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Bitcoin Benefits

Reward your team
with hard money.

Most small business owners haven't thought about bitcoin as an employee benefit. Our free award calculator changes that by showing what three different funding approaches look like in practice—from a single upfront purchase to regular annual contributions to something in between. Compare the approaches and pick the one that fits your business.

§ How it works

Four steps, no signup, no nonsense.

  1. Pick a funding approach.

    Pioneer makes a statement: 0.02 BTC, all at once, from day one. Stacker hedges: 0.01 BTC upfront, then 0.002 BTC annually for five years, so you're both committing and averaging. Builder goes long: 0.002 BTC per year for ten years, the lowest annual spend but the longest tenure signal. Each funding approach totals 0.02 BTC but tells a different story about how you're buying bitcoin for your team.

  2. Pick an unlock schedule.

    The unlock schedule controls when the employee actually owns the bitcoin you've already bought. Recruit feels like a signing bonus: they own half after year one and the whole award by year two. Retain asks them to stay three years before the first unlock, then another two before full ownership. Reward is a decade-long commitment: half at year five, full at year ten.

  3. Read the projection.

    Build your plan and the calculator projects the award's USD value over time, based on the growth assumptions you pick. A year-by-year breakdown lists every unlock event, award size, and estimated dollar value. From there, you decide whether the numbers make sense for your business.

  4. Show your team.

    Awards can trigger on performance, tenure, training, or any condition you choose. You structure the purchase upfront — lump sum, layered annual additions, or DCA across the term — and the unlock schedule runs itself. No ongoing administration, no surprise obligations: the bitcoin you commit on day one is the bitcoin you'll deliver. The tracking page lets you create a shareable link for each employee's wallet. They open it and watch their awards unlock in real time.

§ Why Bitcoin for benefits

Bitcoin compensation is transparent in a way stock and cash are not.

A 401(k) match can be suspended. Health plans can be redesigned. Stock options can be repriced or cancelled if the company struggles. Unlock schedules can be accelerated or extended at the company's discretion. None of those changes require the employee's consent. They are unilateral moves, however benign the intention.

Bitcoin works differently. The company buys the bitcoin upfront and assigns it to an employee. Once unlocked and in the employee's wallet, the award is no longer a promise. It is an asset the employee controls absolutely. No company memo can claw it back. The supply schedule can't be changed. The settlement can't be reversed. The employee's custody is not negotiable.

That property appeals to small businesses building long-term cultures (it signals trust, not control) and to the caliber of hire who reads the fine print: someone who wants to know their compensation isn't dependent on the company's future discretion.

Halving schedule · published, in protocol

  1. Genesis

    2009 · block 0

    50.000 BTC

  2. Halving 1

    2012 · block 210,000

    25.000 BTC

  3. Halving 2

    2016 · block 420,000

    12.500 BTC

  4. Halving 3

    2020 · block 630,000

    6.250 BTC

  5. Halving 4

    2024 · block 840,000

    3.125 BTC

  6. Halving 5

    ≈2028 · block 1,050,000

    1.5625 BTC

  7. Halving 6

    ≈2032 · block 1,260,000

    0.78125 BTC

Halvings occur every 210,000 blocks. Calendar dates shift with realized block intervals (target ten minutes; observed average slightly faster). Block heights are exact; years for halvings 5 and beyond are projections.

§ Who this is for

This site serves two audiences.

For founders & operators

A calculator and a defensible structure. That's it.

You're weighing bitcoin compensation because it makes sense for your business, whether that's avoiding another capital raise, aligning with your values, or attracting people who think long-term. The hard part is execution: which award size, which unlock schedule, what does it actually cost, how do you explain it to investors.

The calculator answers those questions. Three funding approaches, each totaling 0.02 BTC but distributed differently. Three unlock schedules: pick the one that matches your tenure expectations. A projection that shows the USD value over time. Print it and hand it to your lawyer.

Open the Stacker approach →

For HR & benefits leads

A way to model the award and understand your obligation.

Your company is issuing bitcoin. You're responsible for making sure your people understand what they're receiving, when they can access it, and what it means for their taxes and financial planning. The bitcoin part is almost secondary. You're administering an award, the same way you would a bonus or a restricted stock unit.

The calculator shows what that award looks like over time. Run different scenarios (different market prices, different unlock timelines) and compare the results to your existing compensation. Use those numbers in conversation with your finance and legal teams.

Read the explainer first →

§ Objections, answered

The honest list.

What if Bitcoin drops sixty percent before the position unlocks?
It probably will, at least once, between hire and the final unlock milestone. Price drops of that magnitude have happened in every cycle since 2011. The funding approaches here are designed to make that survivable: every award is small, every unlock milestone is years out, and the position is measured in BTC, not USD. The team member acquires bitcoin; the dollar value rides the cycle. If you can't tolerate that framing, this is the wrong instrument.
How is this taxed?
In the US, BTC compensation is treated as ordinary income at fair market value on the date of receipt, with capital gains/losses on any subsequent appreciation. You owe tax when each unlock lands, not when the award was first assigned. Other jurisdictions vary considerably. This is not tax advice. Talk to a CPA who has handled crypto compensation before. The schedule export from the calculator includes the data your CPA will ask for.
Isn't custody a liability for the company?
It is, if you hold the bitcoin on the team's behalf. The default pattern we recommend is the inverse: awards are paid out to the team member's own wallet at unlock, transferring custody (and the liability) at the same moment as the economic interest. Until unlock, the company holds the BTC in its own treasury or with a professional custodian, the same way it would hold any reserve.
What happens to unlocked Bitcoin if an employee quits?
Unlocked BTC is the team member's, full stop: the same legal logic as a vested stock option. Locked BTC reverts to the company per the unlock schedule. The departure doesn't accelerate the unlock unless your employment agreement says so. Configure the schedule in the calculator to model exactly when the cliff and milestones sit.
What if regulation changes?
Compensation in BTC is currently legal in every major jurisdiction we're aware of, with reporting requirements that vary. The direction of the rules since 2022 has been toward clarity, not prohibition. That said, this is a multi-year unlock in an asset whose treatment is still evolving. Keep counsel close, particularly if you have international hires or operate in a state with active crypto-specific legislation.
Why not just pay a salary in dollars and let people buy BTC themselves?
That's a perfectly valid strategy. Bitcoin-as-benefit is not an argument that everyone should hold BTC. It's an argument that the team members who already want exposure to it should be able to receive their long-term compensation in it directly, without paying the exchange fees, delays, and the income-tax-then-buy hassle of doing it manually each pay period.