Wallets, fintechs, and platforms target the freelancer market: why Argentina is a key market

Argentina is the most important hub for blockchain-related companies in the region, as well as the Latin American country with the highest degree of cryptocurrency adoption, particularly stablecoins, due to the long-standing tradition that Argentine savers have with the dollar. These are two factors that are uncommon internationally and a differentiating element that can generate a comparative advantage for the local ecosystem, in a context where more and more digital wallets, fintechs, and crypto platforms globally are seeking to attract a historically elusive type of worker: the freelancer.

It is a market whose global weight is difficult to estimate precisely. The most direct and comprehensive study on the subject is "Working Without Borders", conducted by the World Bank in 2023. It estimates that there are between 154 and 435 million online platform workers in the world, which means between 4.4% and 12.5% of the global workforce.

Moreover, it is a trend that continues to grow. The Future Workforce Index by Upwork showed that 38% of surveyed professionals did freelance work in 2026, compared to 28% the previous year.
The role of Argentina: platforms seek to attract freelancers with crypto.

A market that has yet to fully explode

Rafael Meruane, CEO and co-founder of the NotBank platform, told Ámbito that "a good part of that flow is still collected with tools from another era: slow transfers, intermediary platforms that charge for withdrawals, and forced conversions**.

From his perspective, "what needs to be exploited is not so much the number of people but the depth of service". He pointed out that currently, the offer is concentrated "at the moment of collection," when the challenge at this moment is to "support" the freelancer's financial cycle: "Receive, save in hard currency, generate returns, pay abroad, and convert to local currency when needed."

Complementarily, Mariquena Otermin, Brand Specialist at Bitwage by Paystand, stated to this medium that the freelancer audience "is a large market," which is "under-served more than unexplored". She emphasized that cross-border remote work "is already a consolidated reality, but much of the infrastructure that supports it was designed for a world of local payments."

She elaborated: "There is still much to resolve in simplicity, regulatory compliance, currency conversion, and integration with the accounting of the hiring companies. The potential is not only in the individual worker but also in the companies that pay distributed teams in several countries."

The CEO and founder of the Argentine cross-border payment platform Takenos, Lucas Posadas, reached a similar conclusion in dialogue with this medium. The labor market "is digitalizing and globalizing," so more and more people "work for clients from other countries and need their money to move as easily as their work."

For this reason, like Otermin, he mentioned that "the opportunity also encompasses companies that need to charge clients," pay suppliers, and manage teams in different countries.

The change in trend

One of the latest platforms to arrive in the country was Bitget Wallet, at the beginning of the year. With a strong presence in Asia, it decided to compete in the local market with a new product: a virtual account to receive payments from abroad, in both euros and dollars, specifically targeting the freelancer audience.{#p-1793999634738-39106}

"The reality is that Argentina is a super competitive market; other Latin American countries are just now starting to get a bit more intense in that sense," acknowledged Federico García Ferrando, Regional Growth Manager Argentina & Latam of Bitget Wallet, in a conversation with Ámbito.{#p-1793999634738-27781}

However, he mentioned that "there is still room to push and expand that market a bit". He emphasized that remote workers are "increasingly more numerous", which leads him to believe that "there is space to compete".{#p-1793999634738-65486}

When asked why he thinks there is increasing interest from this group of users, he suggested that "there are now more solutions" compared to a few years ago.{#p-1793999634738-19088}

"The problem for freelancers was how to withdraw the money, then be able to use it and cash it out. It was very fragmented across many methods: you had to move it, lose a fee, or cash it out through a cave. But then if you wanted to invest it, you had to convert it to pesos and put it in a virtual wallet. It was a world of more complex rules," he recounted.{#p-1793999634738-4142}

For this reason, he mentioned that one of Bitget Wallet's goals is to "simplify that experience and make crypto more of a background infrastructure".{#p-1793999634738-70631}

Otermin noted that "for years the debate around blockchain revolved around the price of assets," while the conversation now focuses on infrastructure, more precisely, on "how to move value between countries quickly, traceably, and at low cost", something that stablecoins and Bitcoin-based payment rails "allow to settle in minutes and with predictable costs".{#p-1793999634738-61233}

He added: "That's why platforms stopped thinking of the crypto user as a niche and started to see the remote worker as a payment user who benefits from this technology without needing to be an expert in it."{#p-1793999634738-64754}

This seems to be happening in various places around the world. For example, García Ferrando mentioned that in Asia, recently, the number of Bitget Wallet users utilizing payment methods within the platform has grown significantly, surpassing those using it for trading.{#p-1793999634738-68249}

"What's interesting is that also in Asia, which is always living in the future in my opinion, the number of trader users has flipped and now there are more users using payment products. Asia was very strong for trading and now they are doing more payments, meaning more 'real use case' with crypto than just trading," he narrated.{#p-1793999634738-86529}

Stablecoins are fundamental for the development of cross-border payments.{#p-1793984320794-40870}

Argentina's Role in This Change

The CEO of Takenos recalled that in Argentina many people are concerned about the pace of inflation, changes in the dollar, and ways to maintain the purchasing power of their income. "Being born in that context allowed us to closely understand the difficulties of receiving payments from abroad and develop tools to connect that income with savings and daily expenses," he emphasized.{#p-1793999663154-38430}

However, Posadas stated that the company observes "that this concern extends throughout the region". He mentioned that in his conversations with people from Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Paraguay, "there is an increasing interest in alternatives that complement traditional banking services and allow for easier money management".{#p-1793999663154-70787}

He added: "This knowledge of the Argentine ecosystem gives us experience to recognize needs, although each market has its own rules and habits".{#p-1793999663154-57540}

Otermin mentioned that the Argentine ecosystem offers "a real advantage", due to the fact that "decades of currency instability have formed users with a practical financial education that is uncommon". He exemplified: "The average Argentine understands coverage, exchange rate gaps, and the value of deciding the moment of conversion long before these concepts reach other markets".{#p-1793999663154-60152}

He opined that "this learning has transferred to the ecosystem", which is why there are developers, entrepreneurs, and users who have adopted stablecoins and Bitcoin "as tools for daily use, not as an experiment". This situation turns Argentina "into a natural laboratory for designing use cases that later scale to the region".{#p-1793999663154-29299}

Meruane reached a similar conclusion: "Argentina has something that few markets have: a population that has been thinking about its economy in two currencies for decades and intuitively understands the exchange differential, coverage, or the right moment to convert," mentioned the CEO of NotBank.{#p-1793999663154-51448}

Consequently, "this has made the country adopt tools like stablecoins earlier and more deeply".{#p-1793999663154-84225}

He stated that "this learning is exportable". And he concluded: "What was born in Argentina as a defense against inflation today is a global use case, because any freelancer, in Colombia, Peru, or Europe, wants to be paid in a stable currency and choose when to convert".

This content is provided for general informational purposes only and doesn't constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Any events, rewards, online promotions, or related information mentioned herein should not be considered a recommendation, solicitation, or invitation to purchase, sell, trade, or otherwise deal in any crypto assets. Crypto assets are highly volatile and may result in loss. The availability of WEEX services, products, and related events may vary by region. You are responsible for ensuring that your participation is in accordance with applicable local laws and regulations.