Getting paid in USDT as a freelancer: a practical guide

More and more clients are happy to pay freelancers in USDT or USDC. It is fast, it clears on a Sunday, and for a client in one country paying a contractor in another it is often the cheapest option they have. The hard part is not getting paid. It is what happens next.

This guide is for the person who has just agreed to a stablecoin rate with a client and wants to do it properly. It is not tax or legal advice; we say that because it matters, not as a formality.

Before the first invoice

Agree the asset and the chain in writing. "USDT" is not enough. USDT on Tron and USDT on Ethereum are different tokens on different networks, and sending one to an address for the other can lose the money. Put both on the invoice: "USDT on Tron (TRC-20)" or "USDC on Base".

Pick a chain that is cheap for both sides. For stablecoins, Tron, Base, Arbitrum and Polygon all cost well under a dollar per transfer. Ethereum mainnet can cost several dollars and offers nothing extra for a payment. If the client has a preference, take it as long as it is one you can receive.

Agree who pays the network fee. Convention is that the sender pays, the same as a bank transfer. Say so anyway.

Agree the rate if you are quoting in another currency. If your rate is 50 EUR an hour and the client pays in USDT, decide which reference rate converts the invoice and on which date. Most people use the rate on the invoice date. Write it down once and reuse it.

Where to receive it

You have two sensible options and one bad one.

The bad one first: receiving directly to an exchange account. Exchanges can freeze incoming funds, lose access to your region, or change withdrawal rules overnight. Several freelancers we know have had a month's income stuck for weeks.

Option one: your own wallet. Receive to a self-custody wallet you control. This is the safest place for money you do not need immediately. Set up a hardware wallet if the amounts are meaningful.

Option two: directly to Fundly. Every Fundly user has a deposit address per chain, and you can give a client that address the same way you would give them a bank account number. The payment is converted at a published rate with the fee shown, and lands as EUR or USD in your balance, spendable on the card the same day.

Most people we talk to do both: receive to a wallet, then deposit to Fundly what they need for the month. That keeps savings in your control and spending money where it is useful.

What it costs

Here is a typical month for a freelancer receiving 2,000 USDT from a client, comparing common paths. Figures are approximate and the Fundly numbers are our Free plan fees at launch.

The exchange path is not always bad. If you need a large sum in a local bank account and your bank is fine with crypto-linked transfers, it can work. The problem is that "your bank is fine with it" is a big assumption in many countries, and a frozen account is expensive in ways a fee table does not capture.

Rent, bills and the IBAN question

A card covers most spending. It does not cover a landlord who wants a bank transfer or a tax office that only accepts one.

This is what the Verified tier is for. Once you verify your identity, and once we have launched accounts in your country, you get an EUR IBAN account. Clients in Europe can pay you by SEPA transfer, your USDT deposits land in the same balance, and you can send transfers out to any IBAN in the SEPA zone. Standing orders for rent are supported.

If you are a freelancer whose clients are split between crypto and European bank transfers, this is the setup that stops you running two financial lives.

Keeping records

Whatever your country's rules, you will need records. Do this from the first payment.

• Keep every invoice with the asset, chain, amount and the rate you used.
• Save the transaction hash for every payment received. It is the receipt.
• Export your Fundly transaction history monthly. Each deposit shows the crypto amount, the reference rate, the fee and the credited amount on separate lines, which is exactly what an accountant wants.
• Talk to someone who knows your local tax treatment of stablecoin income. In many places it is simply income at the value on the date received. In some it is more involved.

The freelancers who get into trouble are rarely the ones who did anything wrong. They are the ones who could not show what they did.

A few things that go wrong

Client sends the wrong chain. It happens. If they sent a supported asset on a chain we support, it just lands. If they sent it on a chain we do not support, contact us before doing anything else. Some cases are recoverable, slowly.

Client sends below the minimum. Deposits below the per-asset minimum are not credited. For USDT and USDC the minimum is small, but a client paying a 5 dollar test transaction may fall under it. Tell clients to skip the test.

Rate moves between invoice and payment. Stablecoins do not move much against the dollar, but EUR does. If you invoice in EUR and receive USDT a week later, the amount can differ by a percent or two. Agree in advance whether that is your risk or the client's.

The short version

Put the chain on the invoice. Receive to a wallet you control. Deposit what you need to spend. Keep the hashes. Verify when you need an IBAN.

If you would like a card and an account built around this way of working, join the waitlist at /join.