[filleduchaos]

My USD account is with a local bank - most countries AFAIK allow residents to open foreign currency accounts in USD, EUR or GBP at least. Here they are pretty tightly controlled because foreign currencies are not legal tender, but I can live with those restrictions (can't transfer money to FCAs in other banks, can't transfer more than a certain amount of money per month within the bank through electronic channels, can't have anyone apart from yourself deposit cash/checks in the account, etc) as long as I can make reasonable purchases off my card without worrying about the payment being blocked.

I've used Wise in the past (their borderless account) but had my account deactivated for no discernible reason, which was frustrating. I'd use their direct-to-account transfer service, but because of central bank regulations passed in 2020 they are no longer permitted to send/deposit naira in Nigerian bank accounts. This actually cut off quite a few people I know from receiving international payments - some scrambled to open foreign currency accounts, some got pushed to receiving crypto whether directly or through now-existing platforms like Sendcash. So now I just get my salary through regular old SWIFT transfers - my employer takes on the transfer fees, but I still get debited $20 for receiving them.

You're right that being paid in crypto is unrealistic for a company like Intel, because giant multinationals like that either have a local presence (Microsoft has an engineering office in my city) or have huge relocation budgets (Amazon, Google, etc usually move hires from here to offices in Europe). Some smaller companies and startups will offer to assist with relocation, but understandably will take local talent over someone that needs to sort out a visa and work permit the vast majority of the time.