Like many projects in the industry, CoinsPaid Media works remotely. If you do the math, the team members are located in ten countries and the CoinsPaid team is spread across 37 countries. When employees, freelancers, and outsourced teams are scattered all over the world, businesses face a reasonable question: “How to optimize payment processes?” This is where cryptocurrencies and services that help make such payments quickly, securely, and without high commissions and long transaction times come into play.
We decided to analyze which specialists in freelance and distributed teams know and understand the working principle of cryptocurrencies and choose them as a payment option. We asked the Solar Staff team that assists companies in interacting with freelancers for help. They conduct regular research and share their findings.
The Solar Staff research involved 3,000 people from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Eastern European countries. These are people who work in distributed teams or engage in freelancing on a regular basis. Respondents come from engineering, design, management, and marketing fields. They were asked questions about cryptocurrencies and their use in different countries.
“We found it interesting how attitudes towards different payment methods, including via cryptocurrencies, differ by geography,” said Alexander Norovyatkin, Head of PR at Solar Staff.
Experience of Using Cryptocurrencies
According to the survey results, more than 21% of engineers (developers, designers, testers, and others) are aware of crypto and use it regularly. 27.5% of respondents know how to conduct basic transactions, and 12% say they need more knowledge about digital currencies and their usage. The majority of respondents — more than 38% — note that they’re familiar with the basics of working with cryptocurrencies, though they have no experience with them.
Among freelancers and remote workers employed as managers in different teams, 21% of respondents use cryptocurrencies regularly, while over 19% are familiar with transactions at a basic level. More than 32% of managers say they’ve never used crypto, and 27% have little knowledge of the field and need more information.
Apparently, designers are the least savvy when it comes to working with cryptocurrencies. Only one in ten freelance designers in Eastern Europe understands how the industry works and regularly uses digital assets, Solar Staff reported. More than 24% are aware of basic transactions. Half of the surveyed designers admitted to having no crypto experience, with 15.5% of respondents in this area lacking knowledge of how to work with cryptocurrencies.
“I don’t really understand much about cryptocurrency, although I know people who use it actively and get paid in it. I’m concerned about all the fraud and hacking news around Bitcoin and other such currencies. I wouldn’t want to lose my money, and I haven’t seen a clear and practical course on the use of cryptocurrencies yet,” shared Maya Novak, Web Designer.
Among the surveyed marketers, over 15% said they’re familiar with cryptocurrencies and use them regularly. Knowing how to conduct basic exchange transactions was confirmed by more than 29%, but a third of marketers surveyed still have no experience with digital assets. On top of that, 21% of marketers responded that they don’t know much about cryptocurrency.
Willingness to Get Paid in Cryptocurrencies
Study participants were also asked the following question: “Would you like to get paid in crypto?”
Affirmative answers were given by:
- 35.7% of engineers;
- 24.4% of designers;
- 40.3% of managers;
- 47.3% of marketers.
Negative answers were given by:
- 58.1% of engineers;
- 69.9% of designers;
- 48.3% of managers;
- 42.2% of marketers.
More than 6% of engineers, over 5% of designers, 11% of managers, and 10.5% of marketers already receive payment for services in crypto.
The most frequently cited reason why people want to get paid in cryptocurrency was resistance to interbank restrictions. Meanwhile, a lack of understanding of the possibilities of using such payment means and a sense of unreliability were cited by many as reasons why professionals aren’t ready to be paid in crypto.
Over 32% of the survey participants are ready to pay 1-2% commissions for withdrawing funds in crypto, while only 6% agree to 2-5% commissions. The vast majority of respondents, 55%, said they wouldn’t be willing to pay a commission for crypto withdrawals.
What About Others
The Solar Staff team conducted similar research for the freelance market in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. A total of 3,000 people answered questions about cryptocurrencies.
It turned out that in Asia, 64% of professionals aren’t ready to pay a commission for withdrawing cryptocurrencies, more than 28% agree to pay a commission of no more than 2%, and only 7% agree to a commission of 2-5%. Among all respondents, only 14% named crypto as a desirable withdrawal method.
In Latin America, the situation is different. 45.5% of respondents named cryptocurrency as a desirable withdrawal method, but 63.6% are still not ready to pay a commission. The willingness to pay commissions was equally shared by 18% of freelancers — 1-2 and 2-5% commission rates, respectively.
“I’ve been working as a freelancer for several years now. I have several bank cards, but it’s not always convenient for customers, so I offer crypto payments in USDT to pay for orders as one of the options,” said Miguel Ferreira, Digital Marketer. “When you understand how it works and know what to do to make crypto quickly become fiat on your card, it’s easy and convenient.”
Among U.S. professionals, 35% cited cryptocurrency as a desirable way to withdraw funds, but 47.5% are still not willing to pay fees. 38% of respondents agree to 1-2% fees and 9% are ready to pay 2-5% commissions.
“We conducted a survey to find out what people think about different withdrawal methods depending on the regions freelancers are working from. The result is that few people are ready to be paid only in cryptocurrency, but many would like to withdraw funds freely in it. I believe that here lies the main value of cryptocurrencies for freelancers — they give more financial freedom, and they’re convenient for receiving payments, making transfers, and investing. This is especially evident in regions with unstable banking systems but growing freelance sectors, such as Latin America. However, not all companies are ready to pay freelancers directly in crypto as they need to transfer fiat money and deal with the legality of such payments and KYC. The situation is further complicated by the fact that freelancers from different regions may have various preferences in withdrawal options. Our service for secure transactions helps companies solve these problems and offers freelancers a wide range of payment methods via reliable partners like CoinsPaid,” explained Alexander Norovyatkin from Solar Staff.
