Cryptocurrencies are great. You get immediate payment, no chargebacks, no asking for your age, country, nationality. Everybody is accepted.

Yet, it is correct that Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and others are still very volatile, no doubt about it.

Well, this is 2019 and we have a solution for that. We have also implemented it on FreelanceForCoins.com (the other freelancing sites aren't in a hurry, it seems).

But before I tell you about it, let's think about the other side of things.

Is all volatility bad?

Imagine for a moment that in 2013 you were paid for your work. Let's say $1000 for 50 hours of work in Bitcoin. You left it sitting. Now (February 2019) you'd have 33 BTC, 33 BCH and 33 BSV. That is approximately $120 000. Now, again, is volatility all that bad?

Still don't like volatility? Ok, read on...

What can we do?

Solution 1

Well, here on FreelanceForCoins.com we can ask for a payment in a "stablecoin"

Simon requests $50 to be paid as 50 TUSD (TrueUSD) coins. When he received those coins, it will be $50 today and it will be $50 tomorrow. That's a stablecoin for you - no volatility.

What if The Buyer says "no"? Read on...

Sounds interesting? Got something to offer for stablecoins?

Sign up and post your offer

What are stablecoins? Don't they have a downside?

Well, there are a lot of stablecoins: TUSD (TrueUSD), GUSD (Gemini), USDC (USD Coin), PAX (Paxos standard token), DAI and USDT (Tether).

How do they work?

Well, most of those are tokens built on Ethereum.

Basically, somebody gives $1 to Gemini Exchange, and Gemini assigns 1 GUSD token to that person.

Gemini keeps $1 in their bank account.

The person is free to move 1 GUSD token and give it to other person.

Now that other person can go to Gemini and withdraw $1 (real US Dollar) to their bank account for 1 GUSD token.

...or that person can use the exchange and buy some Bitcoin, Ethereum or Bitcoin Cash for that 1 GUSD token.

Before you jump in

Important! There are two things you need to understand before you start using stablecoins...

Counterparty risk

Many of those coins have something called "counterparty risk". That means that if a company behind those coins runs away with US dollars in bank account - the stablecoin might lose its value. Because those tokens won't be redeemable for US Dollars anymore.

But, it might not be that bad. First of all, many of those coins are backed by very reputable companies: USDC by Coinbase/Circle, GUSD by Gemini Exchange, some just have a good history, like TUSD by TrustToken. Then you have USDT, Tether, which is not really redeemable to US Dollars (at least not to regular people), yet it still often keeps its value around $1.

The only stablecoin now (Feb 2019) that doesn't have counterparty risk is DAI.

DAI is great. It has a very complicated scheme to keep its value pegged to $1, but you don't need to understand it to use it. Currently it seems that at least ChangeNow exchange allows you to exchange DAI to other coins, so it is more usable now, than it was before (you had to exchange your Ether to WETH and then to DAI... complicated).

Ethereum fees

Ok, so all current stablecoins are implemented as tokens on Ethereum platform.

That means that if you have received a payment of 50 TUSD to your brand new Ethereum wallet... you won't be able to spend them.

Wait, what? I thought stablecoins are great?

They are. But Ethereum doesn't have a way to move tokens and pay for the transaction in tokens. So, to move your new TUSD you need to pay something like $0.01 (Feb 2019) in Ethereum fees. That means that you need to have at least some Ether to pay for it on the same account where you have TUSD.

One of the solutions would be to ask for additional $1 in Ethereum using second invoice. Another one would be to google for "Ethereum faucet". Those may give you small amounts of Ether in exchange for spamming your inbox or solving the CAPTCHA. Free money always come with a catch. Even if it's just 1 cent.

But my buyer says they don't have any stablecoins!

Also: don't I need then dozens of wallets to keep those? And figure out all the interfaces of those?

Act 1. The dream fails...

Short answer: Use Exodus Wallet.

Download, install Exodus. Go to "exchange" tab. Figure out how much money you would need.

Request that amount to be paid in Bitcoin BTC, Ethereum ETH or Bitcoin Cash BCH if you want to pay less fees.

After you receive your coins - click "Exchange" tab in Exodus, click All, click "Exchange" and now you have your money in stablecoins. Or at least leave something in a coin with the growth potential...

Warning about KYC and exchanges. Do not exchange big amounts ($1000+) in one go. There are true horror stories on Reddit about people losing their funds due to exchanges requiring to go through the impossible KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure. You can research more here. Exchange only the amounts that will not destroy you if they are taken away. So, if $50 is critical for you - change $25 first, then $25 more..

Now you should know more than enough to not worry about cryptocurrency volatility and start working for crypto.

Sounds interesting? Got something to offer for stablecoins?

Sign up and post your offer

Where is FreelanceForCoins in all of this?

FreelanceForCoins is the place where buyers and freelancers using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (or Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Monero and stablecoins) can find each other. We believe that every freelancer in the future will have had at least one project done for crypto. Every year cryptocurrency adoption grows with no stopping in sight.

However, it's really hard to find freelancers accepting cryptocurrencies. It's a hard task even for us. We plan to take it slowly and attract users and earn their trust over time, adding new features and making this site more and more usable every day.

Join us in this journey

We hope you join us in our journey.

If you want to buy some services - look at the "Offers" and see if you like something. or publish a "Project" if you need something more custom tailored for you.

If you are a freelancer - offer your services in the "Offers" section or see the "Projects" for something you might do.