(Bloomberg) — Employees all over the world are opting to get paid in cryptocurrencies, though they’re still in a small minority, according to global payrolls and hiring company Deel.
Out of 100,000 hires in more than 150 countries that Deel has been involved with over the past six months, about 2% opted to take at least part of their salaries in currencies not backed by a sovereign, the firm’s data show. Bitcoin accounted for about two-thirds of the crypto payments since Deel began offering that option in July last year.
Deel helps businesses hiring international employees and contractors, by providing employment, compliance and payments services. Its data set is weighted toward employees in technology and finance, who may be better informed about crypto.
The company said the highest level of crypto payments was in Argentina, notorious for its high inflation rates, where one third of hires chose that option for some of their pay. In Nigeria it was about one-fifth, while for Brazil the figure drops to around 3%.
In the U.S. — where several high-profile football players as well as the mayors of New York City and Miami, Eric Adams and Francis Suarez, have taken paychecks in Bitcoin — the overall share among Deel hires was just 1.2%.
Since laws in many countries, including the U.S., don’t permit employees to get paid in cryptocurrencies, Deel says it partners with crypto-platform Coinbase Global Inc. so that payments to contractors are directly converted into the currency of their choice.
Companies report the payments in local-currency terms for income-tax purposes. The volatility of cryptocurrencies means some employees risk getting charged taxes based on payments that have subsequently dropped in value.
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