Pay your global workforce instantly

The challenge with global payroll

Managing global payroll is both complex and expensive. Businesses must either rely on slow, expensive, unpredictable cross-border transfers to pay employees directly, or first move liquidity to local subsidiaries to access domestic payment rails. Each domestic rail, in turn, comes with its own rules, banking holidays, cutoff times, formats, and fees.

This complexity results in a patchwork of manual workflows that is burdensome for finance teams and often frustrating for employees waiting on delayed transfers. Stablecoins offer a way to simplify this process by reducing cost, improving predictability, and removing much of the operational overhead associated with traditional cross-border payments.

How stablecoins solve this

Blockchains are global by design, allowing companies to send stablecoin payouts directly to employees' wallets anywhere in the world without relying on local banks or intermediaries. These transfers typically cost less than a cent and arrive within seconds, offering far more consistency than traditional international payment rails.

Companies can also choose to distribute funds through their subsidiaries. In this model, a business can convert funds into stablecoins at the headquarters level, such as in the United States, and distribute those funds to subsidiary wallets around the world. Liquidity moves to subsidiaries in seconds rather than days, removing the need to pre-fund subsidiary accounts in advance. Subsidiaries can then handle payouts to local employees.

Benefits beyond speed and cost

Employees receiving stablecoins can choose how they want to use their earnings. They can hold stablecoins and spend them directly through stablecoin-linked payment cards, or convert them into fiat and withdraw the funds to a local bank account whenever they choose. This gives workers flexibility and control over how they manage their income.

Stablecoins also reduce the foreign exchange complexity that comes with global payroll. Instead of converting funds into multiple local currencies and dealing with unpredictable spreads and fees, companies can make payouts in a single currency, such as USD stablecoins. Employees can then convert stablecoins to their desired currency when it's most convenient for them. This simplifies treasury operations and provides more options for workers.

Finally, reconciliation becomes significantly simpler. Because stablecoin payouts settle onchain, every transaction has a clear record. Companies no longer need to track separate reporting formats from multiple domestic banks or reconcile transactions that settle at different speeds. Instead, they rely on a single, unified ledger that provides immediate visibility into outgoing payments, balances, and settlement status.

Global payouts with stablecoins already deliver meaningful benefits for both employers and employees. As familiarity grows and merchant acceptance expands, stablecoins are likely to become a preferred payment method not only for international payouts, but for domestic payroll as well. With lower costs, real-time settlement, and programmability, stablecoins bring payroll systems closer to the always-on, digital nature of today's workforce.

Building with Tempo

Designed for high-volume, global disbursement, Tempo allows organizations to bypass the fragmentation of local banking rails and reach employees and contractors directly. We work closely with payroll providers and platforms to design stablecoin payout flows that are compliant, efficient, and user-friendly.

If you are interested in seeing how a unified onchain ledger can simplify your global payroll operations and remove FX friction, let's discuss the integration requirements and coverage capabilities.