A recent court order in Dubai appears to have legitimized salary payment using crypto, but some experts point to unanswered questions.A Dubai court ordered a company to compensate a worker through a cryptocurrency token, as stipulated in the employment contract, a legal precedent that raises several questions even as it lends some legitimization to crypto in the region.
"The ruling merely recognises a specific Virtual Asset as being a legally valid part of a specific employee’s compensation package, indirectly implying that employee compensation packages may include Virtual Assets," said Ankita Dhawan, a senior associate at Métis Institute, a dispute resolution think tank."The ruling does not clarify which Virtual Assets.
The complainant alleged the company stopped paying their salary without reason for five months before terminating the contract. The court ordered the employer to pay 62,867 dirhams and 39,200 of the ecowatt cryptocurrency, as unpaid dues. The token's value on different price-tracking websites varies widely, making it difficult to value the payment in dollar terms.
This could mean that there are chances other sectors start offering salaries with Virtual Assets as a component," said Dhawan.