Despite a loss in May, the total market value of cryptocurrencies rose 400% to around $ 1.4 trillion over the past year, and traditional financial firms like Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and DBS Group Holdings Ltd begin offering services and trading. Meanwhile, companies like CME Group Inc. are expanding their offering of crypto derivatives – all of which are helping the asset class to mature.
This leaves fewer candidates for crypto companies that need dozens or hundreds of new employees to grow their businesses.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is advertising around 370 jobs worldwide, according to its LinkedIn recruitment portal. New York-based Gemini plans to increase its Singapore workforce from 30 to 50 by December. Hong Kong-based Crypto.com that employs more than 900 people has over 200 job openings on its jobs page.
“We’re hiring aggressively,” said Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance’s chief executive officer, via email. “We’re seeing the industry grow exponentially from year to year and we need to scale our team to cope with it.” He added, “We’re an equal opportunity employer as long as they deliver results.”
Hundreds of applicants
According to Neil Dundon, founder of recruiting agency Crypto Recruit, potential candidates’ interest in crypto jobs has increased five to ten fold in the past nine months. A single job posting can attract hundreds of applicants, he said.
Despite the boom, it can be difficult to find candidates with relevant experience, causing some companies to lower their expectations or change job criteria.
“In terms of the length of the experience, a year or two is enough today,” says Dundon. “The shortage of skilled workers is so great at the moment that companies are throwing a broader network.”
Gemini’s Asia Pacific chief Jeremy Ng and Crypto.com’s Director of Talent Acquisition Tom Lau agree that experience is a huge challenge.
“If you want to find someone with strong crypto skills, it’s not easy,” said Ng, an alumnus of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG.
Gemini is considering expanding into markets like Hong Kong and Australia in the next 12 months, offering perks like unlimited vacation and a profit-sharing program to attract talent around the world, Ng said.
Binance’s Ng and Zhao like candidates with banking and fintech expertise because those skills can be transferred to a new position.
“Developers and customer support are the two larger teams in our company and tend to have the highest demand from a recruiting perspective,” said Zhao. “Fortunately, these are the same skills used by large internet companies. We see a lot of interest from people in internet companies and other crypto projects. “
Remote roles
Bobby Ong, co-founder and chief operating officer of crypto data company CoinGecko.com, recently said on Twitter that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find the right people in Malaysia. The company has made internal adjustments and is now offering some positions that can be completely removed anywhere in the world, he said.
Despite the hustle and bustle, some vacancies can fail if the prospect decides that the jump to crypto isn’t worth it. Some compensation packages include a token component – and deals may need to be renegotiated, especially if the token price drops during the hiring process, Dundon said.
Still, Lau doesn’t expect Crypto.com, who claims its salary packages are better than the banks’, that the boon of crypto cessation will wear off anytime soon.
“We compete with companies like investment banks or big tech companies, so we have to pay the same amount or a premium,” he said. “That will make the market even hotter.”
This story was posted from a news agency feed with no changes to the text. Only the heading was changed.
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