The situation
An agency pays its team on the last business day of the month and its office rent on the 1st. A good part of its revenue arrives in BTC. Every month, someone remembers, sometimes a bit late, to convert enough BTC and withdraw the dollars so payroll clears on time.
Late payroll is a trust problem, not a math problem. The aim of this article is simple: make sure dollars are in the bank account before they're needed, with a margin.
The problem: three clocks
Three clocks run between "BTC on the exchange" and "money in the payroll account":
- The automation's clock: when the run happens. You set it in US Eastern Time.
- The exchange's clock: the conversion and the withdrawal request, executed by Kraken.
- The bank's clock: how long the transfer takes to arrive, including weekends and holidays. This part is outside Coinomatic's control. Coinomatic withdraws only to the bank account you've set up at Kraken. Check Kraken for processing times.
Your schedule has to account for all three.
The decisions
- Due date: when must the money be in the account?
- Lead time: how many business days do you want as margin? Choose generously.
- Amount: a fixed BTC amount, a percentage, or everything above a reserve (article 13). If you need a specific dollar figure, note that fixed amounts are entered in BTC, so the dollar result varies with the price. Many teams add a margin or keep a USD buffer.
- Cadence: a monthly run before the due date, or weekly runs that build up dollars over the month.
- Who checks, and when? Put a calendar reminder for the day after the planned run.
Illustrative example – working backwards
Illustrative example – made-up agency and dates, not a recommendation.
- Payroll must be in the bank by the last business day of the month.
- The agency allows several business days of margin for the bank transfer and possible weekends or holidays.
- So the run is planned roughly a week before month end.
Because we haven't seen the detailed monthly options (such as "day of month" or "last business day"), the agency uses a setup that's visible in the app today: Scheduled → Weekly, on a chosen weekday, converting 100% of available balance above a minimum balance to keep, and withdrawing immediately. Dollars build up in the bank across the month, so payroll doesn't depend on one single run.
Monthly schedules let you choose a specific day of the month.
Spreading the conversion over four or five weekly runs also means that one skipped run (for example, insufficient balance that day) doesn't put payroll at risk.
How Coinomatic helps you set it up
- Timing step: Daily, Weekly (with weekday selection), or Monthly; time of day; time zone US Eastern Time; optional start date.
- App note: "Missed runs are not backfilled." If the scheduled time passes without a run, it won't be made up later, which is one more reason to leave margin.
- Withdrawal step: "Immediately after each conversion" is the simplest choice for payroll timing.
- Review: shows the schedule in words (e.g., "Every day at 06:45 (US Eastern Time (ET))") and warns that "Withdrawals execute only if sufficient balance is available at evaluation time; otherwise the run is skipped and logged."
Time check
Model example, your numbers will differ.
Our agency persona: weekly treasury runs, monthly payroll and about 12 client payments, ≈17 cash-out runs a month. Assumptions: manual run ≈22 min (17 for exchange work + 5 for approval and documentation); automated check ≈2.5 min; monthly review ≈15 min; setup 20 min spread over 12 months.
17 × (22 − 2.5) − 15 − 1.7 ≈ 315 minutes (≈5.2 hours) a month, modeled.
Not in the model: the cost of a late payroll. That's not something we can put a number on, but it's often the real reason teams automate.
Limits and how to check the result
- Time zones: you can choose your time zone in the app settings. Check that it matches your team's before you save.
- No guaranteed amounts or arrival dates. Conversion results depend on the price and fees at execution, and bank arrival depends on your bank.
- Withdrawal destination: without a verified withdrawal method at Kraken, the withdrawal is skipped while the conversion still completes (seen in our live test).
- Check: the day after each run, confirm in Logs that both conversion and withdrawal happened, and in your bank that the transfer is on its way. Keep a manual backup plan for the first month.
Next step
Read the Knowledge Base guide Scheduled automation mode and article 13 on buffers. Then schedule a one-off test well before your next payroll date.
Coinomatic is software that triggers actions on your connected exchange account (today: Kraken) based on rules you set. It is not a financial advisor, broker, or money transmitter, and it does not take custody of your funds. Nothing in this article is financial, tax, or legal advice.