Almost no one wants to be paid in crypto: Pantera survey

Specialized roles in marketing and finance see higher median salaries in the US compared to global figures, the survey found

article-image

Gorynvd/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

A new survey indicates that less than 3% of professionals in the crypto industry receive compensation in the form of digital assets.

According to Pantera Capital’s latest Blockchain Compensation Survey, shared with Blockworks, 97% of the 1,600 professional respondents preferred fiat-based compensation.

Of those remaining, USDC represents roughly 56% of crypto salary payments, while USDT stood at 25%, followed by bitcoin (BTC) at 13%.

Pantera’s report provides key insights into salary trends across various roles, geographic locations and company maturity stages.

In the US, executive salaries range from an average of $147,363 at seed-stage startups to $335,400 for those at Series C and beyond.

Likewise, specialized roles in marketing and finance also see higher median salaries in the US compared to global figures, with marketers earning a median salary of $135,000 versus a global $100,000.

Compensation for business development roles globally centers at a median base salary of $115,000, with US professionals averaging $140,000. Senior-level employees in business development can make as much as $275,000. 

Product management professionals, in a similar vein, show median base salaries ranging from $115,000 in early career to $187,500 for senior positions within the US. 

Encompassing roles from customer support to strategy, the operations sector sees a median US base salary of $110,000, peaking at $344,000 for the highest earners.

The legal landscape, influenced by recent regulatory turbulence, shows the median base salary for senior legal roles in the US standing at $225,000, scaling up to $370,000 at the top echelons.

The crypto sector has also overwhelmingly adopted remote work, the survey found, with more than 87% of all roles falling within a work-from-home capacity.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

Firedancer begins delegating stake to Solana validators

article-image

A vote ending Monday could introduce a new layer of security for Ethereum’s largest liquid staking protocol

article-image

Framework’s Michael Anderson explains what tokens need in order to be successful

article-image

Conferences are pop-up innovation clusters—and filters for the riff-raff

article-image

Tariff front-running may have caused an artificial bounce in economic data earlier this year

article-image

Waka Flocka Flame-linked BaseDrop is raising some eyebrows