The shift toward cryptocurrency isn’t being driven solely by workers. Some employers, worn down by severe labor shortages, are offering it as an incentive.

In Suncheon, Jeollanam-do, a staffing agency official said many business owners now suggest crypto payments upfront when trying to recruit workers. According to the Ministry of Justice, about 2.65 million foreign nationals were residing in South Korea as of 2024, accounting for 5.2% of the total population.

Among them, an estimated 400,000 are undocumented. A staffing agency official in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, said the use of crypto wages has extended beyond factory workers.

“For several years now, sex workers from countries like Thailand and the Philippines have also been receiving their daily pay in cryptocurrency,” the official said. From the government’s perspective, the growing volume of cryptocurrency remittances sent abroad by foreign workers raises concerns. A sharp increase could affect the country’s foreign exchange supply and put pressure on exchange rate volatility.

Under S, Korean labor law, wages must be paid in legal tender—meaning cryptocurrency-based payments are technically illegal. However, with the country facing chronic labor shortages across industries and agriculture due to its aging population and low birthrate, enforcing that regulation has proven difficult. Authorities appear reluctant to crack down aggressively, given the risk of further destabilizing already strained labor supply chains.