Bitcoin processor Bitpay has released the beta version of its Bitcoin payroll API (application programming interface) for employers that enables employees to receive a portion of their net pay in Bitcoin.

Atlanta-based BitPay enables merchants to accept Bitcoins as a form of offline, mobile and online payment, just as they accept payments from Visa, Mastercard or PayPal. The addition of payroll is a new service that facilitates the acquisition of Bitcoins.

"For the longest time, the hard question was, 'How do I buy bitcoin?'" Tony Gallippi, co-founder and CEO of BitPay, said in a news release. "Now the answer is easy: 'Ask your employer.'"

BitPay said it developed the bitcoin payroll API for its own use at the request of its employees, and has been using it with its payroll provider for more than six months. All 20 Bitpay employees have elected to receive some of their net pay in Bitcoin. Four BitPay employees, including Gallippi, receive 100 percent of their net pay in Bitcoins.

Payroll and withholding taxes are deducted from the employee's gross income, before paying the Bitcoin portion, Bryan Krohn, BitPay's CFO, said in a statement. "Employer gross income reporting to the IRS remains unchanged."

The BitPay Bitcoin Payroll API is offered by BitPay Services LLC, a licensed check seller and money transmitter in the State of Georgia.

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