Stablecoins for Remote Worker Payments

By Vitalii Mikhailov

Stablecoins are carving out a larger role in global payrolls, with fresh H1 2025 data showing corporate deposits rising nearly sevenfold year-on-year and average transaction sizes doubling. Analysts say regulation, treasury diversification, and freelancer expectations are accelerating the shift away from traditional wire transfers in cross-border payouts.

Stablecoins Gain Share

Stablecoins, once a niche tool for international transfers, are moving into mainstream corporate finance. New H1 2025 figures from EasyStaff, show corporate deposits in stablecoins rose nearly sevenfold compared with a year earlier.

The share of funding via stablecoins climbed from about 5% in H1 2024 to roughly 13% in H1 this year. The average top-up grew from €5,000 to €10,000, a sign companies are routing planned budgets through stablecoin rails rather than running small-scale pilots.

Table 1. Stablecoin usage on EasyStaff (2024–2025)

Why Wires Are Under Pressure

Wire transfers remain widely used in corporate treasury, but their limits are clear. Settlement can take several days, costs vary across banks, and foreign exchange spreads reduce margins.

Stablecoins, by contrast, settle in minutes and often at lower cost. For companies with globally distributed teams, faster reconciliation and predictable fees are attractive. For workers in countries with weaker banking systems, stablecoins provide portability and a hedge against currency volatility.

Regulation Sets the Benchmark

The European Union’s Instant Payments Regulation, which took effect in 2024, capped fees on euro transfers and mandated instant settlement. While designed to improve bank efficiency, it also created a benchmark.

With wires now expected to be fast and inexpensive, companies increasingly compare them against alternatives such as stablecoins. In many cases, stablecoins match or exceed the benchmark.

Analysts Point to a Structural Shift

Industry research echoes these findings.

• FXC Intelligence and McKinsey have said stablecoins are now “real competitors” to legacy rails.
• Deloitte reports about 80% of companies support hybrid or remote work, making cross-border payroll a permanent requirement.
• A Zero Hash survey found 93% of freelancers would like part of their pay in crypto, and three-quarters prefer settlement within 24 hours.

Together, these signals suggest the market is shifting toward multi-rail treasury strategies, with wires, cards and stablecoins all used side by side.

Worker Preferences

Speed is the main reason many freelancers choose stablecoin payouts. Payments that once took days via bank wires now arrive in minutes.

Stablecoins also give workers more flexibility. They can be stored in digital wallets, converted to local currencies, or used directly through crypto-linked cards. In regions with high inflation or unstable banking, some freelancers see them as a safer option than keeping money in local accounts.

Quick settlement also builds trust. Workers often judge the reliability of clients or platforms by how fast funds arrive.

Treasury Implications

For companies, integrating stablecoins into payroll requires treasury systems that support compliance and reporting across both fiat and digital rails. Auditors expect transparent records of inflows and outflows, even when transactions occur on-chain.

Risk management is also evolving. Custody arrangements and regulatory clarity are essential. Still, many finance teams now see redundancy as a strength: wires for certain payments, cards for others, and stablecoins for distributed payrolls.

Table 2. Comparing wires and stablecoins

What’s Next

Further adoption may hinge on regulation. The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework and U.S. proposals are expected to bring more defined rules for stablecoin use.

For freelancers, expectations are already clear: fast and affordable payments are no longer optional. For companies, maintaining multiple rails is becoming the standard approach to payroll resilience.

Wire transfers are not disappearing. They remain essential for large corporate settlements and heavily regulated markets. But in the expanding remote-work economy, stablecoins have moved beyond experimentation and into the core of payout infrastructure.

About the Author

Vitalii Mikhailov is the Founder and CEO of EasyStaff, a platform that processes freelancer and contractor payouts in more than 100 countries. He has more than 15 years of finance experience and holds CFA Level II. Before EasyStaff, he redesigned cross-border payments in travel technology, cutting costs by eliminating round-trip FX and building redundant EU rails.

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