Bitcoin payroll startup Bitwage expands to UK

Bitwage, a San Francisco-based bitcoin payroll and wage payment service provider, has announced its official launch in the UK.

The latest announcement follows the launch of unique IBAN numbers for all Bitwage users receiving wages in the European Union. In an official statement, Bitwage said:

“We are now able to offer workers anywhere in the world the ability to receive wages from companies in the UK through local banking partners. This means that our workers can receive wages through Faster Payments, Bacs, Chaps or Swift into local UK GBP bank accounts.”

Speaking with Bitcoin.com, Bitwage founder Jonathan Chester said that the company has been beta testing this service. He pointed out that while the option to receive wages in British pounds (GBP) existed previously, it was not launched publicly. He explained that as this service lacked local UK partners, it wasn’t cost- effective.

“Before this, we had a banking partner with GBP correspondent accounts in Ireland that could receive Chaps, but not Faster Payments or Bacs. This was a costly solution for potential clients in the UK, so there was very little usage. We have now been working with these same customers during the beta testing of our new local UK services”, Chester explained.

With this launch, UK-based users will now have the option for a direct deposit into any wallet of their choice. The workers will also have the option of splitting their wages at any percentage between many different bank accounts and digital wallets. In addition, international workers with UK clients would now be able to receive their wages faster and cheaper, Bitwage said.