Bitwage Launches New Functionality for European Customers

The Bitcoin payroll and wage payment service provider Bitwage just announced the launch of unique International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs) for users receiving wages in the European Union (EU). This offer follows recent introductions of other service upgrades such as same day wage delivery.

Also read: Bitwage Expands to India Enabling BTC Wages for Workers

Benefits of Having Unique IBANs

An IBAN is an internationally-agreed-upon account format that contains information on which bank and country an account belongs to. Originally adopted by the European Committee for Banking Standards (ECBS) and later adopted as an international standard, it is now used in most European countries as well as many others outside Europe.

“Workers in the EU receive their entire wage into a single bank account,” Bitwage explains in its announcement. “Unlike the US, where workers typically have the ability to split their payroll into two accounts at the payroll provider level.” With its launch of unique IBANs for users receiving wages in the EU, the company says:

Now EU users have the first real option for a direct deposit into any wallet of their choice.

In addition, EU wage recipients can now view their wages in real time, flowing from EU companies to Bitwage. They no longer have to wait for Bitwage to process payrolls to know that the funds have been received.

Also, when wages contain ambiguous information, such as an address that does not closely match the employee’s records, the payment will no longer go through Bitwage’s claims process, which caused them unnecessary delays in the past. Workers had to upload personal information to prove that the funds belonged to them. Unique IBANs solve this problem since payment descriptions are no longer required for these transactions, Bitwage describes.

Unique IBANs will be automatically provided to all Bitwage Premium users in the EU. Other users with monthly transaction volumes exceeding 1,999 euros can also request unique IBANs, the company’s announcement details.

Bitwage’s Service in Europe

Bitwage claims to have over 10,500 registered users in total and have processed over 18.3 million international wages. Its website lists Google, Airbnb, Facebook, Uber, the World Health Organization, and Upwork as examples of companies using Bitwage to pay some of their workers.

In April 2016, Bitwage’s payroll for individuals in Europe was released. It enables users to accept euro wages via European bank accounts provided by Bitwage from anywhere in the world. Then in December, the company added a presence in Paris after receiving a grant from Bpifrance. Bitwage’s announcement states:

Since receiving a grant from Bpifrance and moving half of our team across the world to Paris as winners of the French Tech Ticket, we have been hard at work looking to expand throughout Europe and improve our European solutions.

Two Recent Upgrades

Prior to adding the IBAN support, Bitwage pushed through two major upgrades to its system. The company launched its “Same Day Delivery” feature in March for its Premium subscribers. This feature “is available for all funds received prior to 9:00 am Pacific Time Zone through ACH, SEPA and wire transfers,” the company explained at the time. “For all non-premium users, you will be able to check at the end of the day if we have received your funds and will be delivering them next day.”

Another recent upgrade was the launch of “Bitwage Authenticator”, a secure Time-limited One-Time-Password (TOTP) functionality that syncs user accounts directly through the Bitwage iOS and Android apps. It “provides more security than typical SMS 2-Factor passcodes and more convenience than google authenticator,” according to the company’s announcement.

What do you think of Bitwage’s new offers for European customers? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Bitwage

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