Vida Global, an AI company listed on the NYSE American exchange, has begun paying some employees in Bitcoin while keeping its accounting strictly in dollars. The move came after a request from an employee in Argentina eager to receive a Bitcoin salary, a preference driven by local currency instability.
To facilitate the payments, Vida partnered with Voltage, a firm specializing in Bitcoin infrastructure. Voltage converts the dollar amount Vida sends into Bitcoin for the employee, offering fast transactions over the Lightning Network, which shifts payments off the main Bitcoin blockchain to reduce fees and speed up processing times.
Vida’s CEO, Lyle Pratt, explained that this setup meets employee demand without complicating the company’s books. ‘Voltage handles the Bitcoin payments and settles with us in U.S. dollars monthly, just like a usual vendor invoice,’ he said. This means Vida’s balance sheet remains free of crypto exposure, even as staff receive their income in Bitcoin.
Lightning Network and Corporate Payroll
Voltage’s CEO Graham Krizek highlighted the challenge many global companies face around payment rails that lag behind modern workforces. ‘Employees are paid in seconds with the currency they want, while finance teams avoid handling crypto directly,’ he noted.
The Lightning Network has grown beyond its initial design as a daily Bitcoin payment method. Figures like Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey have integrated Lightning payments into products such as Cash App and Square’s point-of-sale systems, demonstrating its expanding role in real-world crypto use cases.
Vida’s new payment system may signal a broader trend of public companies accommodating employee preferences for digital currencies without increasing internal crypto risk. It shows how tools like Lightning and partnerships with infrastructure providers can simplify what once seemed complex.
This material is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice.
