In recent years, droves of tech workers have chosen to receive a portion of their salaries in bitcoin or another popular cryptocurrency. The increasing demand has given rise to a cottage industry of companies developing payroll software with crypto in mind.

Bitwage, which offers bitcoin payroll services, saw its highest transaction volumes in May and June — "despite everything that's happening," Bitwage CEO Jonathan Chester told Insider. The record sums of money flowing through its system to pay employees in cryptocurrencies signals that demand remains strong.

"The price of bitcoin drops, sometimes people ask for more payroll to be paid in bitcoin," said Merrick Theobald, vice president of marketing at BitPay, where Wright works.

Workers might prefer bitcoin to dollars for reasons other than trying to strike it rich. They may be worried about inflation or other instability in their local currency markets, Theobald said.

Deel said that workers in Latin America accounted for roughly two-thirds of crypto payments issued through its payroll service in the first six months of this year.