It is no secret that many crypto-industry employees anticipate that crypto will eventually play a far larger role in the entire financial and payment system. However, for the time being, practically all of them are paid in government-issued currency or “fiat” in industry parlance.
The world of distributed ledgers is controlled by a distributed workforce. However, their likely passion with crypto does not extend to how they are compensated. A study by Pantera begs the question of whether or not these employees have absolute faith in the industry they have given their blood and sweat.
Crypto employees take fiat currencies home
Pantera Capital, a crypto fund, recently released a comprehensive report on compensation in the Web3 ecosystem, uncovering some startling conclusions. For example, nearly 9 out of every 10 digital asset workers are remote, yet only 3% accept bitcoin as payment.
And, of those who were paid in cryptocurrency, the clear majority chose the dollar-linked stablecoins USDC and USDT, with 13% choosing bitcoin (BTC).
Pantera’s investigational effort, which surveyed 1,600 respondents from 77 countries and across half a dozen sectors, intends to create clarity for workers in the crypto industry, “making the transition easier for those interested,” according to Nick Zurick, Pantera’s head of portfolio talent.
The survey yielded a plethora of intriguing results for Zurick. He stated that the figure that stood out the most to him was that 88% of the workforce is remote.
According to the survey, workers are scattered globally, while respondents were mostly based in the United States (35%), Latin America (29.7%), and Europe, the Middle East, and Asia tied for third (23.5%). With 11.6%, APAC comes in last.
Another notable result was the percentage of workers that are paid in crypto. However, Zurick acknowledged that there is nuance to the narrative. According to today’s survey, one in every five respondents received payment in crypto via an initial token bundle, notably at the executive level of the industry.
Who are these crypto employees, and what do they do?
According to the report, the median salary among 570 engineers polled worldwide was $120,000, with those in North America earning $193,000, a 1.5% increase over the prior year.
This is compared to an estimated $166,100 for engineers in classic tech or “Web2″ professions in North America.
Senior engineers in Web3 make slightly more than their peers in Web2.
Pantera report
“Due to this global distribution, we don’t anticipate a push in crypto to return to the office,” Pantera Capital authors. Executives earn between $147,363 and $335,400 a year, depending on the stage of their company.
According to the head of portfolio talent, they “had anticipated a delta in the survey,” but the fact that there is a $65,000 salary differential internationally is astounding. Of course, because crypto markets are unpredictable, the real values of the bundles can vary significantly.
As a note, it’s important to keep in mind that this figure is subject to a vesting schedule and, without knowing the respective valuation and timing, this number could be taken out of context.
Pantera Report
More importantly, the industry is seeing more and more skilled people enter the crypto profession on a daily basis. According to data, there are approximately 21,300 developer jobs available in the industry.
The paper also provides an optimistic view of the present regulatory climate and its impact on cryptocurrency. One expert emphasized the industry’s recent victories, citing Ripple’s favorable finding that XRP is not a security and Grayscale’s favorable court sentencing regarding their spot Bitcoin ETF.
These decisions can be viewed as favorable developments for the industry, and investors are hopeful about how this will help industry growth.
