Joey Bertschler, a former OpenAI employee, is building a cryptocurrency-based earned wage access system through his new startup, Volante Chain.
During an interview with Cointelegraph at the German Blockchain & AI Week, Bertschler stated that he worked at OpenAI before the launch of ChatGPT, helping enterprise clients utilize early AI tools. Later, he decided to switch careers and focus on fintech, creating a blockchain-based platform that allows employees to access their daily wages on the same day.
Volante enables employees of participating companies to receive their daily wages without waiting until the end of the month. Bertschler described the current practice as “depriving you of 30 days of freedom, leaving you unable to choose how to manage your own money,” especially for those living paycheck to paycheck.
He mentioned that the platform utilizes blockchain technology for seamless record-keeping, maintaining a verifiable ledger, and reducing costs to achieve low fees.
Volante uses AI to help predict employer defaults and assess risks in real-time. Bertschler described the system as hybrid: partly AI-driven, with human oversight and some legal review. He said that AI is used for pattern detection and decision support, but it is not fully autonomous. “There’s also semi-automation, involving some lawyers and human oversight,” he added.
Bertschler told Cointelegraph that Volante has raised about $2 million from private investors to date. He expects the streamlined company to operate for about five years without needing further funding.
He stated that Volante is “deploying to thousands of test users in Vietnam and Japan” and plans to expand in the future. He described this as the minimum viable product phase and likened it to a closed beta test.
Bertschler said he decided to leave OpenAI and subsequently pivot to fintech due to attractive offers from other companies and dissatisfaction with internal policies. As an Austrian citizen, he claimed that non-U.S. employees face limited promotion opportunities and are excluded from stock option plans.
“We are somewhat restricted. Our compensation is fair, but we haven’t received any stock options, nor can we really advance in our positions,” he said.
He also added that the company’s closed nature prevented employees from showcasing their code on GitHub, which is beneficial for long-term growth:
“I’ve written a lot of documentation. For example, my name doesn’t appear on anything. […] You don’t have a portfolio to showcase, right?”
Bertschler criticized OpenAI’s current direction, stating that the company has become more secretive and profit-oriented since Microsoft’s involvement.
Bertschler claimed that OpenAI’s actions are inconsistent with its name. “You could easily call it Closed AI,” he said, adding:
“This clearly goes against many of the founding principles.”
Reports in May indicated that Microsoft—OpenAI’s largest financial backer—is currently negotiating with the AI giant to renegotiate investment agreements.
OpenAI had attempted to restructure to focus on profitability, but this move faced opposition from co-founders like Elon Musk and early investors.
In early May, OpenAI announced it would abandon a fully profit-oriented model, opting to transition to a public benefit corporation. This structure will include a legal obligation to fulfill social or public benefit goals and will be controlled by a nonprofit entity.
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Original article: “From OpenAI to Blockchain: Joey Bertschler Builds Crypto Wage Access Platform”
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