Getting Paid in Crypto by a Foreign Client, From Almaty
Seven steps from agreeing terms to tenge in your account, and the two conversations that have to happen first.
Aidana Serikova · ·2 min
Freelancers and small companies here are paid in crypto routinely. The transfer is the easy part.
Step 1: agree the asset and network in writing
Which token, which network, and who pays the transfer fee. The last causes more disputes than the other two combined.
Step 2: agree what fixes the amount
An invoice in dollars or tenge, converted at a stated rate source at the moment of payment. Without this the client sends their number and you receive something else.
Step 3: use a venue that pays out locally
Receiving to a personal wallet and then finding a conversion route is two problems. Receiving directly at a venue that handles the fiat leg itself is one.
Step 4: put the full details on the invoice
Asset, network, deposit address, amount, and the rate source. Address and network always travel together.
Step 5: ask for a small test on the first payment
Most clients accept this readily. It confirms the address, the network and their process in one step.
Step 6: convert on arrival
Hold only as long as you need to. A balance held for weeks is a currency position you did not intend to take.
Step 7: record it properly
Date, client, invoice number, amount received, rate, fees, tenge banked. Six fields at the time.
The first conversation: your bank
Tell them what to expect before the first payout arrives. An incoming payment from a licensed company, explained in advance, is uneventful.
The second conversation: your accountant
Before the first payment, not after. Whether you are invoicing as an individual or through a company changes the treatment, and it is easier to set up correctly than to correct.
What makes this routine rather than fragile
A licensed venue that settles here, one agreed asset and network, conversion on arrival, and a monthly statement filed with your other records.
A platform that settles to a Kazakhstani account covers the first. Collect & Exchange issuing a statement covers the last, which is what makes a bank question a two minute answer rather than a week.