Interest in crypto compensation rises among young employees
Payment in the form of cryptocurrency is spiking the interest of a growing portion of employees, offering employers a potential incentive that they can consider in the future, according to a new report.
Findings from Oobit, a financial services provider, showed that 43% of employees in the United States are interested in receiving some portion of their pay in cryptocurrency.
It also revealed that 32% of employees would opt in if their employer began offering crypto payroll tomorrow, with 11% saying they would accept a pay cut of up to five per cent in exchange for receiving crypto compensation.
Cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency that allows people to make payments directly to each other through an online system. It has no physical form, and is completely decentralised.
Interest in getting cryptocurrency pay is strong among younger employees, particularly Gen Zs (46%) and Millennials (45%), while only 35% of Gen X are interested.
According to the findings, employees would accept 27% of their paycheck to be in crypto, while 73% would be in traditional USD. Among the preferred cryptocurrency cryptocurrencies for compensation are:
- Bitcoin (46%)
- Stablecoins (11%)
- Ethereum (5%)
Barriers to crypto payments at work
But cryptocurrencies come with risks. The Australian government, through its Moneysmart website, noted that investing in crypto-assets is highly speculative, with market value fluctuating a lot over short periods of time.
This volatility is the top barrier to accepting crypto pay for half of Oobit's respondents, with 88% saying they are concerned that volatility can impact their take-home pay. Other barriers to crypto payments at work include:
- Preference for traditional currency (35%)
- Difficulty spending crypto daily (32%)
- Not trusting cryptocurrency (28%)
- Tax complexity or implications (22%)
- Security concerns, such as hacking and scams (22%)
- Lack of understanding (22%)
What does this mean for employers?
Despite the growing interest in crypto compensation, the report found that just one in five respondents have experienced getting paid in cryptocurrency for some type of work.
Among them, 78% were satisfied with it, with nearly a third saying they handled these payments by:
- Transferring funds to another wallet (30%)
- Converting immediately to USD (29%)
- Holding temporarily before converting (29%)
"Crypto payroll is no longer hypothetical. Interest is widespread, and real-world usage is already happening through freelance and side work," the report read.
According to the report, cryptocurrency could be a potential incentive for employers. One in five employees said they wish their employer did, with another 16% saying crypto compensation would make them more likely to accept a job offer.
"For employers, crypto pay won't replace traditional payroll overnight. But for certain segments of the workforce, it may offer a meaningful incentive," the report read.
