How it works in Colombia
Yes, you can pay your team in Colombia in stablecoins with Toku. The money part of salary is set, withheld and paid in pesos as the Labour Code requires, employees who opt in can then have their net pay, once paid, converted into USDC, and contractors can be settled in USDC or USDT.
Paying employees
Article 134 of the Labour Code requires salary paid in money to be paid in legal currency and article 136 prohibits paying salary in goods or tokens, so the salary is paid in pesos first. Employees who opt in can then have their net pay, once paid, converted into USDC in a way Toku confirms for each person. (Source: Código Sustantivo del Trabajo, articles 129, 134, 135 and 136 (Colpensiones compilation))
Paying contractors
Contractors invoice with the amount stated in pesos, which can follow a fee agreed in US dollars, and are settled in USDC or USDT. The UIAF says crypto operations are not in themselves illegal, and DIAN treats crypto received for services as a payment in kind valued at commercial value, with ordinary VAT and invoicing rules. (Sources: UIAF, Resolution 314 of 2021 on reporting by virtual asset service providers; DIAN, unified concept on crypto assets No. 18075 of 2023)
Salary is set and taxed in local currency. Employees who opt in have their net pay, once paid, converted into USDC, and contractors are settled in USDC or USDT, where the local rules allow it. Toku handles the conversion, the compliance checks and the tax and payment reporting, and confirms the arrangement for each person before the first payment.
How Colombia treats crypto and stablecoins
Colombia's tax authority (DIAN) treats cryptocurrencies as intangible assets because they are not legally recognised currency, and the central bank says crypto assets are not money for legal purposes and not foreign currency. (Sources: DIAN, unified concept on crypto assets No. 18075 of 2023; Banco de la República, concept C19-75082 on crypto assets (June 5, 2019))
Colombia's central bank, the Banco de la República, says crypto assets are not currency: the only legal-tender unit with unlimited power to settle debts is the peso it issues. Crypto assets are not money for legal purposes, are not foreign currency, and nobody is obliged to accept them as payment. Banks and other foreign-exchange intermediaries are not authorised, in that capacity, to issue or sell Bitcoin. (Source: Banco de la República, concept C19-75082 on crypto assets (June 5, 2019))
The financial regulator, the Superintendencia Financiera, says crypto assets are not legally recognised money in Colombia, so people, shops and companies may refuse them as payment, and that crypto trading is not regulated or supervised by any state authority. Its sandbox pilot that let supervised credit institutions and payment firms give peso deposit accounts to crypto exchanges ended on June 13, 2024, with the same message. (Sources: Superintendencia Financiera: what are digital assets or crypto assets? (updated June 11, 2026); Superintendencia Financiera: close of the crypto platform deposit pilot (June 27, 2024))
The financial intelligence unit (UIAF) says virtual asset operations are not in themselves illegal in Colombia, though they can be used for illicit purposes, and requires virtual asset service providers to report to it under Resolution 314 of December 15, 2021. For tax purposes, DIAN treats cryptocurrencies as intangible assets because they are not legally recognised currency. (Sources: UIAF, Resolution 314 of 2021 on reporting by virtual asset service providers; DIAN, unified concept on crypto assets No. 18075 of 2023)
Local rules for paying employees in Colombia
Article 134 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo requires salary paid in money to be paid in legal currency, in equal periods of at most a month for monthly salaries. If salary is agreed in a foreign currency, article 135 lets the employee demand the equivalent in pesos at the official exchange rate of the payment day. (Source: Código Sustantivo del Trabajo, articles 129, 134, 135 and 136 (Colpensiones compilation))
Pay in kind is allowed only within limits: article 129 gives food, housing and clothing as examples, requires it to be valued in the contract, and caps it at 50% of total salary, or 30% for an employee on the minimum wage. Article 136 prohibits paying salary in goods, tokens or other similar means, except partly in housing, clothing and food. (Source: Código Sustantivo del Trabajo, articles 129, 134, 135 and 136 (Colpensiones compilation))
DIAN says that if an employer pays an employee in cryptocurrency under an employment contract, that payment in kind is employment income, valued at the commercial value of what is delivered. That is a tax rule, and we found no labour authority statement that crypto can count as salary in kind. (Sources: DIAN, unified concept on crypto assets No. 18075 of 2023; Estatuto Tributario, articles 29 and 300 (DIAN))
Local rules for paying contractors in Colombia
DIAN's unified concept on crypto assets says crypto received as consideration under a services contract is a payment in kind, and the provider follows the ordinary VAT and invoicing rules for the service. A Colombian electronic invoice can record crypto as the payment method under "other", but the amount must still be stated in Colombian pesos. (Source: DIAN, unified concept on crypto assets No. 18075 of 2023)
Payments in kind are valued at the commercial value of the goods when delivered. Where goods settle an obligation agreed in money, the contract price applies unless shown otherwise. (Source: Estatuto Tributario, articles 29 and 300 (DIAN))
On foreign exchange, only listed operations must go through the regulated exchange market, such as imports and exports of goods, external debt and foreign investment, and exports of services are not on the list. The central bank describes a services export as a free-market operation, so the foreign currency does not have to pass through the regulated market. Crypto assets are not recognised as foreign currency under the exchange regime. (Sources: Banco de la República, External Resolution 1 of 2018 (compendium), articles 41 to 43; Banco de la República: basic concepts of exchange regulation; Banco de la República, concept C19-75082 on crypto assets (June 5, 2019))
Ways to pay people in Colombia, compared
How the common ways to pay someone in Colombia compare. The Toku row describes how Toku works; coverage and the arrangement for each person are confirmed before the first payment.
| Method | Employees | Contractors | What to keep on record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local payroll and bank transfer in COP | Salary paid in local currency, with tax and contributions withheld. No stablecoin option. | Paid in COP or another fiat currency to a bank account. | Payslip or invoice, payment confirmation and any tax withheld. |
| Sending USDC or USDT yourself | Doesn't cover employees on its own: salary still has to be set, withheld and paid under local payroll rules. | You handle the payment, foreign-exchange, tax and reporting rules in Colombia yourself, and some payment rules there may restrict it. | The COP value on the payment date, the exchange rate used, wallet addresses and transaction hashes. |
| Toku | Salary set, withheld and paid in COP through Toku's employer of record, with a USDC option for net pay arranged as described on this page. | Invoices in COP (or USD where local invoicing rules allow it), settled in USDC or USDT where Toku confirms the route for that contractor, with approvals and payment records in one place. | Contracts, invoices, payment records and tax documents kept with each payment. |
Tax and reporting
Colombian tax residents who hold crypto must include it in the assets section of their annual income tax return. Under article 300 of the Tax Statute, a gain on selling a fixed asset held for two years or more is an occasional gain, and a gain on one held for less than two years is ordinary income. DIAN applies this rule to crypto held as a fixed asset, and says selling crypto is not subject to VAT unless the asset is linked to industrial property. (Sources: DIAN, unified concept on crypto assets No. 18075 of 2023; Estatuto Tributario, articles 29 and 300 (DIAN))
Under DIAN Resolution 233 of 2025, digital asset service providers resident or domiciled in Colombia with operations there and gross income above 1,400 UVT in the year must report each user's accumulated annual conversions between pesos and digital assets, starting with tax year 2026. (Source: DIAN, Resolution 000233 of 2025 on exogenous reporting, including digital asset service providers)
DIAN Resolution 240 of December 24, 2025 implements the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). It applies from tax year 2026, so the first reports are due by the last business day of May 2027. Reporting crypto-asset service providers file by the last business day of May for the previous year, and file a nil report if they find no reportable users. (Sources: DIAN, Resolution 000240 of December 24, 2025 on CARF reporting; DIAN: CARF training for crypto-asset service providers (May 6, 2026))
Recent changes
- June 13, 2024: The Superintendencia Financiera's pilot giving crypto exchanges peso deposit accounts at supervised banks ended. (Source: Superintendencia Financiera: close of the crypto platform deposit pilot (June 27, 2024))
- February 25, 2025: A bill to regulate virtual asset service providers (Proyecto de Ley 510 de 2025 Cámara) was filed. The House now lists it as archived, as it does the earlier crypto exchange bill (139 de 2021 Cámara), so neither became law. (Sources: Cámara de Representantes: bill 510 of 2025 on virtual asset service providers; Cámara de Representantes: bill 139 of 2021 on crypto exchange platforms)
- October 31, 2025: DIAN Resolution 233 of 2025 was published: digital asset service providers with gross income above 1,400 UVT must report users' peso-crypto conversions from tax year 2026. (Source: DIAN, Resolution 000233 of 2025 on exogenous reporting, including digital asset service providers)
- December 24, 2025: DIAN Resolution 240 of 2025 added CARF reporting by crypto-asset service providers from tax year 2026, and DIAN trained more than 60 representatives of the crypto-asset sector on it in May 2026. (Sources: DIAN, Resolution 000240 of December 24, 2025 on CARF reporting; DIAN: CARF training for crypto-asset service providers (May 6, 2026))
- June 11, 2026: The Superintendencia Financiera updated its crypto page, repeating that crypto assets are not legally recognised money and are not regulated or supervised. (Source: Superintendencia Financiera: what are digital assets or crypto assets? (updated June 11, 2026))
What the official sources leave open
The official sources leave these points open. Where one affects a payment, Toku confirms how it is handled for each person before the first payment.
- Whether crypto, including stablecoins, can be agreed as salary in kind under article 129 within the 50% or 30% caps on top of a peso salary, given article 136's ban on paying salary in goods or tokens. DIAN taxes it as a payment in kind, and we found no labour ministry statement or court ruling on it.
- Whether a Colombian contractor may keep export-of-services earnings in crypto without converting to pesos. The exchange rules are written for foreign currency, and the central bank says crypto is not foreign currency.
- Whether Congress will pass a law regulating crypto service providers. Both crypto bills we found are listed as archived.
How Toku pays your team in Colombia
Employees hired through Toku’s employer of record in Colombia have their salary set, withheld and paid in local currency, with the USDC option for net pay arranged as described above through stablecoin payroll. Whether Toku can support a hire in Colombia is confirmed before an offer. Contractors are paid through contractor management, which keeps invoices, approvals and USDC or USDT payment records together. Toku confirms the arrangement for each person before the first payment.
For the practical steps, see how to pay contractors in Colombia. Compare costs on the pricing page and estimate transfer costs with the FX savings calculator.
Toku pioneered this approach: founded in 2020, it started with token payroll and is now an employer of record and global payroll provider in 100+ countries, paying teams in local currency or stablecoins. About Toku.
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules on crypto, wages and foreign exchange change often and depend on the facts of each arrangement, so confirm your situation with a qualified local adviser before you pay anyone in crypto or stablecoins.