Across Nigeria, many gig workers serving global clients are turning away from naira-denominated wire transfers and embracing stablecoins for gig payments.
Before now, regulators and traditional financial institutions saw stablecoin as a fringe payment option.
However, due to persistent failures in cross-border payments, freelancers, not limited to software developers, digital marketers, designers, and online tutors teaching indigenous languages, say stablecoins offer faster settlement, fewer reversals, and more predictable access to dollar earnings than conventional banking channels tied to the naira.
A Stablecoin Utility Report commissioned by payments infrastructure firm BVNK, in partnership with Coinbase and data analytics firm Artemis, found that Nigerian respondents overwhelmingly prefer stablecoin payments over naira payments.
The finding was only a testament to the trend. Nigeria ranks among the world’s top five countries by crypto adoption, with a large freelance workforce.
What they are saying
Sani Jibo, an Abuja-based AI content strategist who has worked with B2B tech and HR SaaS companies, told Nairametrics that Stablecoins are a better way for Nigerians to earn from their services, and that’s the reason he adopts the channel.
- “It is the most practical way to get paid quickly. Oftentimes, traditional payment platforms fail and disappoint us. Some international clients these days are even beginning to request it.”
Jibo also reveals why many of them (gig workers) have seen the medium as a way out: “Many global payment platforms restrict or delay African accounts for months. For some of us who depend solely on this cross-border income, those delays can be unbearable to us.”
- “Many global payment platforms restrict or delay Nigerian accounts for months. Many of us rely on this income, and the delays can be too hard to bear,” Jibo said.
Freelancers believe that services like Wise, PayPal, and so on allow chargebacks and reversals, which puts them at risk of not getting paid even after work has been delivered.
- Nigerian freelancers will rather deal with price fluctuations in stablecoins than struggle to access their money, which is common to conventional platforms.
- For remote workers, speed and certainty matter more than perfect stability.
Aisha Abdulwakeel, Creative Director at Aishglitters Digitals based in Ogun State, a UI/UX and software engineering digital firm, adds that, after weighing the two options, she will always opt for stablecoin over any other channel.
- “I can cope with any digital money more because it’s easy to manage and control in some instances. If Bitcoin is too ‘jumpy,’ I can instantly move my money into stablecoins like USDT. But naira, if the value drops, there’s nothing I can do as an individual to stop my savings from shrinking,” Abdulwakeel argues.
Abdulwakeel, who currently still receives payments in naira but prefers crypto, sums it up that “With crypto and stablecoin, the network is always open. I don’t have to rely on a bank or government to approve my transactions.”
More Insights
Some of these individuals had to resort to stablecoins when the naira lost more than 40% of its value against the dollar between 2023 and 2024.
One of them is Fadekemi Olawale, a graphic designer based in Imo state for her national youth service, who said she used to receive naira-equivalent payouts until she started noticing her purchasing power erode before the funds even got cleared.
- “2023 was a turning point for me. I had just met this client on Upwork, and he liked my services. We decided to take our conversations off the platform because I had built that trust. I could not withdraw my money from PayPal (the gig payments) for six months. It was dilemma upon dilemma”, Olawale recounts.
The sole proprietor-remote workers told Nairametrics that multi-day settlement windows, platform withdrawal limits linked to domiciliary account restrictions, and FX conversions at unfavourable rates have made stablecoins a more attractive option.
- Stablecoins such as USDT on the Tron network and USDC on Ethereum allow seamless transactions
- For stablecoins, transfers settle in minutes, fees often fall below $1, and the dollar peg preserves income value until the worker is ready to convert.
Nairametrics understands that some fintech platforms are building the infrastructure to support this shift. If these bids are successful, it will allow Nigerian gig workers to receive stablecoin payments from foreign clients and convert or spend them locally.
What You Should Know
Though Nigeria has a 2023 framework for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), it does not cover these categories of workers. Workers receiving stablecoins as income fall into a regulatory grey area because they are neither clearly classified as remittances nor as crypto trading.
The ambiguity creates uncertainty for solution providers entering the space and may limit participation by formal financial institutions.
At the same time, when Nigerian gig workers adopt stablecoin, their conversions bypass the formal banking system, and the Central Bank of Nigeria cannot capture the flows or deploy them to defend the naira.
But the freelance workers say they are not abandoning the naira on purpose.
- “Before I started using stablecoin, I have once accepted a reduced amount of my money just to receive my money quickly through parallel channels rather than wait weeks for formal platforms to process payments,” Jibo recalls.
For the Nigerian government to fully benefit from the growing inflows generated by Nigerian gig workers, the freelancers say it has to provide systems that, as a matter of speed, keep pace with the needs of these creators.
Nigeria’s gig workers are already operating in the future of cross-border payments. The question is whether policy will catch up before the opportunity to shape that future is lost.
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