First company in Kyrgyzstan to pay salaries in Bitcoin

Sputnik, a news agency operating in Kyrgyzstan, announced that it would pay its employees’ salaries in Bitcoin as an experiment. This is interesting because the country’s central bank still prohibits cryptocurrencies.

Although Kyrgyzstan, like Russia, has a negative attitude towards Bitcoin, the first Bitcoin ATM in Central Asia was installed at Dolce Vita, a pizzeria in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

“State control of money is an atavistic phenomenon. Humanity is developing rapidly and no longer needs surveillance and enforcement devices. Modern members of society are capable of self-regulation,” said Iskander Sharsheev, an economic analyst and Gyrgyzstan-based crypto exchange owner.

“Under the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, the only legal currency in the territory of our country is the Kyrgyzstani som. Using “virtual currencies”, Bitcoin, in particular, as a means of payment in the Kyrgyz Republic would be a violation of the laws of our country,” the representative of the Central Bank said.

Kyrgyzstan is located in Central Asia. Surrounded by land and mountains, Kyrgyzstan borders Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest, and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek. Also, this country was formerly part of the Soviet Union.

The Kyrgyz authorities have been talking to Central Asia expert Arkady Dubnov about this by focusing on Russian law. According to Mr. Dubnov, this is mainly due to several issues. First, Kyrgyzstan is still the most Russian country in the region. Another major partner could be China, but the ties between China and Kyrgyzstan are not strong. Second, is Kyrgyzstan's entry into the Eurasian Economic Union. "When Kyrgyzstan wanted to join the organization, Russia had already put forward some concessions. Kyrgyzstan now pays according to the legal provisions of the framework of the union," Dubnov explained.

Sputnik makes the first step to pay salaries not in soms, but in Bitcoins .

“To start using this currency, we need to know at least who understands these technologies. Only brave and capable people will start using Bitcoin when there are no people around who know how to use it. Sputnik as an experiment will start using Bitcoin to pay certain expenses. If you want to succeed in 5-10 years, you should start now,” said a Sputnik.kg representative.

CoinTelegraph Chief Editor George Gor commented on the news:

“Kyrgyzstan has taken steps towards the future. CoinTelegraph Media started paying salaries in Bitcoin before most other media; this is the best way to pay people if you have an international team from all over the world. CoinTelegraph has a decentralized payment system where the amount of money depends on how many readers each article gets.”