While accepting payments in cryptocurrency may sound like a bad idea, it can actually be a useful feature for international contractors. Remote, a company that lets you hire talent and manage contractors around the world, will introduce cryptocurrency payments on Tuesday.
U.S.-based companies will be able to start paying contractors in 69 countries with stablecoins. For this feature, Remote has partnered with Stripe.
The company currently only supports USDC, a widely used cryptocurrency stablecoin managed by Circle. Since 1 USDC is worth 1 US dollar at any given time, businesses and contractors are not exposed to the volatility risks created by cryptocurrencies.
As a contractor, getting paid in USDC means you get paid quickly and never get stuck in an international transfer logjam. Cryptocurrency payments are sent on the Polygon Network, a layer 2 chain that uses Ethereum as the base network. Many crypto wallets support Polygon transactions.
And of course, that means contractors will receive compensation in USD-denominated cryptocurrencies. If you live in a country suffering from currency devaluation, being able to hold USDC can increase your purchasing power.
If you need to buy something at a local store, you can exchange a portion of your USDC to the local currency, transfer the money to your bank account, and keep the rest in your cryptocurrency wallet. Some people may start using debit cards issued by cryptocurrency exchanges to seamlessly use USDC.
Once a contractor is invited to Remote to create an account, they can decide how they want to receive payment (local currency in their bank account or USDC). If you choose USDC, you can enter your wallet address to start uploading your invoice. When a business approves an invoice on the remote dashboard, the remote creates payment requests for all contractors and automatically transfers money using the appropriate payment method.
In the future, Remote plans to enable this feature for customers headquartered in other countries and add support for more cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, for crypto maximalists.