Crypto salaries are becoming a popular way to attract young talent

Athletes and politicians have made headlines as they opted to get paid in crypto earlier this year. Now, in an attempt to attract a younger workforce, companies are starting to offer crypto salaries. 

A recent CNBC article highlighted two different cases where young talent is paid in crypto. University student Stephen Gerrits and artist Tiyanna Brown decided to receive their pay in cryptocurrencies. Gerrits works part-time at a tech startup, while Brown sells digital art in exchange for Ether (ETH).

According to Gerrits, he’s earned more than what he would’ve made in cash due to crypto price changes. However, it doesn’t just always go up. He said that he lets it be and finds joy when the prices go up, but the fun ends when prices go down.

Since his bills are covered by other income, he considers his crypto an investment. “Why not take the chance or the opportunity to kind of strike it rich, get some money out of it?” he questions.

Meanwhile, 29-year old Brown sells art on Rarible, a platform that lets you receive ETH as payment for your digital art. Brown is optimistic that this will provide better results in the long run. “It’s almost like licensing, so every time someone uses your art, you gain a percentage,” she said. Brown also mentioned that she wants to see the words “starving artist” as “a thing as of the past.”

In 2021 alone, many reports have shown that athletes are getting paid in crypto. In August, soccer star Lionel Messi received fan tokens for his deal with Paris Saint-Germain. In November, National Football League players Odell Beckham Jr. and Aaron Rodgers chose to accept crypto payments. The former said he would take his full NFL salary in Bitcoin (BTC), while the latter would receive only part of his salary in BTC.

Aside from these, in response to a challenge by Bitcoin evangelist Anthony Pompliano, three United States politicians declared that they would accept their salaries in BTC. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said they would take BTC paychecks.

Related: Recruiters say crypto firms seeking leadership in engineering, legal and finance

Back in November, LinkedIn reported that crypto-related job listings have increased by 600% since August 2020. Aside from this, large finance companies also offered big bonuses to attract more crypto talent. HR firm Johnson Associates said that crypto positions pay 20%–30% higher than comparable non-crypto positions.

There are also some setbacks when opting to get paid in crypto. One of them is your employer demanding to get the payment back. A letter sent by an unnamed employee to MarketWatch’s The Moneyist said that the employee received crypto for contract work. Following this, the token surged by 700%. The company’s CEO then sent the employee an email, asking them to return the digital assets and offered to pay in dollars.