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At the end of last year, Pantera Collected A decent batch of data, just taking a look How Friends are being paid in Crypto.
In 2023, 3% of people were broadly paid in the industry in Crypto, but the number was shot to 9.6% by the end of 2024. Interestingly, there was a tendency among people that they were election to take their salary in Stabelin.
Keep in mind, it was before taking off stabechines during 2025 (as we saw and discussed).
In particular, people opted for their salary in USDC and USDT, the report states.
The report stated, “USDC (63%) and USDT (28.6%) collectively accounts for more than 90%crypto salary, strengthening their position as options for payroll stability and liquidity,” the report states.
As you can see in the chart below, a very small number of people opted to pay in Soul and ETH.
Obviously, this is the 2024 data (meaning it was well that the lawyers were finalizing the Stabecrim law in the US), but I am a little surprised that the USDC overtakes the USDT by a decent margin.
Especially since the respondents were largely international, as you can see in the chart below.
Source: Pantra compensation survey
But there is a reason for this, got the Pantera.
“We initially thought that it is more western due to our survey. After further digging, we felt very interesting that any of the major payroll providers in space offer USDT for payroll (Deel, Remission, Rippling),” the survey states.
The Pantera team told me that data was collected from various types of projects around Crypto.
He said, “Our survey includes data collected for dozens of data drawn from geographically distributed startups and a wide range of information collected from hundreds of participants in the Crypto community,” he said.
And it came from about 1,600 people in various fields, including DEFI, CEFI, Gaming, etc., 47% of that total amount was in senior positions, while 29% were in the middle of their careers. The smallest number of respondents, 24%, were junior employees.
“There is still no reliable, broad database for compensation in the blockchain ecosystem – so we set it to replace,” Nick Zuric, head of the portfolio talent in Pantera, told me. “This survey is a first step towards bringing transparency for crypto compensation. Whether you are a founder, candidate, or operator, we hope that data is valuable as you build and grow in space.”
I indicate this data because it reflects a large tendency towards stablecoins. And now, as we go in the last months of 2025, I am eager to see if we see a single High Tick But, regret, only time will tell.
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