[venaoy]

> you have to use an exchange to buy the coins

No you don't. You can sell stuff on Craigslist for bitcoins. You can mine. You can buy coins in person from a friend/from localbitcoins. You can receive remittance from your oversea family in bitcoins. You can buy them from a Bitcoin ATM. Etc. There are tons of ways to acquire bitcoins without "having" to use an exchange.

[tonyhb]

Shameless plug, you can also get paid with bitcoins via https://www.incoin.io/. We need more of this. I'd be happy to see another proper payroll company with the option to pay via bitcoin.