:
Before direct deposit was the hip thing to do, I remember getting a paper check in a tightly sealed envelope, every two weeks. I’d then take that check to the bank and do two things, exchange a portion of the value of the check into dollars, and then I’d have the remainder stay at the bank. Same process as when you went to the bank with that paper check, just now you’re saying… “can I get that back in $20s, $10s and bitcoin”?
Just recently Zuman announced our partnership with Bitpay, the largest global payment service provider, to enable Zuman customers the ability to get paid in dollars and bitcoin on payday. Because we are a cloud and mobile-based platform, we were able to integrate the conversion of dollars into bitcoin. Using our old-school paycheck example, it’s like opening up your payday check envelope and already having your money deposited into your bank and all you see in the envelope is the cash you need for the week. The exchange has been automatically done for you!
Bitcoins can be used to make purchases from the over 30,000 businesses and non-profits that accept bitcoin. I hope you’re ready, because the future is here, and it accepts bitcoin and whatever else is coming. And who knows, you might be able to pay for anything in any currency thanks to Apple Pay and your iOS device!
Want to learn more about bitcoin? Below are some great resources.
What is Bitcoin? (VIDEO)