Cryptocurrency companies are struggling to get the right talent for the thousands of jobs available, with very little competition in the industry. All this is due to the lack of specialists who understand the crypt.
For example, on one of the largest exchanges in the world, Binance, there are more than 300 vacancies available, but so far there are very few applicants for them. To make matters worse, exchanges and crypto startups are battling popular banking institutions for new talent, so skilled employees are hard to find right now.
By tradition, let’s start by explaining the situation. The cryptocurrency industry is a new niche. And if the Bitcoin network has been operating since 2009, then Ethereum was launched in 2015. At the same time, the field of decentralized finance, also known as DeFi, became the focus of developers in mid-2020, while unique NFT-tokens set trading records in the spring of 2021.
In other words, new trends within the sphere of decentralized assets and blockchain appear very quickly. On the one hand, this is attracting more and more people to the cryptocurrency niche, but on the other hand, newcomers do not have time to absorb the flow of information, including that required to work in different companies.
The consequences of this are already visible. According to experts, it is becoming more and more difficult for blockchain startups to find new candidates for positions.
What’s happening with cryptocurrencies
The issue was confirmed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in an interview with Bloomberg. Here is a line from an entrepreneur and a billionaire, in which he shares his attitude to what is happening.
We see that the industry is growing exponentially from year to year, and we need to scale our team to cope with all workflows. We don’t care where people are if they are producing results.
In this quote, Changpeng reiterated the approach the company uses to recruit employees. Recall that the exchange really actively supports the remote work model. This is why Zhao often talks about Binance having no head office. After all, the office in this case is the place of work of each employee, which he chooses to perform a specific task.
Comic ads for new vacancies on Binance
Hiring remote employees has been a lifesaver for many startups facing the aforementioned problem. In particular, Bobby Ong, CEO of Coingecko service, announced the expansion of the company’s staff in many geographic latitudes. Here is his line.
Last year we tried to hire more talent, but realized that it was only in Malaysia [where Coingecko is hosted – editor’s note] that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tap the talent pool.
Taking this into account, it can be assumed that in the future, specialists will have more and more opportunities to find a good place in companies from different countries. At a minimum, the industry of digital assets and blockchain projects does not plan to stop developing, which means that further personnel will be needed even more.
Popular US exchange Coinbase also switched to a teleworking model last year due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus. However, even such tactics are not enough, and the required number of people simply cannot be found. As a result, the companies are ready to reduce the requirements for future employees, says the founder of the recruiting agency Crypto Recruit, Neil Dundon.
In terms of seniority, one or two years is enough these days. At the moment, the skill shortage is so great that companies are using a wider selection of recruits.
That is, the expert claims that there are few professionals in their field with a detailed understanding of what is happening in the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain today. That is why, in some cases, companies are ready to close their eyes to certain gaps in the specialty. And this is a chance for people looking to change the direction of their careers and connect with the digital asset and blockchain industry.
We believe this situation is another illustration of how early the blockchain and digital asset industry is.
Obviously, the situation will improve over time – as cryptocurrencies find new fans, and countries recognize them as an official means of payment within the state and beyond. In this case, there will be less and less reason for newbies to avoid the blockchain niche and consider it to be something unreliable.
