My lead dev in Georgia (the country) just got his accounts frozen after cashing out USDT. Need a legit way to pay my remote team

★★ signal-medium r/smallbusiness · ↑ 100 · 💬 43 · 2026-01-16 · kw: alternative to · open on reddit ↗

Tool

USDT, Wise, Payoneer, Deel, The Stape

Issue

Remote contractor in Georgia had bank account frozen after converting USDT to fiat through P2P exchange under AML rules; company needs compliant alternative to pay international team.

Cost

unstated

Recommendation

Wise (consensus); Payoneer; Deel; The Stape

Date context

2026-01-16; recent AML enforcement tightening in Georgia banking

extracted with

anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 · 2026-05-08

Body

My main contractor (remote dev, based in Georgia) had his bank account frozen after trying to convert USDT to fiat through a P2P exchange. The bank flagged it under AML rules and now we need to figure out how to pay him (and some other guys abroad). We’d been doing USDT payments for months with zero issues, but now looking for alternatives. I’m not trying to dodge taxes or anything, I just need a compliant, boring, predictable way to pay a Georgia-based contractor going forward. Anyone dealing with Georgian contractors right now, what's your setup? Wise / Payoneer / SWIFT, any recent experience? EOR worth the markup for Georgia specifically?

Top comments (10)

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[score=29] CodeQuestors

this is exactly why I avoid crypto for payroll entirely now. too many contractors getting burned by bank freezes

[score=8] Oopsfoxy

we're using The Stape com with two Tbilisi-based PMs. all paperwork's legit, it made it easier for our contractors to rent apartments cause they had proper employment docs

[score=7] BangCrash

Wise.com

[score=5] breakyouridea

Deel's not cheap, but might worth, not sure is they are present in Georgia though

[score=8] tcolling

I recommend using wise.com

[score=3] Particular_Can_7860

Wise.

[score=3] SpawnPointDevops

why not just use Wise or Payoneer? Georgia's usually friendly for international banking, but maybe compliance has gotten tighter. are your other contractors also cashing out USDT or are they getting bank transfers?

[score=3] cto_resources

I’ve used wise.com for contractor payments but not to Georgia. Don’t know if wise supports that country/currency.

[score=3] bullderz

Wise.com