By VINCENT OWINO

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When Stephen Ayoo, a communications specialist, landed a job with an international firm, he expressly asked to be paid in USDT, a cryptocurrency pegged to the dollar, but his employer declined as digital assets are unregulated in Kenya.

For Stephen, being paid in stablecoin would be convenient because he trades digital assets and it would be easier to buy them. “If you are enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies like me and actively trade or hold them, it makes sense to consider getting paid in crypto,” he says.

“This way, you can avoid the hassle and potential losses of converting currencies, such as changing Kenya shillings into dollars in order to buy certain cryptocurrencies.”

Christine Makau, a freelance blogger and social media marketer also prefers to be paid in crypto, mostly Bitcoin. For her, crypto payments are “more flexible” than other options like mobile money.

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“I prefer crypto payments because it makes my transactions with foreign clients easier and more fluid,” she says.

A growing number of young professionals like Christine and Stephen have developed a preference for crypto payments over traditional fiat currencies that organisations are accustomed to.

A 2021 global survey by Dubai-based financial consulting firm deVere revealed that 36 percent of Millennials and 51 percent of Gen-Zs would be happy to receive their salaries in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

According to Vamsi Krishna, chief product officer of Multiplier, an international recruitment company, more and more young people prefer to be paid in crypto for a host of reasons unique to them. In my opinion, the main reason is because it gives them access to global opportunities. Fiat kind of limits the opportunities they can go after,” he argues.

“They have to worry about whether they can receive money from a particular country or currency, opening a dollar bank account and many other limitations. But having crypto as a payment option enables you to get employed anywhere in the world as there are very limited restrictions compared with the traditional fiat models.”

Read: Lessons on digital currencies from mobile money

Today, the number of such young talents who want to be paid in the unconventional digital currencies might be much higher, prompting the question: should companies start considering it?

Last year, crypto payments totalled $1.2 billion, and is projected to hit $4.1 billion by 2029, according to German data firm Statista.

Wildly volatile instrument

Eric Barbier, CEO of Triple-A, a Singapore crypto consulting firm, says that in the face of dollar shortages and liquidity challenges in many emerging markets, paying international talents, especially freelancers, in crypto could significantly work to the advantage of companies.

According to Mr Barbier, using cryptocurrencies to pay international employees can also help companies reduce the risk of fraud and the cross-border transactions are often completed much faster compared with transferring fiat currencies through banks.

However, the digital assets have their own challenges that limit their use as a means of payment. Apart from the stablecoins like USDT – which are pegged to a physical fiat currency – cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile.

Read: Crypto traders brace for more turmoil

Besides that, they are largely unregulated, even illegal, in several jurisdictions across the globe and legally established entities choose to steer clear of them for that reason, if not to avoid losses associated with volatility.

But Barbier argues that companies that wish to pay their talents in crypto can transfer the compliance and volatility risks to third-party organisations that specialise in crypto payments and are legally licensed to do so.

“People have this false impression that crypto is fully anonymous but that’s not fully true,” he said.

Such crypto payment companies, to fully comply with international laws, must check the wallets they are sending the digital currencies to ensure they are not going against Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism laws.