Bogotá — The sharp depreciation of a number of currencies in Latin America is driving remote workers in the region to receive more payments in cryptocurrencies, despite the fact that the crypto market is also going through a bearish scenario in what has been called a ‘crypto winter’.
A new report by Deel, a recruitment and payment platform for remote employees, indicates that cryptocurrencies continue to be especially sought after by remote workers.
The report analyzed more than 100,000 contracts globally.
“Cryptocurrency withdrawals remain stable over the last six months” at a global leve, and “become popular in places with currency volatility,” according to Deel’s Global Report on International Talent Recruitment.
In fact, from January 2022 to date, about 5% of all payments withdrawn monthly on the platform were taken in cryptocurrencies.
By comparison, last year only 2% of all payments were taken in cryptocurrencies from July through December, evidence that the ‘crypto winter’ has not demotivated remote workers as much as the depreciation of local currencies has.
Deel says that, based on its figures, Latin America is by far the region where most withdrawals are made using cryptocurrencies, with 67% of the total.
The region is followed by Europe, the Middle East and Africa with 24%, North America with 7%, and Asia Pacific with just 2%.
Depreciation, a Latin American headache
The depreciation of local currencies against the US dollar continues to be one of the main headaches for citizens in Latin America.
While the Argentine peso has depreciated by 22.42% over the course of the year against the US dollar, the Chilean peso has lost 6.18% and the Colombian peso 5.58%.
Amid this scenario, Latin Americans are looking for alternatives to safeguard their capital with the acquisition of dollars, for example, as well as stable currencies and other crypto alternatives.
Deel explains that Bitcoin is currently the most popular option for crypto payments, with a participation of 47% in the global percentage of withdrawals made in cryptocurrencies in the last six months.
It is followed by stable coin USDC with 29%, Ethereum with 14%, Solana with 8%, and Dash with 2%.
Hiring rates on the rise
Overall, the report states that international hiring rates increased by 145% or even more in all regions in the first half of the year, with a special contribution from Latin America and Asia Pacific.
Latin America is the region where companies are hiring the most internationally, and in the first six months of the year hiring increased by 161%, while Asia Pacific saw a 159% increase.
“Given the high demand for talent and the shortage of available candidates, companies are looking for quality talent outside of high-cost countries. As a result, salaries are rising around the world, particularly in Italy, Brazil and India,” according to Deel.
By sector, the most in-demand today to work remotely are the technology sector, with software engineers and developers being the most in-demand positions, as well as product designers and managers, graphic and UI/UX designers.