We are looking for one person.
Someone who took a job, learned about Bitcoin, started a company, and now pays at least one employee in it. The index opened on 2 September 2026. Its first Verified payroll record has not been written yet. We want that record to belong to a person with a name and a receipt.
Why a story, and why a real one
Most writing about Bitcoin is about the price. Almost none of it is about payroll: the day a business owner decides that the people who work for them can be paid the way they save. This index was built to record that decision, so we want to tell it once, properly, in a short book that anyone can read in one sitting.
The book will not have an invented hero. It will not blend several people into one. Every event in it will have happened to the person on the cover, and the record behind it will be on this site with a date on it. If that person does not exist yet, this page stays up and the book waits.
Who fits
All six have to hold. The list is short on purpose.
Was an employee first
The story starts where most readers stand: with a job, a paycheck in local currency, and a growing interest in Bitcoin.
Runs a small company
Fewer than 50 people. A business a reader can picture themselves starting.
Pays at least one person in Bitcoin
Salary, wages, or a documented payroll option. Contractors count if the arrangement is regular and written down.
Will be named
Real name, real company, real city. Photographs are welcome but not required.
Will show one receipt
One payroll record or Lightning payment with the amounts redacted, shown to our reviewer and published with consent. This is the same evidence bar every Verified record meets.
Is not already famous
If your story has been on a conference stage, it is a good story, but it is not this one. We are looking for someone readers have not heard of yet.
What happens if that is you
- An interview. Two or three conversations, recorded with your permission, about how the decision was made and what it cost.
- The review. Your company's record goes through the same review as every other employer, under the published methodology, at the same fee every employer pays. There is no discount for the story, because paying it is part of the story. The review can fail you. If it does, we say so, and the book does not go out.
- The record. When the review passes, your company becomes the first Verified payroll record on the index. It carries the first credential ID in the sequence, which anyone can look up, and a dated line on the record that says it was first.
- The Standard. With your consent, your redacted receipt becomes the worked example of payroll evidence in the published methodology. Every later record is measured against yours.
- Certificate 001. Numbered, signed, printed, and posted to you.
- The book. Published on this site first, free to read, with your name on the cover as the person it was told by and a sources page behind every chapter. A printed copy is posted to you.
- The launch. The first press exclusive we place goes to your story, not to the index.
- Three Spotlights. Granted when the record passes, tied to your record, valid for twelve months. Spotlight is labeled paid placement while you are hiring. It does not change a finding.
Nothing about the outcome is for sale. The review is the same review every employer gets, at the same fee, and it can fail. What can be bought is not a credential. Everything on the list above is disclosed on the book's sources page.
What we will not do
- Invent a person, or build one out of several.
- Change a fact to improve the story.
- Publish before the review is complete.
- Print anything about you, your staff, or your company that you have not seen first.
Know someone?
Nominate them, or yourself. Tell us the name, the company, the city, and one place we can check. We reply to every nomination from a named person, and we tell you plainly if it is not a fit.