Bitcoin Salary Startup Nominated for Innovation Award

Australian Bitcoin salary company Get Paid In Bitcoin is competing for an “Innovative Startup” award in its home state, Tasmania. Voting is now underway.

Also read: Self-Driving Cars Don’t Need Uber, They Need Digital Cash

GPIB is nominated in the Innovative Startup category at the Innovative Tasmania Awards 2016. Voting for the awards, which are part of a film festival in the City of Launceston, runs until September 30.

The festival itself will take places from November 10-13 this year.

The nomination represents another step towards mainstream acceptance for Bitcoin in Australia. Although regulators and governments have been permissive to Bitcoin, some banks have been unwilling to work with related startups.

Bitcoin Salary a Good Introduction to Digital Currency

Speaking to Bitcoin.com, Get Paid in Bitcoin founder and CEO Adam Poulton said the company had done little promotion so far. Its growth has been “100% organic” since a soft-launch last December.

“We feel that Bitcoin is still in the early adopter phase with many questions about its relevance from the wider public,” Poulton said, “as many of the regular things you expect to do with money are either nonexistent or difficult.”

Like BitWage in the US, GPIB aims to make Bitcoin seamless for clients by automatically paying a percentage of their regular salary directly to their bitcoin wallets. It removes the need to manually exchange dollars, letting users save or spend the bitcoins they receive as they choose.

Employers Can Participate, Or Not

Clients sign up with GPIB independently of their employers, meaning they don’t have to reveal their interest in Bitcoin to their bosses. If employers are interested, however, GPIB provides a portal for them to offer Bitcoin wages to their staff.

The service charges a flat $1 AUD fee per deposit.

Poulton said the response so far is positive, especially from clients with no previous Bitcoin experience.

“We think this will be a strong growth leader into the future, bringing new people into Bitcoin and allowing growth of the BTC economy and retail Bitcoin sector,” he said.

Other Bitcoin-related Innovation

Poulton also serves as the current president of an advocacy organization, the Bitcoin Association of Australia (BAA). A Launceston resident, he has participated in several initiatives to promote bitcoin in the city over the years.

He also ran for a Senate seat in the country’s July federal election, representing the experimental open democracy party, Flux. The party has no political platform, but allows members to decide on issues via a blockchain-based voting system.

Poulton said Get Paid in Bitcoin attracted the attention of innovation awards organizers through a Smart Cities project. Smart Cities is a national initiative designed to prepare Australian cities to innovate and “succeed in the 21st Century economy”.

Would you choose to receive your regular salary in bitcoin? Is this the kind of innovation Bitcoin needs to go mainstream? Let us know in the comments.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Get Paid in Bitcoin.

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