Getting paid in cryptocurrencies may seem like a bad idea, but this could be a really useful feature for international contractors. Remote, the company that lets you hire people and manage contractors around the world, will introduce cryptocurrency payments on Tuesday.
US-based companies can start paying their contractors with stablecoins in 69 countries. For this functionality, Remote partners with Stripe.
For now the company only supports USDC, a widely used cryptocurrency stablecoin operated by Circle. One USDC is worth one USD at any time, meaning businesses and contractors are never exposed to the volatility risks borne by cryptocurrencies.
As a contractor, getting paid in USDC means your payments are quick and can’t get stuck in the limbo of international transfers. Cryptocurrency payments are sent on Base, Coinbase’s Layer-2 blockchain.
And of course, it means that contractors get paid in a USD-denominated cryptocurrency. If you live in a country that suffers from currency devaluation, being able to hold USDC can increase your purchasing power.
When you need to buy something at your local store, you can exchange some USDC into your local currency, send the money to your bank account, and keep the rest in your crypto wallet. Some people might even start using a debit card issued by a cryptocurrency exchange to spend USDC without any hassle.
When contractors are invited to Remote to create an account, they can decide how they want to be paid: in a local currency on a bank account or in USDC. If they select USDC, they can enter their wallet address and start uploading invoices. When companies approve invoices in the Remote dashboard, Remote creates a payment request for all their contractors and automatically transfers the money using the correct payment method.
In the future, Remote plans to enable the feature for customers based in other countries and add support for more cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, for those who are crypto maximalists.
