As the world of digital payments evolves, crypto payments and stablecoins are emerging as twin engines driving innovation in consumer and business transactions across both Main Street and Wall Street. For consumers, the allure of cryptocurrencies lies in their ability to bypass traditional financial systems, providing faster, cheaper and more autonomous transactions. Businesses, on the other hand, gravitate toward stablecoins for their predictable value and compatibility with existing infrastructure. Despite these differences, both groups benefit from a shared underlying technology: blockchain. Its transparency, security and programmability create opportunities for innovation that bridges the gap between consumer and enterprise use cases

Payroll/HR platform Remote says its clients can now pay contract workers using stablecoins. The new offering, launching initially for businesses in the U.S., allows companies to pay contractors in 69 countries with the USDC stablecoin, according to a Tuesday (Dec. 17) news release. “One of the biggest hurdles companies face when hiring on international talent is providing fast, flexible, and reliable payments around the world,” Remote CEO and Co-founder Job van der Voort said in the announcement. “With the introduction of stablecoin payouts via Stripe, we’re adding a feature that has been highly requested by our customers, enabling them to pay contractors how they prefer, while maintaining the compliance and simplicity Remote is known for.”

As we come to take working from anywhere as a new norm, it is not easy to find remote job opportunities. According to the World Economic Forum, the number of global digital jobs that can be performed remotely will grow by roughly 25 per cent to 92 million, but the report fails to underscore the difficulty in finding a truly remote job.While there are many job portals listing remote jobs, the definition of remote is rather obscure and varies from time to time. Gillian O’Brien, General Manager, Remote Talent, tells me some remote jobs are rather hybrid job opportunities or opportunities where you can work remotely but need to be within a certain mile radius from HQ.She argues this is not truly a remote job opportunity and with Remote Talent, she says they are helping jobseekers find truly remote roles or ones compatible with the search criteria. Remote Talent may seem like another job portal, but it is a platform for jobseekers who are truly global in their search and looking for 100 per cent remote or distributed work. A year after its launch, it shows the need for a complete rethink and a job board without location as a barrier.Finding truly remote positionsWhat’s the common challenge with traditional job boards? O’Brien says traditional job search tools are limited because they were built before distributed work became mainstream, and 78 per cent of applicants reportedly find it difficult to find truly remote positions. She adds that 40 per cent see unclear salary ranges as another significant concern.However, the biggest challenge is jobs advertised as “remote” but are either not remote or limited to specific locations