Crypto job openings surge 395% in a year, with Miami, Austin and Denver emerging as new hubs
The crypto space has been experiencing a hiring frenzy, and the trend likely is set to continue.
Crypto-related job postings in the U.S. surged 395% in 2021 from a year before, a sign of the industry’s expansion, according to a recent analysis by LinkedIn. Companies that range from tech giants Meta
FB,
Twitter
TWTR,
Amazon
AMZN,
to Wall Street firms JP Morgan
JPM,
and Fidelity have all posted open spots for crypto talents in 2021.
The growth rate of crypto hiring has outpaced that of the broad tech industry, which saw a 98% increase in job postings in 2021, according to LinkedIn.
Jason Lau, chief operating officer at crypto exchange Okcoin, told MarketWatch that “we’re hiring quite a bit. At last count, I think we had something like 50 open positions.”
“And it’s going to be continued hiring. I can’t understate how we and other companies are still trying to expand in this space,” Lau said.
Crypto hubs
San Francisco (Bay Area), Austin, New York City, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, and Denver saw the most crypto job postings in 2021, as a variety of crypto companies settled in such cities, LinkedIn told MarketWatch in a follow up.
Miami, host of the annual bitcoin conference, has its own cryptocurrency MiamiCoin, while Austin boasts a vibrant crypto culture. Eric Adams, the new mayor of New York City and a bitcoin enthusiast, vowed to make big apple “the center of the cryptocurrency industry.”
In 2020, the top five areas with most crypto job listings were San Francisco (Bay Area), New York City, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area, Greater Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
Demand in engineering
Companies have been hiring for engineering roles most aggressively, as job titles containing blockchain developer and blockchain engineer take up 15.6% of the total crypto-related job listings, according to LinkedIn’s analysis.
Though the majority of the hiring comes in software and finance roles, other sectors, such as accounting, consulting, staffing and computer hardware also saw demands of crypto talent, the study shows.
Developers that are participating in the creation of Web 3, which enthusiasts refer to as the next generation of Internet, reached an all-time high in January, with more than 18,000 monthly active developers committing code in open source crypto and Web 3 projects, according to a report by crypto venture capital firm Electric Capital. 65% of active developers in Web3 joined in 2021, the report shows.
The average base salary for a blockchain developer in the U.S. is $154,550 per year, higher than the average salary for web developer of $75,073 per year, according to ZipRecruiter.
