[tyre]

Having worked at ZenPayroll in the early days, I can say with confidence that this is not true. Payroll is not handled by accounting software and it sure as hell is not uploading amounts and account numbers.

As for paying people in crypto, we considered it (I was the engineer working on it) and then we decided against it because it’s a terrible idea.

1. Crypto transactions aren’t reversible so reversing fraud is impossible.

2. Users don’t fully understand how blockchainy things work. Providing customer support to explain wtf any of it means would be a nightmare.

3. Users can’t use crypto for anything. I mean maybe buying illegal things on DarkNet markets but other than that the entire blockchain ecosystem—billions of dollars of investment—has yet to build a single usable product solving a real problem.

4. Currency changes value all of the time. What if someone can’t pay rent because they were paid in Internet coins that lost value in the time between their pay period and the end of the month? They’re just…kind of fucked? And again, most people don’t really understand what’s going on here so “it’s their fault” is a very uninteresting response. Don’t set people up to make poor decisions with ramifications they don’t understand, even if we can absolve ourselves of theoretical accountability on Internet forums.

5. In the US you can’t pay people in whatever you want. These regulations exist for good reason, back from when companies would try to pay people in store credit. Is blockchain whatever a real currency or a narrow utility that locks people in? Legally it’s a grey area (or was when we worked on it.)

Overall, it’s just a terrible idea. No one is sitting at home thinking, “damn, I wish I could be paid in blockchain.” I mean, they kind of where when crypto was going up and up and up and it was some speculative get-rich-quick pump and dump, but not anymore. (And anyway, we maybe shouldn’t encourage people being paid in speculative coins with no real-world uses? I don’t know.)

[tsahaghian]

1. Was fraud a big issue at ZenPayroll? I would assume this to be an issue for fortune 500 companies, not smbs

2. We're helping crypto companies for now - they get it. Hopefully non-crypto people will get it too as crypto becomes mainstream :)

3. e-merchants like Rakuten started accepting crypto. Amazon could follow. Consumer apps offering higher interest rates than traditional banking could also be compelling

4. You're right! that's why we're bullish on stablecoins like USDC or DAI - value is pegged to USD

5. Still grey, but moving fast - you can now pay people with bitcoin as long as they get minimal wage in USD. Paying bonus in crypto is an interesting use case

[tyre]

Fraud isn't something you can worry about after the fact. There are strict regulations around anti–money laundering and counter-terrorism that are less about de-frauding an SMB then spinning up fake businesses and using payroll as a conduit. The challenge with blockchain payments in payroll is anonymity and irreversibility (two of its significant differentiators.)

At that point, what are the benefits? Transaction speed is one, but you only really get that if the business pays in crypto (otherwise you still need to wait for the ACH payment from them or float the money (don't float the money.))

[tsahaghian]

- Is crypto really different from cash for this? Plus anonymity seems relative now as agencies like Tracfin can track back addresses.

- Our users generate revenues in crypto. Paying employees with it is just convenient, faster, and cheaper when part of their staff is abroad.

[Kiro]

> Payroll is not handled by accounting software

In many countries it is. Never understood what makes payroll so complex in the US that justifies another layer.