Bitwage Now Lets Employers Pay Workers With Debit and Credit Cards

Bitcoin payroll startup Bitwage has added support for credit and debit card payments.

Users can can now link their credit or debit card numbers to their Bitwage account, allowing them to choose that employee payment option in addition to bitcoin and traditional wire transfers. The option has a standard monthly limit of $500.

President and founder Jonathan Chester said the startup explored various merchant acquirer options, ultimately settling on an acquirer he declined to name. Support for card payments is live as of today, according to Bitwage.

Chester said that the new offering was a response to feedback from the startup's clients, which have pushed for the added credit and debit card support.

He told CoinDesk:

"From our eyes, it’s all about seeing how we can provide the most value to our users, whether it be to employers paying international wages, or users using our individual payroll system."

Further, he said that the wage payment market today doesn’t have many options for employers looking to pay via card options, opening up a potential opportunity for the startup.

"So with both a market opportunity presented by our customers and a lack of a solution, we decided to figure out how to go about doing this," said Chester.

The release, which follows an announcement that Bitwage that it had partnered with an undisclosed insurance carrier to cover cyberattacks, is the latest for the firm, which to date raised has raised $760k in funding. Bitwage recently completed a startup accelerator program hosted by the Silicon Valley-based incubator of French telecom giant Orange.

Launched alongside the card payments option is its API, which Chester said has been in beta testing in October. Bitwage has already integrated its API with Hubstaff, a workforce monitoring service.

Payday image via Shutterstock

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Jonathan Chester is president, not CEO, of Bitwage.