1) Can you explain the role of BitWage in the bitcoin field?

If you take a look at the financial loop, many users (or employees) are purchasing Bitcoins
with their credit cards or bank accounts and then going on to purchase goods and services
from merchants (or employers). The employers then have only three things to do with these
Bitcoins: 1) Use them to buy goods and services on a small scale, 2) Hold them as investment
or, 3) Convert them immediately. At no point in time is there an easy, scalable method for
bridging the flows of bitcoins from employers back to employees. This void introduces
inefficiencies in the Bitcoin ecosystem, namely that banks are a necessary aspect of the flow
of digital currencies.

With Bitwage, employees and users no longer need to have bank accounts. Our system
enables users to have access to modern financial tools without having to lend their money to
a financial institution or open an account with an intrusive service. While enabling employers
to close the loop and take advantage of the efficiency of Bitcoin for the purposes of payroll,
Bitwage allows anyone to bypass the slow and inefficient processes of acquiring Bitcoin
through banking intermediaries. In addition, with our Bitcoin Payroll for the Individual (BP(i))
product, we allow people to be their own bank by allowing anyone to receive part or all of
their pay check in Bitcoins, regardless of whether their employers sign up to our system.

2) Can you describe the single biggest achievement of BitWage to date?

International Payroll. People working from their home countries outside of the US as
contractors for US companies are constantly bombarded with fees when receiving their pay
checks. Banks, Paypal and Western Union all come with a host of fees when sending money
abroad. There are the obvious fees, ($45 for outgoing wire and $15 incoming from a bank,
.5% from Paypal, $5 from Western Union), which many people base their international
payment decisions off of, and then there are the hidden fees (between 3% and 8%) built into
the exchange rates.
While the sender may only bare the cost of the obvious fees, the receiver feels the loss from
both obvious and hidden fees as well as the 4-6 business days it takes for the money to
arrive.

Through our system, people around the world, in countries such as the United Kingdom and
Argentina, receive their pay next day, with the best exchange rate and the lowest fees (free
while we are in Beta). These international workers receive more of the money they have
earned instead of having to share it with several institutions as the money flows from bank to
bank, country to country. As we grow, our system will enable people all over the world,
regardless of whether they have a bank account, to join the global workforce's, receive
payments easily and cheaply, and enter the digital economy.

3) Why did you get involved in the bitcoin field?

When I had first heard about Bitcoin around 2011, I had dismissed Bitcoin as some sort of
underground narcotics currency. It was not until early September 2013, when I had watched
a Ted Talk labelled "Bitcoin. Sweat. Tide. Meet the Future of Branded Currency"
(https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_kemp_robertson_bitcoin_sweat_tide_meet_the_future_of_b
randed_currency?language=en) that I began to take an interest. The video had discussed
how Bitcoin worked as a more efficient means to send value across the internet. I was
intrigued and, thus, began reading and watching whatever I could get my hands on
regarding Bitcoin. Andreas Antonopoulos was a great deal of help when I was first starting to
learn about the Blockchain.

By the end of September 2013, my colleague John Lindsay came to me with the idea of
Bitcoin Payroll. He said in order for Bitcoin to grow and become an independent system,
there has to be an easy, scalable way for bitcoins to flow back from the merchants to the
consumers. He said this would be done through Bitcoin Payroll. At that moment, I told him
that I was in and we began work on what we would soon call Bitwage.

4) Did you have any past exposure with bitcoin which made you want to get involved?

While I, myself, have not had past exposure with Bitcoin, my colleague John Lindsay had
been interacting with the digital currency for a year prior. In 2012, John tried his hand in
mining with ASIC miners he received from a friend. However, as the mining difficulty
continued to increase, his machines became less and less profitable until it was no longer
worth it for him to keep mining. Upon graduating Stanford, John began to ruminate over the
various other inefficiencies in the Bitcoin ecosystem that could be improved. It was while we
were both working at Oracle that John came up with the idea of Bitcoin payroll.

5) What do you think the biggest challenges for bitcoin to become mainstream?

Everyone has a different answer to this question because everyone's definition of

"mainstream" is different. Some people believe bitcoin will become mainstream when
everyone is using Bitcoin without even knowing it, similar to how people use and understand
the ACH system. Other people believe bitcoin will become mainstream once everyone is
walking around with a wallet on their phone and laptop and buying goods with a BTC ticker
attached.
Regardless of your definition, there are three things that must happen for a financial
instrument to become mainstream, whether this instrument is to be used by the unbanked,
by multi-national corporations, or the general populace. The financial instrument must 1) be
easily accessible 2) be highly usable and 3) be relatively stable.

The unbanked have not yet begun using banks due to inaccessibility. Many countries with
large numbers of unbanked individuals either lack the infrastructure to offer bank accounts
to everyone or fail to provide a system that these unbanked individuals can trust to give their
money to. Multi-national corporations have yet to adopt centralized, non-fiat based digital
currencies due to the inability to use these kinds of currencies for any purchases once they
have received them. The general populace in countries such as Argentina are constantly
finding ways to convert funds out of their national currency as they have access to other
goods and financial instruments that are far more stable.

On all three fronts, Bitcoin has much space to improve. We at Bitwage are providing a
solution that enables anyone to easily access Bitcoin and are working together with other
companies in the space to solve the issues of usability and instability. Once these issues are
solved, the mainstream will see the advantages of a faster, cheaper and more efficient
financial instrument and begin to use it, regardless of whether they know it is being used.

6) Where do you see bitcoin heading as a currency?

As I stated in my previous answer, I do not see Bitcoin as a currency catching on with the
mainstream before Bitcoin is easily accessible, highly usability and relatively stable. That
being said, some places may catch on earlier than others. For instance, Argentina or the
Philippines have relatively unstable currencies, meaning that Bitcoin only has to become
more accessible and usable for the mainstream populace of these countries to begin using
the digital currency.

One of the biggest factors that contribute to Bitcoin volatility is the imbalance of speculators
over users who perform transactions. As the mainstream of countries with relatively unstable
currencies begin to transact in Bitcoin, the price of Bitcoin will continue to stabilize to the
point where citizens of countries with more stable currencies, like the United States or the
European states, will begin to take advantage of Bitcoin both for its efficiencies and its
deflationary nature.

7) How would you advise other entrepreneurs to successfully get involved in the bitcoin field?

I see a lot of people building consumer wallets and exchanges out there. These markets just
seem saturated at this point (especially in the United States). Instead of trying to copy what
someone else is already doing, entrepreneurs should be figuring out how to add value in
places that no one seems to be taking on. Do a quick analysis of what problems still exist in
the Bitcoin ecosystem, such as issues with 0 confirmation payments, issues with banking
relationships, issues with compliance, issues with adoption in the countries that need Bitcoin
the most, issues with Bitcoin POS, issues with having various exchange rates. By solving these
sort of problems, you find a way to improve the Bitcoin ecosystem, meaning that the already
existing companies will want to work with you instead of compete.

There are also a lot of opportunities in blockchain itself, with sidechains and smart
contracts. In reference to the creation of the internet (which I know everyone references),
while everyone else is focusing on working out the kinks of email and building the most
seamless and accessible email service, why not go out and try to build the first browser or
search engine?

8) How would you recommend a newbie to get started with bitcoin?

Learn. Before getting your first Bitcoin (which I firmly believe should be a small percentage of
your pay check), learn about Bitcoin. What is Bitcoin? Why does it matter? If you try to go
through the process of purchasing a Bitcoin and do not understand what you are
purchasing, you may find yourself forgetting that you ever bought one (or attempted
to). Watch the beginner bitcoin videos, check out /r/bitcoin, watch videos of Andreas
Antonopoulos and other great speakers in the Bitcoin community. Once you have learned a
little bit, then purchase your first bitcoin. The last thing anyone in the community wants is for
a newbie to fall prey to some scamming exchange or wallet provider.

9) What traction have you experienced with companies paying employees with bitcoin?

While we have spoken with a few enterprises interested in offering Bitcoin Payroll to their
employees, many of our companies are either startups or small to medium size
businesses. Unlike these big giants, these smaller companies have a lot more room to
innovate, not just with their products and services, but with their benefits as well. While the
SMBs tend to be run by individuals deeply engrossed in the Bitcoin ecosystem, many startups
are forward looking and see the value in Bitcoin Payroll, especially in their international
endeavours. The enterprises are taking more of a "wait and see" approach, since
implementation for an enterprise can take months and not enough of their employees are
interested in receiving their pay in Bitcoin.

That being said, our BP(i) program has seen a lot of people from various types of companies
and industries opting in to receive part or all of their pay check in Bitcoin. From government
workers, to enterprises and even people working in Banks, people from around the United
States and the world are receiving the benefits of a Bitcoin wage.

10) What cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin do you think have large potential?

When it comes to alternative currencies, I'm pretty sceptical. From my perspective, if any
alternative cryptocurrency is to have large potential, they need to have a vastly superior
technology to Bitcoin in an aspect that would be valuable to the mainstream. The issue with
a lot of the altcoins is that most of them just follow in the footsteps of Bitcoin. Instead of
creating new markets, altcoins tends to just piggyback off of the market that Bitcoin has
created. Other protocols such as Ethereum and Ripple have some interesting potential, yet
it is the protocol itself, not the currencies, that make these systems interesting.

If I had to choose one cryptocurrency that has large potential besides Bitcoin, I would
choose Tether. This currency is exactly the same as Bitcoin except it solves the volatility issue
by pegging the value of this currency to the US dollar. This peg is maintained through a
relationship with a bank. The potential of this is huge for both the unbanked and the
international payments community, however, Tether needs a little bit more liquidity before it
can reach its full potential.