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NYSE-Listed AI Company Taps Lightning Network to Pay Employees In Bitcoin

Publicly traded AI operating system Vida Global (NYSE American: VIDA) has said it has started paying employees in Bitcoin using the Lightning network — but in a way where the company does not have the leading crypto on its balance sheet. The move shows how a listed business can offer digital-asset compensation while keeping its accounting entirely in dollars.

The Austin, Texas-based company said Thursday that after a worker in Argentina asked to be paid in Bitcoin, the firm tapped Bitcoin infrastructure company Voltage to make the transaction. For employees in economies where the local currency is unstable, receiving pay in Bitcoin can be a way to preserve purchasing power without waiting on slow, costly international bank transfers.

Crucially, the company is not keeping Bitcoin on its books. It simply sends the cash amount via Voltage’s platform, the employees receive payment in Bitcoin, and Vida’s balance sheet remains in dollars. The conversion and delivery happen off the corporate ledger, so the employer avoids the volatility, custody duties and reporting headaches that come with holding crypto directly.

“Vida has a global team, including team members in Argentina who prefer to be paid in Bitcoin because of challenges with their local currency,” Vida CEO Lyle Pratt said.

“Voltage facilitates the Bitcoin payments, and we settle the balance in U.S. dollars at the end of the month, just like a standard vendor invoice. It has made offering Bitcoin payments remarkably simple for both our team and our finance operations.” Pratt added that the setup meets employee needs without adding crypto complexity to accounting.

Voltage CEO Graham Krizek said the arrangement solved a mismatch between “global by default” AI companies and payment rails that haven’t kept up. Modern startups hire across many countries from day one, yet traditional payroll still leans on correspondent banks, cut-off times and fees that fit an earlier era.

“Their team members get paid in seconds in the money they actually want, and their finance team never touches crypto,” he said. “When a public company runs part of its team compensation on Bitcoin rails and the books stay boring, that’s the point.”

Lightning is a second-layer network that settles transactions around the main Bitcoin chain, cutting costs and increasing speed — originally designed so people could use Bitcoin for everyday, low-value purchases. By opening payment channels between participants, it can move funds almost instantly and only records the net result on the base blockchain, which makes small, frequent payouts such as salaries far more practical.

Bitcoin advocates like Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey have integrated the network into their businesses, including the payments platform Cash App and his point-of-sale company, Square. As more employers experiment with Lightning-based payroll, the model outlined by Vida — pay staff in Bitcoin while the company keeps clean, dollar-denominated books — may offer a template that other listed firms can follow without changing their risk profile.

This post NYSE-Listed AI Company Taps Lightning Network to Pay Employees In Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Source: BitcoinMagazine