The crypto market is a relatively new industry. What made it so popular in the last year or so is its bullish 2017. From around $1,000, Bitcoin was able to go near $20,000. Unfortunately today, the crypto market is struggling. Bitcoin lost a significant amount over the last months.
However, despite this trend, job opportunities related to the sector are on the rise, especially in Asia. Many start-ups and established companies have adopted blockchain technology. According to recruitment firm Robert Walters, there was a 50 percent increase in the number of blockchain related positions in the region since 2017. Among the most sought-after skills include those developers that have knowledge in python language skills.
There are companies such as IBM trying to acquire new talents. And also, there are those new businesses such as the crypto exchange Binance that have announced vacant positions for skilled individuals to fill.
And it isn’t just the number of job opportunities that are increasing. You also have the number of interested job seekers. However, many of those who are looking for job opportunities in the niche came from other industries. According to Julian Hosp who is the co-founder of Singapore-based crypto-wallet startup TenX, “We hardly ever hire from inside of crypto because most people inside of crypto are very inexperienced. You have very, very few people who are experienced who get into the crypto industry”.
As for John Mullaly who is the director of financial services at Robert Walters in Hong Kong, despite the enthusiasm of many job seekers in the crypto niche, “not many people have the actual skill sets” that can come in handy in developer positions.
More People Are Going to Join
Education is key towards meeting the demand within the niche. In fact, Ripple donated funds in order to produce individuals who will enter the crypto niche in the future.
The good news is that cryptocurrencies are being mentioned in High School classrooms. Also, you have universities offering blockchain-related programs.
Also, it is important that the price of the cryptocurrencies go bullish in order to get more people into the niche. Hosp mentioned that “If crypto is doing well,. if people are making money in crypto, we get huge inbound from people because they feel like, ‘I need to jump on this wave’”. He also added that “And then when you see crypto going down—and we saw this at the very beginning (of this year) and we’re seeing this right now—then we see that immediately the demand of people, they’re like, ‘Oh no, this is a dying industry, I shouldn’t go in there’. So it’s completely emotional”.
Will Institutional Investors Get More People?
Though the entire 2018 crypto market is down, there’s interest among institutional investors to get involved in the niche. Could this do the trick of getting more people to fill in the positions?
Regulations are changing and there are instances wherein the crypto market is actually winning. For instance, you have Bitcoin and Ethereum considered not as a security by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Also, you have the chance that there could be a Bitcoin ETF in the near future.
