Topic: Imagine African countries using Bitcoin to pay salaries, - page 2. (Read 864 times)

there are several reasons why companies are reluctant to pay employee salaries in bitcoin; first, the company gets paid from their clients in the form of fiat currency. second, company assets usually consist of fiat, bonds, and other stable assets, not volatile assets like bitcoin. third, it is much more efficient and effective for companies to pay their employees' salaries in fiat currency, where they can avoid fees and employees can receive their salaries directly and not have to bother exchanging them.

that's the reason why companies are reluctant to pay their employees in bitcoin, because it is not effective and efficient. regarding the good potential of bitcoin in the future, it is up to the employees, whether they will invest in it or not.

I disagree with you. It is very possible for them to move from a fiat system to Crypto as a means of payment. Technological advancement is not fully accepted once it comes; it takes time and process for people to believe and accept it. There are tech-inclined people in these African countries that will adopt it first and start using it; even government agencies can easily adopt it, giving the masses some time to get acquainted with it. Do you remember when the ATM (automated teller machine) was introduced in some parts of Africa? Some countries were against it and said it wouldn't be possible now that you can find ATMs in almost every country in Africa.

all countries or almost all countries in the world, no one has paid their employees with bitcoin, let alone government employees, aka civil servants, of course, have not implemented it. except for private companies whose companies are engaged in the field of bitcoin, crypto currency or exchangers, there may already be those who apply their salaries paid using bitcoin.

Believe me, when I say it will be done very fast, if there are something in it for them. Let's take these examples :

1. Let's say your country are being sanctioned by other countries, then you have an incentive to bypass the sanctions with say Crypto currencies. (This will motivate the government leaders to push for this change)

2. Let's say your government are corrupt and you want to hide bribes and payments, then you will quickly move to a currency that can help you with that. (Monero)

3. Let's say you destroyed your local currency (hyper inflation) and you need another currency to protect the value of your wealth.

4. Let's say the majority of your voters wants to use the new currency and they base their decision to vote for you on your support for this, then they will rush the process.

In cases like this, countries will rush the implementation of new currencies or new technologies, because they are getting something from it.

It will take a very long time and so effort for a country like Nigeria to fully legalize and adopt bitcoin.But despite that the country has not adopted bitcoin to run the economical affairs of the country,there are so many core users and deep cryptocurrency enthusiast's that value bitcoin to their fait currency.

That is not even possible since no country in Africa has adopted the use of bitcoin as legal tender yet and if they did, it is not necessary they pay their workers salary in bitcoin because not all of their workers are computer literate that can manage a wallet by themselves. Only Central African Republic have taken a good course in bitcoin and I don’t think they pay their workers salary in bitcoin.


This is not the most convenient way to help grow the economy of the country and that is why the government is not yet to buy the idea yet. They could see the advantages but are not yet convinced with the disadvantages. As we want full adoption and widespread use of bitcoin, we need to look at the aftermath of it when used for any purpose that will not be convenient for the users since this is a technology that needs to be introduced gradually and users enlightened about it before them agreeing to save or use that currency for their own purposes.

And this is happening despite the Nigerian government not being very friendly to bitcoin and those which have chosen to adopt it, but when people have to choose between the outdated beliefs and laws of their country and surviving they will pick the latter without a moment of hesitation, and as bitcoin gets more expensive and its adoption grows we will see more people challenging their local governments and do whatever they want with bitcoin, a possibility that governments do not like one bit, but that they cannot really stop from happening.

Most countries on the African continent are poor and have very low per capita incomes. There are many other low income countries including Nigeria where many people are getting involved with Bitcoin and I really appreciate those people. There are other African countries, including Nigeria, which are far behind other countries in terms of technology or in all other aspects. Even those who are technologically or otherwise backward, who are using Bitcoin or are involved with Bitcoin are playing a major role in their country's economy. There are other countries, including Nigeria, where jobs are paid in bitcoins, so the news seems unbelievable to me at first. But since so many people in Nigeria are now involved in Bitcoin, the Nigerian government can think about it if they want.
As they are not able to improve their economic condition by other means, they can apply this method.

Bitcoin's legal tender status in Nigeria is indeed a crucial hurdle for widespread adoption as a salary option. While smaller, unregistered businesses might have some flexibility, legal and regulatory uncertainties would likely make most established companies hesitate.

The transaction fees and delays you mentioned are also valid concerns. Bitcoin's network can get congested, leading to higher fees and slower processing times. This unpredictability might not be ideal for a consistent and timely salary payment system, especially compared to the familiarity and immediacy of traditional currency.

However, despite these challenges, the potential benefits of using Bitcoin for salary payments shouldn't be ignored. As you mentioned, it can significantly increase awareness and adoption, particularly in a tech-savvy country like Nigeria. Additionally, for individuals concerned about inflation or currency volatility, Bitcoin could offer a more stable and potentially appreciating alternative.

Electing a "Bitcoin-friendly" government is the crucial first step. This would require a political landscape receptive to the disruptive potential of cryptocurrency, willing to navigate the complexities of integrating it into the existing financial system, and addressing public concerns about volatility and security. It's not just about lip service; it demands a deep understanding and genuine commitment to the technology and its implications.

However, I think  about existing government agencies handling the task is insightful. Creating a new agency might be seen as bureaucratic bloat or even a lack of confidence in existing structures. Instead, leveraging the expertise and resources of the treasury department or finance ministry, along with relevant agencies like central banks, could be a more efficient and politically palatable approach.

Of course, this wouldn't be a simple tweak to existing functions. It would require careful collaboration and adaptation. Existing financial regulations, accounting systems, and infrastructure might need significant adjustments to accommodate Bitcoin transactions and ensure transparency and stability. Additionally, educating civil servants and the public about using Bitcoin as a salary option would be crucial, addressing concerns about practicalities and potential pitfalls.

It would be a huge step forward for crypto currencies if a country would decide to pay everything in bitcoins going forward. As this is never done before it would be a case study for the future and if successful many countries would follow. The best would be if a small country would try to do it first, the less people living there the less transactions will be needed. Also it should always be an option, every citizen should be able to choose between paying and receiving money in bitcoin or his local currencies. Forcing a whole country to adopt bitcoin without alternative could lead to a big backlash. Then it would make sense for a country to accept all tax payments or other income from the government to be paid in bitcoin. Because if they start paying out large sums of money in bitcoins, they need to get the coins somewhere. And if they have to buy the coins every month via an exchange it makes them predictable and some trader could try and take advantage of them. The best case would be if the government could match their income and expenses, avoiding to run a deficit and making their currency more stable for the link to bitcoins. But it shouldn't be that the government will exchange large amounts of their currency for bitcoins for private investors, or the other way round.

Not just them being able to do it or even being ready due to the economic crisis, another thing is: are they even prepared for them to handle such based on technological advancement, and are the citizens even ready to adopt to that? And what it takes for them to just move from the fiat system down to crypto as payment? It's truly not that possible, and this is what I think is the least on the list of any country to do as this won't take them anywhere rather it might end up creating some unnecessary chaos on the system.

It's hard for governments to implement this, because they would have to purchase Bitcoin in order to pay their employees through cryptocurrency. And then there is an issue on this process, due to the possibility of purchasing Bitcoin for an expensive price, and then on the moment they are going to execute the payments the digital currency is devalued... Then the government would face deep losses which would impact the national economy negatively.

Maybe they could create some terms where payments in Bitcoin would be only allowed when the current market prices surpass the prices they purchased Bitcoin for. This way they would never be in loss when paying their employees.

Now, about middleman payment services, I don't think it would be necessary to adopt one or another agency. The government just needs a personal digital wallet to send BTC directly to employees' wallets, like in a P2P transaction. This way the whole process is much simpler, cheaper and safer. Simpler, because it doesn't need a third party service to happen; cheaper, because exchanges' fees are abusive sometimes; safer, because it's dangerous to let your coins idle on someone else's hands, as we have seen so many scams and hacks happening along the years in crypto industry.

Governments and their process have an obvious bias toward politics sometimes its just corruption and failure, laziness in the system that benefits the employees over those who are recipients of the service and this includes central banking I think.   In private business with very large companies I've seen it first hand this also can happen, a large company has a strength to suppress competition and this can lead to similar failure to serve the customer.   However usually private business is undercutting each other but with a natural currency, the national debt the fixed rate forced by central bank its hard for a market to stop failure before its too late.   Im uncertain if BTC can help Africa or any other developing market especially but it should at least offer alternatives to those who have none, its some life line Im just not sure how much.

Despite that, it also would hurt the economical development of those countries. Fiat currencies are inflationary what is needed for development. Bitcoin however is highly deflationary, what means it is more worthy to hold them, because it can be expected that its value is more tomorrow than today. This will lead to a downfall of consumption and collapse of the economy. Bitcoin is good to be a value storage but not as a daily usable currency to pay bills with.

I mean making it legal tender and accepting crypto are not that similar, one is a whole nation which makes everyone accept it no matter if they want to or not, while the other one is a personal choice. I think accepting bitcoin or any big name crypto at your job is not that bad of an idea, it allows you to be a lot better and it gives you another payment option.

Doesn't mean that you should ONLY accept bitcoin, that would be a bad decision, it would limit you, like accepting only cash for example, or there are now some places that doesn't take cash at all, I feel like those are not really that great. So, the best way to do business would be accepting all kinds of payments that you could technically accept, it is a good move, same with paying salaries as well.

And Nigeria lifting its ban of bitcoin does not mean they will make it a legal tender and the advantage the government will want to be taking will be on tax any were the government does not make money from then they don't really give too much meaning to it. Its good the ban was lifted but I doubt if the government will make bitcoin as a means of payment for the Civil workers before they can even accomplish that their will be a lot of challenges. As for me its better this way you have you cash you invest willing and make your profit rather than collecting bitcoin that is volatile in nature and once the price is down it will have effect of the reserve of country so as it as both advantage and disadvantages so the government really need to deliberate before making such decisions.


Any individual can decide to make it a legal tender in their own company and if it was my business I will do the same thing but at the same time I will store it and I won't sell the once collected already from does that spends their bitcoin.

Government agencies are full of bureaucrats who slow down every process, and this includes Bitcoin. They don't necessarily hate it, but the way a government works is that everything is usually done at a snail-pace, so in other words, months or years.

Also, the central banks of those countries would be fiercely opposed to anything involving bitcoin, since that would hurt the banking systems in those countries.

Not just that, it's just one of the issues in implementing bitcoin as a salary, not just in African countries but in other countries as well. As you've mentioned, bitcoin is volatile. Do you think most of the workers will accept it if the value of their salary decreases? I think not. As a reminder, I'm not against bitcoin; in fact, I'm an investor and trader in it and other crypto currencies, but the thing is, I don't think bitcoin in these days can be a good implementation for salary.

Another example is that not all people or workers are open to crypto currency or bitcoin, so it will take some time for those who have no idea about it to adopt that implementation. Another example is the most recent and popular issue these days: the high transaction fees when transferring bitcoin from one bitcoin wallet to another. With the current inflation rate in the economy, do you think workers can shoulder the transaction fees every time they need their salary?

Come on, this is such a long shout to even imagine it possible. It’s something that wouldn’t even happen, even in a case where Bitcoin is accepted for exchange or recognized by governments of the world. What would that say about fiat currency?
It would completely undermine the power of the fiat currency. This is the government’s product we are talking about here and some means by which, they extend a great hold of power and control on its citizen and you want them to take that way from themselves? Nope, they wouldn’t.
In the things I see possible, I don’t think this one would be the case if we still have governance and government.

Citizens might as well get comfortable with fiat because, it’s not going away. If anyone is obsessed with being paid with Bitcoin so badly while working a civil job, you could as well use your salary to buy Bitcoin after wards.