As the world shifts towards remote working and freelancing, there arises a growing need to solve global payment problems especially among the digital community.
As the world is making more deliberate shifts to remote working and freelancing, there arises a growing need to solve global payment problems especially among the digital community. According to reports, there are over 4.8million people who work remotely in the U.S. and over 80 million people doing the same in Africa. Recently, Bernard Parah, CEO of Bitnob and USL professional soccer player Alex Crognale were the first to be paid through the world’s first lightning payroll by Bitwage, the leading provider of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payroll, invoicing, and benefits.
Bitwage partnered with ACINQ, Wallet of Satoshi and Voltage to execute the payment of the World’s first Bitcoin payroll on lightning to Bernard Parah via his Bitnob wallet.“Our vision for Lightning payroll is one where any user can add the wallet of their choice, get paid their salary, and immediately spend it through any merchant connected to the main network,” Bitwage said in a statement.
The lightning network is a second layer of Bitcoin’s blockchain that allows for transactions between parties that are not on the blockchain network. It is termed a “second layer” because it serves as an add-on to bitcoin. This means that the lightning network forms a secure channel through which people can send and receive payments from each other.
This ensures scalability, speed, and widespread adoption of bitcoin. Most of the use cases of the lightning technology were more focused on spending with merchants. However, it is indeed exciting to be able to witness another use case of the lightning network as it proves once again how it will be an indispensable part of people’s lives. “The concept of lightning payroll means I can get paid by the hour or even by the minute. Time means money, this is it,” said Parah. “Bitwage is a pioneer in the bitcoin payroll space and it is refreshing to see them push the boundaries of innovation and take the important first step in making this a reality.”
This therefore paves the way for people, most especially freelancers, digital nomads and remote workers to have the freedom to decide to be paid through a fully decentralized method in a way that is fast with little or no charges. From the African standpoint, receiving payments through the lightning network would create an avenue for remote workers, freelancers and digital nomads to be easily paid for the services they render to the international community. Existing payment channels are oftentimes slow or are accompanied with heavy charges which eat into the freelancer’s actual wages.
The lightning network could be what the digital community needs to bridge the payment gap especially where popular payment platforms do not extend their services to most African countries. This also levels the playing ground in the online labor market as Africans will be able to get a chance to offer their skills and talents to the world with little to no charges on their part. For the Bitnob user, this means more benefits of using the Lightning network as you can receive international payroll payments directly into your Bitnob wallet either as Bitcoin or Stablecoin. In August 2021, Bitnob became one of the leading African companies to announce joining the Lightning Network, thereby providing faster payment solutions for everyday needs and easy remittances to Bitnob users.