How to Get Paid in Bitcoin for Online Tasks With Stakwork
Stakwork pays workers in Bitcoin via Lightning Network for completing simple online tasks. Here's how the platform works and what to expect.
Most people who want to earn Bitcoin think about mining rigs, trading, or convincing their employer to pay them in cryptocurrency. But since 2019, a Salt Lake City company called Stakwork has offered a simpler path: complete small online tasks, get paid in Bitcoin instantly.
The concept is straightforward. Businesses need humans to do repetitive digital work that machines still struggle with, such as labeling images, drawing bounding boxes around objects, annotating videos, answering questions, and translating text. Stakwork breaks these complex jobs into bite-sized pieces and distributes them to a global workforce. When you finish a task correctly, Bitcoin lands in your account within seconds via the Lightning Network.
How It Actually Works
Getting started is free. You sign up on Stakwork's website or app, watch tutorials for specific task types, and then browse available jobs. The platform walks you through what's expected before you commit to anything.
The work itself isn't glamorous. You might spend an afternoon identifying whether photos contain street signs, or transcribing short audio clips, or flagging inappropriate content. Each task takes anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. Pay scales accordingly.
Once you complete a task successfully, Stakwork deposits Bitcoin directly into your platform account. Withdrawals go to any Lightning-compatible wallet. No bank account required, no waiting days for transfers to clear, no minimum payout thresholds eating into small earnings.
Stakwork also integrates with Sphinx Chat, an open-source messaging app built on Bitcoin. Through Sphinx, users can pick up bounties (larger, project-based work) and receive payment the same way. The backend for this bounty system is open-source and available on GitHub under sphinx-tribes, with active development continuing as of June 2025.
Who This Is For
Stakwork appeals to a few distinct groups. People in countries with unstable currencies or limited banking access can earn and hold Bitcoin without traditional financial infrastructure. Workers who want schedule flexibility can pick up tasks whenever they have spare time. And anyone curious about Bitcoin can accumulate small amounts without buying on an exchange.
At the 2024 Oslo Freedom Forum, Stakwork founder Paul Itoi framed the platform as a tool for financial freedom, particularly for workers in regions where earning dollars (or their Bitcoin equivalent) represents a meaningful opportunity.
The Tradeoffs
Let's be clear about what Stakwork isn't. This is not a path to replacing a full-time income for most users. Microtask platforms by nature pay small amounts per task. You're competing with a global labor pool, which keeps rates modest.
The work can also be monotonous. There's a reason traditional jobs involving repetitive tasks have low satisfaction rates. Stakwork gives you flexibility and Bitcoin payments, but it doesn't transform the underlying nature of the work.
There's also the Bitcoin volatility factor. If you're earning for immediate expenses, watching your balance swing 10% in a week matters. If you're accumulating for the long term, that volatility is either a feature or a risk depending on your perspective.
Where This Fits in the Bigger Picture
Stakwork represents one slice of a growing ecosystem combining human labor, AI, and cryptocurrency payments. The platform explicitly positions itself as a hybrid: humans handle tasks that AI can't yet do reliably, while machine learning helps route and verify the work.
As AI capabilities expand, the types of tasks available will shift. Some current microtask categories may disappear entirely. Others, particularly those requiring human judgment about context, quality, or cultural nuance, may persist or even grow.
For now, Stakwork offers a genuinely functional way to earn Bitcoin for digital labor. Whether the amounts justify your time depends on your local economy, your reasons for wanting Bitcoin, and your tolerance for repetitive work. But as a proof of concept for decentralized, instant payment for global labor, it's worth understanding.