Uphold has recently unveiled a new partnership with the payroll payment service Bitwage, which will allow its users to receive their wages in Ether from now on. Cointelegraph talked to Jonathan Chester, Bitwage President, about this move.
Ether, the new, hot cryptocurrency which has taken the spotlight for entrepreneurs and speculators all over the world is in hot demand. Based on the Ethereum Blockchain, this cryptocurrency has a $1 billion market cap, and a company has already raised over $150 million in the space.
Many believe that Ethereum has the potential to bring about decentralized autonomous organizations (meaning organizations run by machines instead of humans). People who believe in this vision are collecting and holding onto Ether to be part of this potentially meteoric rise.
Like Bitcoin did, Ether is beginning to bud
However, there is hardly an easy way to receive Ether. Major exchanges in the digital currency ecosystem are now just starting to allow for Ether trading. It requires a lot of effort on how to work a trading system (limit orders, market orders, etc) to use these systems.
Frank Schuil CEO, Co-Founder and Board Member of Safello, identifies the progress being made towards Ether availability within the crypto ecosystem:
“Shapeshift in particular has lowered the barrier significantly. And for users who are comfortable with trading platforms it’s great news that GDAX from Coinbase added Ether after Kraken. The next step of adoption will come when a platform like Blockchain.info, Circle or the wallet part of Coinbase’ business starts supporting Ether. Jaxx is taking that position now, but it’s a slower route to adoption. On the payment side we haven’t seen any action yet, but when a company like Bitpay adds support it would have an impact. The debate of course centres around whether Ether can/should be a currency like Bitcoin or not.”
The payment part is here already
With users in over 90 countries, Bitwage already helps employees, freelancers and contractors receive their wages from organizations such as Google, Facebook and even the U.S. Navy.
Jorge Pereira, EVP, Chief Product and Engineering Officer at Uphold, comments that his company’s support for Ethereum is an example of how Uphold tries to innovate and add value to their platform with more currency options wrapped in a seamless experience.
According to Jonathan Chester, Bitwage President, now everyone with a U.S. or Eurozone employer can receive any percentage of their wages in Ether as fast as the next day.
Chester explains to Cointelegraph:
“Ethereum is an exciting new technology with the potential to completely disrupt the way companies and enterprises are run. While Bitcoin is still the leader from a reserve currency and payment rail perspective, as the most valuable, liquid and secure Blockchain, Ethereum is poised to be the leading Blockchain in the smart contracts realm. By receiving a wage in Ether, Bitwage or Uphold, this enables users to have one of the easiest ways to become a part of the smart contract revolution.”