Payroll services provider Deel says contractors now have the option of choosing to receive salary payments in USDC and Solana.
Deel, a privately-held payroll and compliance provider, announced the addition of USD Coin (USDC) and Solana (SOL) to its payment and withdrawal options. The addition of these two tokens expands the crypto suite of the San Francisco-based payroll fintech firm. This means that employees and contractors who get paid through the Deel platform, now have increased options of receiving their salaries. They can now opt for USDC, Solana (SOL), Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and XRP salary payments. Furthermore, Deel claims that it has already seen a 10% increase in user demand for crypto salary payments since last month.
According to Deel, paying contractors with digital currencies provides a much faster alternative with lower processing fees. The payment platform already services a corporate clientele which includes Coinbase, BlockFi, and Rarible, according to Alex Bouaziz, company co-founder and CEO. As Bouaziz put it:
“By definition, crypto companies are decentralized and they’re hiring all over the world,” he said. “Whatever crypto company you know, they’re probably using Deel.”
For instance, the American crypto exchange platform Coinbase charges a 1.5% provider fee for crypto salary withdrawals. In addition, processing Deel USDC payments will command a 1% variable fee, while Solana payments will attract a 1.5% fee. For access to Deel’s latest feature, users must first set up Coinbase accounts.
Deel Boasts Incredible Performance
Back in October this year, Deel generated $425 million in Series D funding. In addition, the fundraising exercise also valued the payroll-providing company at a laudable $5.5 billion. The round was spearheaded by global tech-focused investment manager Coatue Management LLC. Furthermore, other participating investors included Altimeter Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, the YC Continuity Fund, Spark Capital, Greenbay Ventures, and Neo.
Deel’s primary aim is to provide seamless support to organizations that have globally-dispersed workforces. In addition to the payroll services it renders, Deel also provides contractors and full-time staff hiring services for companies in more than 150 countries. The platform achieves this by letting out domestically-incorporated entities to its clients.
Deel is currently one of the world’s foremost independent contractor-hires worldwide. In fact, the firm released a press release on October 18th in which it referred to itself as the “highest valued company in the global hiring, payments, and compliance space with this investment.”
Founded in 2018, Deel has now raised over $630 million in the capital in just a few short years of existence. Furthermore, the payroll fintech firm attained unicorn status (companies with a billion dollars in valuation or more) back in April 2021. This was when it concluded a Series C funding round that saw it raise $156 million.
Deel to Bring Solana and Other Solutions to West Africa
In September 2021, Deel identified Nigeria as a major player in its planned expansion into West Africa. According to Bouaziz, Africa’s most populous country fits into Deel’s business vision:
“Nigeria is a key market for Deel. There are tons of talented people and notable companies building world-changing products there. We are also starting to see great investors sweeping in and allocating funding to focus specifically on Nigeria and surrounding territories. The boom is coming.”
At the moment, Deel has a customer base of more than 4,500.
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