Bitcoin is all the rage these days. The cryptocurrency’s value has surged significantly over the past couple of weeks and it shows no signs of slowing down. People have even started asking for bitcoin in exchange for their apartments now so it’s not surprising to see that a company in Japan has started paying its employees in bitcoin.
GMO Internet, which runs several web-related businesses in Japan, has said that it’s going to pay part of its employees’ salaries in bitcoin. The company believes that this move will help it achieve a better understanding of the virtual currency.
The company’s internet-related businesses include online advertising, finance, and internet infrastructure. It also started a bitcoin trading and exchange business in May this year.
GMO Internet is going to start paying up to 100,000 yen or $890 monthly to its employees in Japan by bitcoin starting in February next year.
Employees can decide if they want to opt-in to receive part of their salaries in bitcoin. “Employees can receive salaries by Bitcoin if they want to,” said company spokeswoman Harumi Ishii, adding that “We hope to improve our own literacy of virtual currency by actually using it.”
More than 4,000 employees of the company will be able to decide whether or not they want to receive part of their salaries in bitcoin.
Filed in . Read more about Bitcoin and Virtual Currency.