Crypto payroll startup Bitwage adds support for Ether

Cryptocurrency payroll startup Bitwage has officially announced support for the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ether (ETH).

In a blog post, the company announced Ether payroll, meaning that workers anywhere in the world would now be able to receive any percentage of their wages in Ether.

Bitwage, which was founded in 2014, said that it has been experimenting within the Ethereum ecosystem since 2017. Jonathan Chester, CEO of Bitwage, said that they have created a system that enables companies to fund payrolls and other fiat obligations in Ether.

“Employees, freelancers and independent contractors can receive from any clients within the US, EU or UK. Also, companies that want to offer tax and HR-compliant Ether benefits can sign up to offer it as a benefit to employees,” Chester said.

A company representative told CoinDesk that adding support for ether “took a lot of behind the scenes work… because the whole system was optimized for BTC. It’s just a matter of now having gotten the infrastructure to add it.”

Bitwage has also launched a blockchain technology and consulting services firm, Inwage, which built several projects on the Ethereum blockchain. This includes the Moria initial coin offering (ICO), which raised $50 million, and a pilot project for a major insurance company that leverages Ethereum for audit trail capabilities.

Earlier this year, Bitwage announced its partnership with Simply Efficient HR, a Texas-based Payroll & HR company, which will enable companies to pay W2 Employees and Payroll taxes in all 50 U.S. states plus Puerto Rico funded in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

According to the details on Crunchbase, the San Francisco-based company has raised over $800,000 to date and is backed by Draper Associates, Cloud Money Ventures, Bitcoin Capital and others.