An overwhelming 97% of people who work in the cryptocurrency industry are paid their base salary in fiat, according to a report by Pantera Capital.
The largest crypto hedge fund in the world, Pantera Capital released its annual Blockchain Compensation Survey delving into the conditions of the global Web3 workforce.
The survey collated responses from 1,600 participants from over 25 “geographically distributed startups” across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and the Asia-Pacific (APAC). They included C-Suite executives, engineers, developers and those who work in operational roles like customer service.
In terms of which Web3 sector, the bulk of respondents came from DeFi (40.7%) and CeFi (26.1%) like crypto exchanges Binance, Coinbase and Kraken.
Crypto bros now have less faith in crypto
So, 97% of people preaching about crypto’s status as the “future of money” actually prefer being paid in fiat like USD or AUD. Why?
“Given the state of the crypto market, the global workforce has lost some interest in receiving payment in cryptocurrency,” said Deel, an HR and payroll platform for crypto firms, in the report.
We’re looking at you FTX.
Sobering reports – say, how 95% of NFTs are now worthless, how billions in crypto are stolen every year due to scams, and how swiftly AI has come to become the centre of attention in tech circles – mean it’s no surprise that faith in crypto is shaky.
In certain jurisdictions like Australia, off-ramping crypto (converting it to local currency, in this case AUD, is tricky due to restrictions imposed by banks). There are also additional fees that a user has to pay to off-ramp crypto.
As for the brave 3% of workers who are still being paid their salary in crypto, the report reveals that the stablecoin USDC is the “clear token of choice”. They represented 56% of crypto salary payments. In second place is also a stablecoin, USDT or Tether, at 25%. In third place is Bitcoin at 13%.
Crypto leads in remote work
The Web3 industry is known to be a leader when it comes to remote work, and Pantera Capital’s survey confirms this. According to the report, 88% of people who work in the crypto industry work remotely. Only 1.5% of people work daily in an office.
The Pantera Capital Report stated: “This [number] goes to show just how distributed and globally diverse the crypto community is. Due to this global distribution, we don’t anticipate a push in crypto to return to the office.”
Engineers, CEOs earn hella moolah
When it comes to pay, the report revealed that engineers in the industry are paid handsomely. Of 570 respondents who work in engineering roles in crypto, the global median base salary was US$120,000 (AU$188,000).
Compensation for C-Suite executives and founders in crypto vary, and this depends on which stage their startup is in. In the US, C-suite staff or founders working at a seed-stage startup receive on average US$147,000 (AU$231,000) in base salary per year. If it’s a startup that has completed a series C funding or above, that base salary is US$335,000 (AU$527,000).
