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Salary in the cryptocurrency: hello, gray zone!

31 July 2018 15:32, UTC
Oleg Koldaev, Catherine Lange

According to the survey of SuperJob, only 2% of Russians are ready to receive salaries in the cryptocurrency, 8% agree to receive only a part of it, but 75% of respondents are categorically against payments in the crypto. At the same time, only 6% are not aware of what the cryptocurrency is, and about 12% are closely monitoring the bitcoin rate.

Many people look at the digital market with curiosity but do not rush into it. Imagine the situation: what if an employer decided to pay only in the virtual currency?

Here are the first and good news for digital enthusiasts. According to the coinmap service, in Moscow, there are "as many as 8 cryptomats". One of them is in a large shopping center, next to the station Voykovskaya. But the other one "defies the law" on Zhitnaya Street, right next to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice.

In the capital of Russia, you can eat for bitcoins. In some restaurants, you will be able to pay by presenting the QR code of the electronic application associated with the electronic purse. Of course, a restaurant bill will be still in the same rubles, and the payment will take at least a quarter of an hour.

It`s possible to buy a car. But in the second-hand (official car dealers do not trust the crypto yet). In the "Drom" he quite decent BMW X5 is on sale for 3 bitcoin.

But with the products for the family, it`s more difficult. Not many online food stores accept payment in cryptocurrency. With fuel the situation is more difficult: it`s not possible to find gasoline, which would be sold for the cryptocurrency.

The work is another case

The overwhelming number of proposals to pay the salary in crypto comes from employers associated with the digital economy. One of the managers admitted that the employees also pay part of the salaries in the crypto. He had to oblige all the employees to make electronic purses for doing this. The narrator wished to remain anonymous because he understands that his actions are not legal.

The salary in the cryptocurrency has its advantages

Despite the volatility, the cryptocurrency is still growing relative to the fiat. The trend for growth in the crypt is noticeable. In the long term, according to stock analysts, it will increase. Cryptocurrency is cross-border and anonymous. The desire for anonymity is not necessarily related to the intention to break the law. In addition, the cryptocurrency is fashionable.

But there are also disadvantages

Electronic money is difficult to scale. There was an attempt to split bitcoin into small payment units. And "Satoshi" was invented (by the name of the creator). But it has not gained popularity. It was too tedious to operate the tenth, hundredth, thousandths part of the crypto coin.

The second and the main disadvantage is the problems with the Labor Code. According to Article 131 of the LC RF, remuneration of labor to Russian citizens is made in rubles. An exception is made only in cases stipulated by the RF legislation on currency regulation and control. In these normative acts, there is no word about salaries in the cryptocurrency.

In the legislation of the Russian Federation, in particular, in the Civil Code it is established that all settlements in the country occur in the national currency, - lawyer Andrei Malkin comments. - If the payment is made in the cryptocurrency, this is a violation of the law.

The RF TC establishes the procedure for remuneration of labor: remuneration is transferred to a bank card or paid at the company's cash desk twice a month. Transferring money to a crypto-jar will cause unpleasant questions to the employer from the Labor Inspectorate and law enforcement agencies.

The only conditionally legal form to receive a salary in a digital currency is to work remotely on a company that is not registered in Russia.

In this case, all labor relations fall under the jurisdiction of the country where the employer company is registered. But the fact of attracting foreign labor, albeit without the presence on the territory of another state, will inevitably attract the attention of local control bodies, the expert concluded.

In other words, the cryptocurrency in the field of labor relations is in the "gray zone". It can be legally owned, it can be spent and exchanged, but it's impossible to earn money legally. Gold comes to mind again. The situation is very similar.