Apart from high-profile athletes and politicians who are taking salaries in crypto, a study shows that the number of ordinary people who take some of their salaries in crypto has increased globally.
Tracking trends that occurred in 2021, global hiring firm Deel published a report that noted a 10% month-over-month increase in people who want to be paid in crypto since November 2020.
The data, pulled from over 100,000 contracts in over 150 countries, shows that Latin America (LATAM) and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are on top of the regions that have employees taking a portion of their pay in crypto.
The report shows that from the employees that took at least a part of their salaries in crypto, 52% were from the LATAM region, 34% were from EMEA, 7% were from North America and 7% were from Asia Pacific.
Additionally, the study shows that Bitcoin (BTC) is still the preferred crypto with 63% of crypto salaries done using the coin. However, while BTC stays dominant, altcoins are also slowly gaining traction. Ether (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) are tied at second place at 7% of crypto salaries each. Solana (SOL) and Dash (DASH) followed, each with 2%.
Meanwhile, as more people start to take crypto salaries, some have expressed concerns over the volatility of the crypto markets affecting the value. In a thread discussing crypto salaries, Twitter user Joey Jackson wrote:
I guess it would be interesting when you wake up the next morning after receiving your salary only to find out the market had dumped drastically and so has your salary cause it’s now in crypto what then ?
— Joey Jackson (@JoeyJackson112) February 23, 2022
Related: Crypto salaries are becoming a popular way to attract young talent
Apart from being used as salaries, crypto payments are also gaining adoption within small businesses (SMBs) around the world. A study published in January shows that 24% of SMBs plan to accept payments in crypto. According to the respondents, this is vital for the growth of their ventures.
Large businesses within the payments sector also recognize that crypto is the future of payments. In a past interview with Cointelegraph, Petr Kozyakov, CEO and co-founder of Mercuryo, said ”75% of all large companies believe cryptocurrency will eventually be integrated into every form of financial services.”