The Bitcoin Series - Part 14: What does The Future of Work and Bitcoin look like? - The Crypto 101 Show

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to the Crypto one on one show, where we
dive into the world of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, blockchain, and all
the technology with it. Whether you're experienced or a beginner
to crypto, our goal is to break down complex concepts
and make it easy for you to understand the basics,
from Bitcoin to all coins. We'll cover it all in
a way that's easy to digest and provide listeners with

(00:30):
the knowledge and understanding they need to make informed decisions
and better critical thought. Sit back, relax, and let's simplify
your understanding of cryptocurrencies on the Crypto one on one Show.

(00:52):
The Bitcoin Series, Part fourteen, What does the future of
work and Bitcoin look like? How Bitcoin might rea share
labor and employment. I need to start off by saying
this is not financial advice, so if you're looking for that,
the show isn't for you. The content of this podcast
episode is for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed here

(01:14):
are not meant to be taken as financial investment or
any other advice. Welcome back to the Bitcoin Series on
the Crypto one on one Show, where we're exploring Bitcoin's
impact on the world. We're talking about the future of work,
and not in some far off distant future, but right now,
in the cracks forming between old systems and new ones.

(01:35):
What happens when the paycheck goes peer to peer? What
does it mean to work, earn, and organize in a
world where the money doesn't come from a boss, a bank,
or even a country. Can bitcoin create jobs or will
it automate them away? Can it empower workers and unions
or to stabilize them? And what does it really mean
to get paid in something that's borderless, trustless, and non cancelable.

(02:00):
Let's talk about what happens when work meets hard money.
Question one, what does it mean to get paid in bitcoin?
Let's start simple. Getting paid in bitcoin means exactly what
it sounds like. Instead of receiving your paycheck in dollars,
you get it in Setoci's the smallest unit of bitcoin.
But behind that simplicity is a huge shift in how

(02:22):
we think about value, time, and trust in today's world.
When you're paid in fiat like the U. S. Dollar,
you're relying on an employer to deposit your paycheck into
a centralized bank that settles it based on their timing,
their fees, and their rules. That paycheck loses value over
time due to inflation, and it's tied into a system

(02:44):
that prints money more every year, whether you like it
or not. But in a bitcoin world, you get paid
in a money that can't be inflated, you're protected from
central banks printing away your purchasing power, and you don't
need permission from a bank to access it. For some people,
getting paid in bitcoin is about freedom, freedom from borders,

(03:04):
from conversion fees, from unstable local currencies. For others, it's
about long term thinking, saving in a hard money asset
that they believe will grow over time. And for more
and more employers, it's a way to pay remote teams
instantly and globally, no middleman, no wires, no delays. But
it's not all upside. If you're living paycheck to batecheck,

(03:28):
volatility matters. If bitcoin drops fifty percent that day after payday,
that's real pain, that's groceries, that's rent. So getting paid
in bitcoin requires financial literacy, planning, and in most cases,
the ability to convert quickly into local currency if needed.
That's why many people opt for a hybrid model where

(03:49):
a portion of their paycheck goes into bitcoin for savings
and the rest stays in fiat for living expenses. Some
services even offer this automatically now, like strike, bitwage or fold,
where you choose how much goes to bitcoin and how
much stays in dollars. Being paid in bitcoin isn't just
a different currency, it's a totally different mindset. Instead of

(04:11):
it being I worked forty hours, here's my money, it
becomes I exchanged value for value, and now it holds
something that no one can dilute, freeze, or take from me,
especially if I control my own keys. It turns the
paycheck into a sovereign transaction. And for people in authoritarian regimes,
hyper inflating economies, or gig workers excluded from traditional finance,

(04:35):
it's not theoretical at all, but more survival. So what
does it mean to get paid in bitcoin? Means more
than just a currency change. It's a shift in trust,
in ownership and agency, and for a growing number of
people around the world, it's the first paycheck that actually
feels like theirs. Question two? Can bitcoin create new jobs,

(04:56):
new economies, or new forms of income pure labor? Bitcoin
is seen as more than just a currency. It's also
seen as a foundation. And when you take that foundation
and combine it with open source tech, peer to peer culture,
and decentralized tools. You don't just change how we get paid,
you start to change what kinds of work are possible

(05:19):
at all. Let's start simple where there is already an
emerging ecosystem of Bitcoin native careers, such as developers contributing
to bitcoin core or layer two tools like Lightning, designers
working on wallet ux and onboarding flows, content creators educating
the public, security experts helping people self custody and event organizers, educators,

(05:42):
node runners, miners, and advocates. Many of these are paid
in SATs or satoshi's, which is bitcoin's smallest unit, and
often they are paid through platforms like geyser, open SATs
or peer crown funding. It's a value for value economy,
no gatekeeper, just people exchanging skills for bitcoin directly. Now

(06:04):
zoom out a little. What if the next company you
work for isn't a company at alldos, decentralized autonomous organizations
and other decentralized projects are forming around missions instead of payrolls.
These are online cooperatives that use crypto rails to pay
people transparently for what they contribute. No HR department, no bosses,

(06:28):
just a shared goal, smart contracts and community votes, and
a bitcoin world. These DAOs might not run on bitcoin directly,
but they can pay in bitcoin and reward open contribution, design, writing, code, community, moderation,
whatever adds value, and then there's peer to peer labor markets.

(06:49):
Forget the gig apps. In the future, you might open
your wallet, post a bounty, something like I'll pay one
hundred thousand satoshi's for someone to animate my logo, and
anyone anywhere in the world can accept it, do the work,
get paid instantly, permissionlessly. We're talking about global microjobs, borderless

(07:09):
creative collaboration, and streaming payments by the second. Imagine getting
paid as your music or podcast is being played live,
no fees, no middleman, and no delays. This might be
the most radical shift that adds a new kind of value.
With programmable money and decentralized protocols, we can start rewarding

(07:30):
things that don't get paid today, teaching, mentoring, local, organizing,
public goods. This is called proof of human work. Some
projects are already testing proof of human work systems where
value is created not by capital but by contribution. Show
up for your community, you get rewarded. Help translate docs,

(07:52):
for others get tipped in Satoshi's and the last one
would be a global on ramp for the unbanked and
parts of the world world where stable jobs are rare
and banks are untrustworthy. Bitcoin offers more than an asset.
It offers a livelihood. You can sell your art, write code,
or translate open source docs for someone in another country

(08:12):
and get paid instantly, no bank account required. Now, while
this vision is incredibly exciting, it's important to acknowledge that
it's still evolving and with new frontiers come new challenges
Navigating the unknown for both individuals and projects, there's significant
regulatory uncertainty. Governments around the world are still figuring out

(08:33):
how to classify and tax these new forms of income
and organizations. This means staying informed about local laws is crucial.
There's still a learning curve, and getting involved often requires
a higher degree of financial and technical literacy. Setting up
self custody, managing transactions, and understanding decentralized platforms can be

(08:54):
complex for newcomers, as well as some early stage risks.
Many of these DAOs and decentralized projects are still in
their early stages. This can mean project instability, security vulnerabilities,
and smart contracts or challenges and governance that are still
being worked out. These aren't insurmountable obstacles, but they are

(09:15):
important considerations for anyone looking to dive into these emerging landscapes.
Here's the bottom line. Yes, bitcoin is creating new jobs.
Yes it's enabling new economies, but maybe more importantly, it's
unlocking new definitions of work. No resume, no office, just contribution,
value and freedom. And in that world, your reputation is

(09:37):
your resume and your wallet. That's your invoice, your bank,
and your passport, all in one. Question three, what happens
to wage labor, unions and worker rights. There's a reality
here that bitcoin isn't just changing how we get paid.
It's challenging the very idea of what it means to
work and who holds the power in that relationship. Wage

(10:00):
labor today is built on dependency. You clock in, you
follow rules, you rely on the company to pay, You
protect your benefits and maybe even define your worth. But
what does it look like in a bitcoin economy with
bitcoin at the helm. There's a few things that would change. First,
the paycheck. It's not routed through three banks and a

(10:21):
payroll system. It's peer to peer, direct and unsensorable. That
puts power back in your hands, especially for people in
precarious work, freelancers, migrants, or those in politically hostile environments. Second,
the savings fiat systems quietly erode wages through inflation. With bitcoin,

(10:42):
your earnings hold value over time. That means workers don't
have to keep chasing raises just to stay afloat. It's
not about getting rich, it's about not getting poorer by default.
And what about unions. Unions are built to protect collective power,
fair pay, safe working conditions, job security. There may be

(11:02):
a twist and a bitcoin economy where the tools of
collective action might change, but the need for solidarity doesn't
go away. We could see bitcoin native unions that operate
on chain with multi sig treasuries, strike funds in bitcoin that,
when held in self custody, can be easily frozen or seized,
and global worker coalitions that bypass corrupt local systems entirely.

(11:26):
Of course, for these digital forms of organization to gain
widespread traction, that also have to navigate complex and often
uncertain legal frameworks designed for traditional labor relations, which is
a significant hurdle, and because bitcoin is borderless, imagine unions
that aren't just local or national, but global, workers from

(11:46):
Manila to Memphis, coordinating in real time, sharing strategy, pulling funds,
and fighting together. There are still some tricky things we
would have to work out, especially without centralized employers who
enforces rights. If you're working indos or decentralized gig networks,
who do you turn to if you're exploited, underpaid, or harassed?

(12:07):
This is the double edged sword of decentralization. Freedom can
come with risk, and in the absence of traditional protections,
will need new kinds of worker advocacy, like reputation systems,
transparent contracts on the block train, dispute resolution built into
the protocol, or community led justice systems. This is a

(12:27):
big shift. In a bitcoin world, workers may have more
power but also more responsibility to protect themselves, to organize
creatively to rewrite the rules instead of waiting for institutions
to do it for them. Bitcoin alone doesn't guarantee better
conditions for workers, but it does offer new weapons in
the fight. Harder money, faster payments, borderless solidarity, and freedom

(12:51):
from exploitive intermediaries. The question isn't whether bitcoin will replace
the labor system, it's whether workers will use it to
re shape it on their terms. The future of work
won't be written by governments or corporations. It'll be built
by the people doing the work. Bitcoin doesn't come with
a labor policy. It doesn't pick sides. It's just a tool,

(13:15):
one that could be used to exploit or to empower.
But if we're intentional, if people use it not just
to get rich, but to get free, we might build
something better than we were leaving behind. Thanks for listening.
This is the Bitcoin Series, and I'll see you in
part fifteen, where we explore what if bitcoin fails. Until then,
stay curious, stay grounded. I want to be extremely upfront

(13:38):
that I try my best to leave all of my
opinions out of this. I know this is very condensed
and simplified, but I want you to gain your own
understanding of beliefs and not be persuaded by me. I
hope this helps you gain a better grasp of it.
Please remember to share, follow, and subscribe to our mailing
list and to your favorite podcast app for future episodes
so you can gain more with your crypto knowledge. If

(14:00):
this sparks something in you or made you a question,
what's possible. I'd love to hear about it. And if
you found this valuable, share it tag someone who needs
to hear it or just sit with it. Thanks for listening.

(14:21):
Thanks for listening to this episode of The Crypto One
on one Show. If you would like to join our
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The Bitcoin Series - Part 14: What does The Future of Work and Bitcoin look like?

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