Four ways cryptocurrencies can improve the way we work

Cryptocurrencies can provide greater freedom and access in today's workplace

It is known that many people - probably the majority - work for money. As a new form of money, the development of cryptocurrencies can influence and improve ways of working by providing greater monetary transparency, access, and control. This was stated by Kieran Costello, Head of Content at Human Protocol.

According to a Costello post on the official Human Protocol blog, there are four ways cryptocurrencies can improve work for everyone and contribute to the creation of new job markets.

1- Bring workers closer to value

In its simplest form, work is an exchange. We give in order to receive: our time, energy, skills, or knowledge in exchange for financial satisfaction or aspirations. “There are few selfless acts; We do it with the expectation, implicit or explicit, realized or not, of a return ”, he remarked.

The more certain we are of that return, the more motivated we will be. Control empowers workers; uncertainty creates friction in the will - or at least, in the enthusiasm - to act. Cryptocurrencies have the potential to bring workers closer to the value of their work. Through blockchain technology, every action can be tokenized and paired with a transaction. Middlemen are removed, and no single entity determines whether an output corresponds to an input. Rather, this is done automatically, through a permissionless network that executes the same rules - and applies the same rules - to every interaction.

2- Transparency and access

Decentralized cryptocurrency transactions are recorded in public ledgers. Nobody controls this registry and nobody can interfere with it. This can influence the way we work by making the circulation of value more transparent and, through that transparency, more accessible. Access to information is necessary to be able to choose; to find out if the job being offered is a good job, consistent with an individual's expectations.

"Through the HUMAN Protocol, for example, anyone could know in advance what value is attributed to a work interaction, and the weight of their contribution in relation to the requirements of a job," explained Costello.

Verifiability alleviates uncertainty. For most, work is a black box: their contribution produces a result, but they cannot know-how, or if they are getting a "good deal" for their contributions. Cryptocurrency development increases work privacy. The result of the work is closer to the worker, without anyone in the middle to dictate or arbitrate.

3- Immediacy (payments in real-time)

If the giga-economy continues to grow, more work will become "micro-work." Beyond routines and roles, "work" can become the sum of many small contributions, requiring many small payments.

The HUMAN protocol aims to support labor markets in which payments can be released and distributed in real-time, once the smart reward conditions - which are used to represent and guarantee all work tasks - comply.

This helps workers who perform many small tasks to keep the momentum of their work; They are no longer required to track and verify payments but can receive immediate inputs - in tokens - for their results. The technology manages the automatic validation of work and the execution of payments, insured and registered in the underlying blockchain. It is also worth noting that blockchain technology represents one of the few solutions to execute millions of micropayments around the world. No current accounting system can execute (or track) payments at that scale.

4- Greater freedom

Freedom comes from control. Many blockchains exist to bank the unbanked - to give digital freedom to those who have traditionally lacked it. By providing them access to digital money, they are given a choice, which is the principle of control, which is the core of freedom.

“A global pandemic has underscored the need to create more safety for workers. The freedom to choose between the tasks available in the various labor markets - those supported by the Protocol - means that workers have security through the availability of opportunities, and are not tied to a single contract or role. Zero-hour contracts are exploitative because the worker is not in control; he is tied to a job that may or may not be available to him, at a time that is not his choice, "he explained.

“Similarly, platforms like Mechanical Turk offer micro-work, but only within a narrow range of what might be available. The Mechanical Turk market is a single market for specific repetitive tasks and is controlled by a single entity. Within the platform, there is little freedom of choice, ”he added later.

“ A single and unified means of value exchange - such as the HMT token - allows new systems for requesting and performing different types of work, ultimately benefiting the human worker. The cryptocurrency can improve the way of working by bringing both parts of the labor markets closer together, with Human Protocol underneath, supporting their growth ”, he concluded.