Argo BlockChain CEO becomes the first public company executive to pay salaries in Bitcoin
US stocks and bonds double kill! Powell disappointed the market, Bitcoin fell by more than $4,000 at one point
March 5, 2021Will Ethereum 2.0 surpass Bitcoin?
March 5, 2021On Wednesday, the British cryptocurrency mining company Argo Blockchain revealed that its CEO Peter Wall is now the first public company executive to pay all his salaries in Bitcoin.
In an update of the operating report in February, Argo (listed on the London Stock Exchange, stock code is ARB) stated that starting from the week, Wall began to receive his salary in cryptocurrency. “Any other Argo team members can choose to use Bitcoin pays part or all of the salary.”
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Wall stated that this was a bland decision for Argo. The company mined 129 bitcoins last month and currently has 599 bitcoins.
Wall said: “In fact, I woke up in the middle of the night and asked myself,’Why is my salary paid in fiat currency?’ Why don’t we start paying salaries in Bitcoin?”
Wall pointed out that NFL player Russell Okung is another source of inspiration. At the end of last year, some media reported that part of Okung’s salary was paid in Bitcoin; in fact, he was using a service to convert his salary.
In contrast, Argo actually paid Wall directly in Bitcoin from the company’s vault. Wall reports that employees are “very interested” in this, and he expects employees to be “particularly willing to accept” the proposal. Employee salaries will continue to be denominated in legal currency, and Satstreet’s exchange rate will be used to calculate the conversion rate.
Employees are not the only ones interested. Wall joked that some shareholders have asked about the use of Bitcoin to pay dividends — which may be an insurmountable legal obstacle — and he also said that some other company leaders welcomed the move.
Wall said that considering Bitcoin’s utility as a store of value and its scarcity, Bitcoin is an ideal way to get at least part of the salary.
He said: “People’s salary structure is constantly evolving, and we are very happy to be at the forefront of this direction.”
He predicts that other companies-even giants like Google-will provide employees with cryptocurrency compensation options in “three to five years.”
“In the long run, there is no doubt that we will use cryptocurrency in all transactions in our daily lives.”
Author/ Translator: Jamie Kim
Bio: Jamie Kim is a technology journalist. Raised in Hong Kong and always vocal at heart. She aims to share her expertise with the readers at blockreview.net. Kim is a Bitcoin maximalist who believes with unwavering conviction that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency – in fact, currency – worth caring about.
