Ready to start earning in Ethereum and becoming a part of the web3 community? Well, it’s no secret that cryptocurrencies have recently gained mainstream prominence globally. With companies offering employee wages in cryptocurrencies to popular artists accepting payments in them, the young ecosystem of cryptocurrency is certainly booming. 

And, while on the surface this proposition might seem lucrative, you do also have to plan for contingencies and understand all of the behind-the-scenes implications. 

So, whether you’re already getting paid in Ethereum or hope to be paid in it, read on to learn everything from legality to taxes to safety when you get paid in this particular cryptocurrency.

How Do You Get Paid in Ethereum? 

If you want to get paid in Ethereum, one of your best options is to use Juno. So, while your employer may not be on board to pay you in cryptocurrency just yet, you can still use an online platform like Juno to convert part or all of your paycheck into cryptocurrency.

You can also choose to get paid in USDC, bitcoin, or a basket of currencies — and the best part is that Juno ensures seamless and direct scheduled payments from your employer so that you don’t have to worry about setting up this payment system more than once. 

Getting Paid in Ethereum: The Basics

Getting paid in Ethereum is relatively straightforward. All you need to get started is a decentralized digital wallet. While there are some cryptocurrency payroll agencies like Bitwage, which help companies pay their employees in Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, a more seamless method would be to get your employer to send your paycheck directly to your digital wallet. And, even though the blockchain is unvarying, it is advisable to maintain a ledger of invoices to ensure that your employer has a record of your paychecks. 

Ethereum operates on a trustless decentralized ecosystem in which smart contracts initiate and execute every transaction, and there is a permanent record of every transaction stored on the blockchain. 

Relative to traditional financial instruments, the crypto ecosystem is still in its infancy. As you may expect, there are safeguards put in place by the state to protect your interests. And, as per American labor laws, employers currently cannot pay their employees in cryptocurrency. Sections 6 and 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act require payments of prescribed wages, including overtime compensation, in cash or negotiable instruments payable at par. At the time of publishing, cryptocurrency is not considered a necessarily negotiable instrument.

Does this mean you can’t get paid in Ethereum? Absolutely not!

Setting up your crypto paycheck with Juno is completely legal, as Juno receives the paycheck from the employer in fiat following the Fair Labor Standards Act, after which it converts a part of the paycheck into crypto automatically. In simpler words, Juno is an intermediary between the employee and the broker-dealer. 

In addition to this, with Juno, your salary will be beholden to the same tax laws as it currently is. This is simply because your employer is paying you in fiat currency, and does not have to alter their current payroll processes at all for you to enjoy a crypto paycheck. Win-win!

Should You Get Paid in Ethereum?

As cryptocurrency is a relatively new financial instrument that is known to exhibit occasional volatility, this can make it look like an unreliable asset at times. However, contrary to popular opinion, trading cryptocurrencies is far from blind luck. 

Every cryptocurrency is released with a full whitepaper and an overarching purpose. For example, Ethereum is an ecosystem created to help developers create and publish decentralized applications. Ether, its digital token, is simply used to finance this platform. This implies that if you want to get paid in Ethereum, you can go through its whitepaper and judge it on the merits of practicality, ingenuity, and scalability of the cryptocurrency rather than just its hype. 

Is Getting Paid in Ethereum Safe?

ETH is powered by the Ethereum blockchain. It is trustless, decentralized, and immutable. A huge amount of computing power — contributed by all the computers on the network — verifies and secures every transaction. It’s therefore impossible for any third party to interfere, making Ethereum a safe place to store your assets. Having said that, there are some key pros and cons to getting paid in ETH. Let’s go through them. 

Pros

The biggest advantage of getting paid in Ethereum is that with your pay, you are directly investing in a high-performing digital asset. It also cuts out traditional banks as intermediaries between the employer and the employee for transactions. And, apart from gas fees, you don’t have to pay any overhead charge to be a part of this peer-to-peer ecosystem. 

Cons

At the moment, cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated. Moreover, Ether is not backed by any treasury apart from the utility of the Ethereum platform itself. While there is potential for an exponential increase, your net worth can also fluctuate significantly, based on how the market is performing. Furthermore, laws around cryptocurrencies can alter your earnings unexpectedly. 

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In conclusion, when you get paid in Ethereum, you can get higher returns, but your purchasing power is directly dependent on market sentiment. If ETH performs well, your net worth goes up significantly, but the possibility of a completely opposite outcome is just as likely. 

So, before deciding to get paid in Ethereum completely, we would recommend you start by using Juno to take a small part of your paycheck in ETH, and then build from there. 

In addition to that, read Ethereum’s whitepaper, understand its architecture, and, if you judge it to be a potentially high-performing asset, there’s no stopping you! Good luck.