The newly public AI agent company chose Bitcoin over stablecoins to pay international team members, with payments settling in seconds and its books staying entirely in U.S. dollars.
AUSTIN, Texas, July 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vida Global, Inc. ("Vida") (NYSE American: VIDA), an AI Agent Operating System for modern businesses, today announced it is using Voltage Credit to pay members of its global team in Bitcoin while settling its balance entirely in U.S. dollars. Voltage facilitates the Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network, and Vida settles at the end of each month like a standard vendor invoice, keeping cryptocurrency off its books entirely.
Cross-border compensation remains one of the most persistent operational headaches for globally distributed companies. Team members in countries with unstable currencies increasingly ask to be paid in Bitcoin, but most employers can't accommodate that without taking on crypto custody, tax complexity, and accounting overhead their finance teams aren't built for. Vida hit the question directly when a new team member in Argentina joined and asked to be paid in Bitcoin, their first preference over the peso. The company adopted Voltage Credit to say yes. Had Bitcoin not been workable, Vida planned to explore stablecoins instead. It never needed to. For Vida, saying yes has become a practical way to attract and keep talent in markets where traditional payroll comes up short.
Voltage Credit removes the tradeoff. VIDA draws on a revolving credit line to send instant Bitcoin payments to team members, then repays the balance in dollars from a standard bank account at month's end. There is no pre-funded Bitcoin wallet, no crypto on the balance sheet, and no change to how the finance team closes the books.
"Vida has a global team, including team members in Argentina who prefer to be paid in Bitcoin because of challenges with their local currency," said Lyle Pratt, Founder and CEO of Vida. "Voltage Credit allows us to meet that need without adding cryptocurrency-specific complexity to our accounting. Voltage facilitates the Bitcoin payments, and we settle the balance in U.S. dollars at the end of the month, just like a standard vendor invoice. It has made offering Bitcoin payments remarkably simple for both our team and our finance operations."For the team members on the receiving end, the difference shows up in speed. "Voltage removed the friction of receiving payments internationally completely," said Valentino, a member of VIDA's team in Argentina. "What surprised me most was the speed. I had no idea Bitcoin payments could settle that fast."
Vida is the first publicly traded company to use Voltage Credit for global team payments since Voltage launched the product in February 2026 as the first revolving line of credit offering instant payment finality with full USD settlement. It also puts two Austin companies on the same rail: Vida, which went public on NYSE American in May 2026 and powers more than 100 million AI agent interactions across thousands of businesses, and Voltage, the longest-running infrastructure provider on the Lightning Network, which now processes over $1 billion in monthly payment volume.
"AI companies are global by default, and their payment rails haven't caught up," said Graham Krizek, CEO of Voltage. "Vida is exactly the company we built Voltage Credit for. Their team members get paid in seconds in the money they actually want, and their finance team never touches crypto. When a public company runs part of its team compensation on Bitcoin rails and the books stay boring, that's the point."
The full case study, "How Vida runs global payroll on Bitcoin with Voltage," is available on the Voltage blog. Voltage Credit is currently available to qualified businesses in the United States. Businesses can learn more at voltage.cloud.
About Voltage
Voltage is a Bitcoin infrastructure company providing enterprise-grade solutions for regulated, high-volume businesses. The Voltage platform enables enterprises to integrate Bitcoin payments with enterprise SLAs, managed infrastructure, and capital-efficient liquidity solutions. From powering instant settlement to providing revenue-based lines of credit, Voltage builds the operational engine for businesses moving value on Bitcoin rails. More information is available at voltage.cloud.
About VIDA Global
Vida is an AI agent operating system that enables businesses to build, deploy, manage, and monetize AI agents capable of running business operations and communications. The platform is model-agnostic, orchestrating across Vida's proprietary technology and leading large language models and AI systems, including OpenClaw, to deliver intelligent, full-stack agents across industries. Vida serves direct enterprise customers and a global network of resellers, agencies, and partners. For more information, users can visit https://vida.io.
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Phil
21M Communications
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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/86ff56b7-068f-41a5-a2ed-2a13cf239c61
