(Cointelegraph) Bitwage Seeks to Help Freelancers Gain More Bitcoin-Paying Work

By Evander Smart SEP 23, 2016

Getting paid in Bitcoin has become much easier over the last three years. Workers all over the world have been using Bitwage since 2014 to help them obtain Bitcoin digital currency through their freelance work, even if their employer doesn’t offer that payment option to them, directly. Now, Bitwage has a new feature to help freelancers and others get even more Bitcoin-producing work, based on the work they have done, called Bitwage “My Employment,” or Bitwage M.E.

M.E. is a payment-verified professional profile that allows workers to build an online reputation from freelance marketplaces and directly from the clients they have worked with to build trust and acquire new clients. By showing potential clients payment-verified information, all of which besides payments staying in a single currency can additionally be verified on the Blockchain, freelancers and contracting companies can prove they worked for the companies they claim to have served as well as to show how much other clients have valued their work.

Review-based reputation systems are a far less accurate reputation mechanism than payment-based reputation systems. While review-based systems are very subjective and easy to manipulate with fake accounts, payment-based reputation systems are based purely on the monetary value a worker has earned and are harder to manipulate, as money needs to be sent to earn reputation.

Once someone signs up, users are able to leverage all of the payment reputation they have acquired over the course of receiving wages through Bitwage. The user can build a profile that shows their employers, ranges of how much they have been paid, how long they were receiving payments as well as badges.

These badges include a Bitwage Verified badge, which can be put on websites, resumes and other profiles to help workers build trust off of the M.E. platform, a top 10% Volume and a top 10% Transaction badge, which are awarded to the top 10% volume generating and transaction receiving workers on Bitwage. Users can choose to show or hide their badges and employer information at any time. Workers can add additional information, such as profile pictures, biographies, one-liners and uploaded resumes.

“Two of the biggest issues for contractors are; dealing with payments and getting more clients, especially for freelancers and contractors working in an international context,” BitWage CEO Jonathan Chester told Cointelegraph.

“Traditionally, these two functionalities have been separated. Now, workers in the US, Europe, Philippines, Vietnam, Brazil, Argentina and India will be able to build reputation which can be leveraged to acquire new international clients.”

Each profile has it’s own personal URL and has 3 settings, public, private and link only. Public profiles are shown on a public listings page which anyone can view. Worker profiles are searchable via name, employers they’ve worked for, or any keywords from their profile. There are also filters for types of worker, badges earned, hourly fees, and country.

Link-only profiles hide your profile and can only be seen if someone has your specific M.E. profile link. Private profiles are completely private. Potential employers and clients can offer work and message workers directly through their profiles.

“How much you get paid and how long you get paid by previous clients are important indicators of how valuable you are as a freelancer or contacting companies,” adds Chester.

“When working in an international context, it is even more important to be able to prove that you provide good quality work. By sharing their Bitwage M.E. profile, workers can build the confidence they need in their clients to close deals.”

Full article available here.