Bloomberg News reports that although crypto winter is almost settling in, the remote workers in Latin America and a few other places are still interested in accepting their payment in digital currency against their work.
Crypto payouts show a surge of 2%
It was observed that during the first six months of the year, around 5% of the total payments were accepted by the workers in crypto. This is in sharp contrast to what it was during the latter half of 2021 and was seen to be up by 2%. These details were revealed when Deel analyzed as many as 10,000 contract workers. Deel has helped many companies in hiring workers in over 150 countries. Interestingly, about two-thirds of the withdrawals made were in Latin America.
The request to be paid in crypto assets has come as a surprise for many, especially after a massive wipeout of some of the big names following the $2 trillion crash that has taken place in the crypto market of late. Aside from wiping out a few bigger names, the crash has also put hundreds of thousands of retail investors at stake. However, digital currencies have proved to be a major avenue of income amidst a series of unstable economies, including Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina.
Argentina lead in remote workers getting paid in digital assets
Argentina happens to be one of the most sought-after locations for remote workers. And it is quite common for them to get paid in crypto assets so that the exchange controls can be circumvented to safeguard them from rising inflation. Bloomberg News reports that in Argentina, a higher number of workers receive their payments in cryptocurrency compared to any other place, as revealed by Deel. However, due to the crash of stablecoins, Argentinians have had to incur huge losses, especially for those that did not convert them to pesos but kept holding digital tokens instead.
Argentina is mostly faced with currency crises that are mostly recurring, and with inflation at 60% now annually, about 2/3rds Argentinians invest in cryptocurrency and cite the reason as protecting their savings, as per a study conducted by Buenos Aires-based Wunderman Thompson.
Deel found that in North America, where many well-known, high-profile football players have accepted their payments in Bitcoin, along with the likes of mayors of Miami and New York, the total share of crypto withdrawals was only 7% up to last year.
The fact that cryptocurrencies are volatile has forced many workers to pay taxes based on the payments received in digital tokens for any changes in their value.
