Published on October 8, 2021
Bitwage, a leading provider of cryptocurrency payroll, invoicing, and benefits, announced the successful conclusion of a $1.5 million funding round with online investment platform, BnkToTheFuture. The round was 125 percent oversubscribed in just over two days. BnkToTheFuture has more than 150K qualifying investors and has had over $1bn invested in funding rounds since inception.
Bitwage was founded in 2014 by Jonathan Chester and John Lindsay, who recognized the opportunity to combine payroll services with cryptocurrency and bitcoin. Since its founding, Bitwage has processed transactions totaling $120 million transactions processed, registered 50k individual users and 2,000 companies. It’s US business doubled in 2021, and the Latin American market has grown 20x since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
Bitwage has raised over $1MM from acclaimed investors and blockchain visionaries, including Draper Associates and Max Keiser’s Heisenberg Capital.
Bitwage experienced exponential growth in the last two years, catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the global remote work trend, and the rapid adoption of blockchain based assets. As a result of these trends, Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and stablecoin payroll services are poised to accelerate in growth for the foreseeable future.
Bitwage staking an early advantage with their 2014 launch, the company has dedicated much of its existence to perfecting the payroll process for cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. Bitwage has outpaced its competitors by maximizing years of product development, extensive transaction history, and deep relationships within the cryptocurrency and banking worlds to navigate the emerging blockchain consumer and regulatory environments.
According to Bitwage CEO Jonathan Chester, “When we first started in 2014, Bitcoin payroll was just a niche for cypherpunks and crypto anarchists. Covid-19 has acted as a catalyst for both the cryptocurrency and remote work industries. Bitwage, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payroll sit at the intersection of these two movements. The tailwinds are picking up for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payroll to become a massive multi-billion dollar industry and Bitwage is poised to become the global leader.”
Kwasi Asare is the co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer for Social Identity platform ESAIYO. ESAIYO captures, connects, preserves & displays important identity and historical data related to physical and virtual objects. Mr. Asare has marketed and monetized content releases that have generated approximately 20,000,000 record sales and album equivalents. He has worked with startups that have raised north of $50,000,000 in venture capital and angel investments. He has also worked as a marketer and business development executive on tens of millions in eCommerce sales.
Mr. Asare was the founder of Innovation Live (2016) and Cofounder of StartUp Rock On (2012), innovation public policy event series' running concurrent to The Democratic and Republican National Conventions. These event series’ featured appearances from Vice President Joe Biden, Former Congressman Daryl Issa (CA-49), Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA-15), Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, The Roots, Steve Aoki, etc
Mr. Asare was the New Media/Social Media Manager for Sean "Diddy" Combs' empire, overseeing the digital marketing and social media platforms for Diddy's brands, including Ciroc, Sean John Fragrance, and Bad Boy Entertainment.Mr. Asare has been a founding member or early hire for numerous startups. He has advised numerous large companies and agencies including Startup America, Google, Facebook, Bit Torrent, The Consumer Technology Association, Microsoft, Universal Music, Apple, Monster Products, etc with a focus on monetization, marketing and business development strategy and execution. Throughout his storied career he has envisioned and executed global marketing campaigns for artists and brands such as: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jerry Wonda,Ice Cube, Prince, Pharrell, Wu Tang Clan, LL Cool J, Outkast, Gnarls Barkley,John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Mary J Blige,The Roots,The Fugees, Diageo, Warner Music Group,Sony Music, Estee Lauder etc. Mr. Asare began his career as an Investment Banker at Citigroup's' Salomon Smith Barney and was a holder of Series 7, 3, 63 & 55 Licenses. Specialties: Online Marketing, Growth Strategy,Monetization, Social Media Marketing, Business Development, Artist Management, Media Buying, International Politics, Blockchain,Social Impact
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