net-misc/curl-7.64.0 should add -lssl -lcrypto to pkgconfig --libs if option "ssl" is set. Because it doesn't do so, linking of third party applications fail.
'pkg-config --libs' obtains results from Libs setting in *.pc files. 'pkg-config --libs --static' obtains results from Libs and Libs.private settings in *.pc files. libcurl.so shared library appears to be properly linked for me. If your third-party applications try linking against static libraries, then they need to use 'pkg-config --libs --static libcurl' instead of 'pkg-config --libs libcurl'. If you still have problem, then provide build logs and output of: pkg-config --libs libcurl pkg-config --libs --static libcurl scanelf -qF "%F: %n" /usr/lib64/libcurl.so