Cryptocurrency job listings on LinkedIn are up by over 600% since August 2020, and top US banks like JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo have become the leading employers in the digital assets industry.
Collectively, major banks and financial institutions in the US have listed over 1,000 positions for blockchain and cryptocurrencies experts since 2019. A report published by Bloomberg on November 1st said that not only are financial institutions on a hiring frenzy for crypto talent, they’re also offering a premium to land the best talent in light of very high competition for this expertise.
Why are banks willing to pay more for Crypto Expertise?
While analyzing 287 cryptocurrency talent acquisitions from JPMorgan, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo, the research firm Revelio Labs found out that crypto employees are enjoying, on average, a 9% pay rise over their co-workers in the banking sector.
According to Johnson Associates human resource consultancy, crypto-related salaries are between 20% and 30% higher compared to other positions that are not related to digital assets. Additionally, senior roles in cryptocurrency are currently attracting over 50% in salary increments. The firm’s managing director Alan Johnson said that financial institutions are being forced to move fast or risk their clients going to other competitors who are offering digital assets investments services.
“The banks can’t run the risk that their clients go to another bank to do these services, so they need to build up.”
Crypto is forcing banks to level up
Last month, LinkedIn said that the platform recorded a whopping 615% rise in crypto-related job listings since August 2020. The terms for cryptocurrency employment are also much friendlier, with banks being forced to compete with crypto startups who offer incentives like labeled care packages and facilitate conducive onsite and remote working environments.
Mainstream sites like LinkedIn, UpWork, and Fiverr get a fair share of cryptocurrency listings every month. However, the rate of expansion of the cryptocurrency industry is too fast for traditional recruitment processes. Banks are finding out that crypto experts have their own networks on sites like Discord, GitHub, Telegram, and other crypto-specific recruitment agencies that are more efficient in finding and acquiring talent.
Among the most in-demand blockchain and cryptocurrency jobs since August include Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineers, account executives, software engineers, product managers, marketing specialists, and staff accountants. Speaking to CNBC, Jonathan Tamblyn, director of talent acquisition for Gemini crypto exchange said:
“The industry has reached a tipping point where larger, well-established companies are recognizing the validity and longevity of crypto.”
