When I started freelancing circa 2020, receiving payments from international clients was one of the major issues I had. All the traditional banking options were either too stressful to open and manage or had transaction fees that were too expensive. 

But three years ago, my friend introduced me to crypto payments. His sales pitch was that crypto is cheap (transaction costs are negligible); easy to open (that’s true—I opened my Crane account in less than five minutes); and doesn’t require maintenance fees, unlike traditional banking systems. 

My friend’s crypto sales pitch won me over because I discovered the benefits were true. And I’ve been hooked on receiving freelance international payments through USDT on the Crane app since 2023. 

If, as a freelancer in Nigeria, you’ve been frantically searching for “How freelancers receive USDT in Nigeria” in your bid to switch to the blockchain for international remittance, I wrote this piece specifically for you. I will answer your questions here. Now walk with me. 

How freelancers receive USDT in Nigeria

As I mentioned earlier, I use the Crane app to manage international freelance payments. So, I’ll explain how freelancers can receive USDT payments using the crypto app.

In general, Crane provides three ways for freelancers to receive USDT payments from international clients. The options are listed below: 

1. Bank Direct: Receive crypto directly into your bank account

My personal favourite way to receive crypto payments on Crane. This option is best for freelancers who want their crypto salary into their local bank account without doing any manual conversion. Once you set up Bank Direct on the Crane app, your USDT (or crypto) payment will be automatically converted to naira at the current rate and sent to your local bank account within minutes. 

2. Regular Crypto Deposit: Collect crypto salary in a secure wallet

This is for freelancers who prefer to receive their salary in crypto. Your crypto funds will be deposited into your Crane wallet, and you can convert and withdraw them anytime you want.

To prevent value loss on your crypto savings, Crane offers the Auto-Convert service, which lets you set a preferred rate or price for automatic crypto conversions. For example, suppose you receive your salary in USDT at ₦ 1,300/$. You can set your Auto-Convert feature in the Crane app to convert your USDT when it reaches ₦1,500/$ to maximise your salary value.  

3. Payroll Request (formerly Request Payroll): Get paid at the right time

No one likes to receive their salary late. Payroll Request is an invoice and payment system that lets you reach out to your employers to pay as and when due. Besides serving as a “notice system,” it carries your payment details to ensure your payment arrives at the right time. 

3 ways freelancers convert USDT for free on Crane in Nigeria

Receiving crypto on Crane is free. Yes, we don’t charge you a dime when your crypto salary is paid to your Crane wallet. However, Crane charges a 2% fee when you’re converting crypto to naira. So, conversion charges exist on Crane.

However, we also provide discount services to convert crypto to naira for free. The services are listed below: 

1. Discount cards: Convert USDT to naira without paying a dime

Every new user on Crane receives up to ₦10k worth of discount cards. They take 25%-100% off your conversion fees. 

2. CNC offset: Pay for conversions with your reward bonus

CNC offset lets you use your Crane bonus token, aka Crane Coins (CNC), to pay for crypto-to-naira conversion fees. The more CNC you gather, the more tokens you’ll have to pay off conversion fees. 

Your CNC can cover the entire conversion fee or some part of it if your reward balance is insufficient. By this, I mean if you have 300 CNC (₦30) and your conversion fee is ₦20, your CNC will cover the full conversion fee. But if your conversion charge is ₦40, all your CNC (300, in this case) will cover some part of it, while the rest will come from the amount you’re about to convert. 

3. Free transfer cards: Withdraw to your local bank account for free

Discount cards and the CNC offset service work when you want to convert USDT to naira. Our free transfer card, on the other hand, is the discount service you need when you want to send naira from the Crane app to your local bank account. 

The free transfer card doesn’t apply to mandatory taxes. This means you’ll not pay a dime if you transfer ₦10,000 or less with our free transfer card. But for transfers above ₦10,000, you’ll pay the mandatory ₦50 tax charge. This is how the free transfer card works: