How would it affect my taxes if as a contractor for a company I got paid in Bitcoin instead of USD?

That's not a very apt comparison at all. A Bitcoin is not "owning a piece of the transaction network", it's owning what is essentially a very large prime number. It does not entitle you to any rights or recognition, it's basically like owning a Chuck-E-Cheese token. It has no intrinsic value at all, unlike a share of Wells Fargo which represents your portion of the company, redeemable in a well-established, legally-protected marketplace, as well as your right to a dividend paid out by Wells Fargo.

Sure, at the moment there are people who will take Chuck-E-Cheese tokens and give you real money or goods in exchange, but we've watched the crappy plastic whistle marketplace routinely tank the token value over nothing, there's in-fighting in the community about how to run it, and if tomorrow nobody is willing to exchange it for real money it's not worth its weight in scrap. Oh, and apparently people use these Chuck-E-Cheese tokens to buy a ton of drugs.

I wouldn't take your investment advice from Jaden Smith.

/r/personalfinance Thread Parent