Three more crypto firms announce massive layoffs. Earlier this week, digital exchanges Bybit and Swyftx announced staff cuts of 30% for the former and 35% for the latter. Today, Amber announced their own plans to cut staff and pause funding. They are far from the first and unlikely to be the last. There are a lot of crypto employees out there in search of work, so what are crypto recruiters actually doing with themselves now?
Having quite a rough time of it is the answer. One anonymous crypto headhunter tells us it’s a time of famine rather than feast. “There are bits and pieces: senior sales and trading roles, but development and engineering roles have dried up.” Worse, existing ones are being pulled. “One deal was worth £40k, the other £16k. So, I lost £56k. That would have been nice for Christmas,” he added.
More melodramatically, another recruiter said: “My two crypto exchange clients have completely stopped recruiting. If it goes on like this, I’ll be using a foodbank”
US recruiters are more upbeat. Deepali Vyas, the New York-based global head of fintech at consulting firm Kornferry, says traditional crypto jobs are few and far between but that she’s working on, “something very big in the crypto mining space.” If you still want a career at a crypto firm, you really need to stand out right now.
Rob Paone, the New York-based founder of crypto recruitment firm Proof of Talent, says the crypto market is more purposeful with its hiring. Opportunities are harder to come by, but Paone said they’re busy with staff who’ve been cast adrift. “Some firms have reached out, given us access to their sheets [of staff who’ve been cut] and introduced us to people along the way.”
Paone adds that crypto recruitment is focused on, “the early stage technical side.” Roles such as business development and marketing are fewer and further between, but they still exist. Paone says he recently placed a “head of Biz Dev for a decentralized finance company, for example.
Crypto headhunters’ job is also made more difficult by the fact that candidates are amply aware of the risks of working in the sector. Paone says he takes a more realistic approach and aims to “educate them on the overall landscape and be honest with them.” In the process, he says both candidates and employers are becoming more empathetic.
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