Looking For A Job in Crypto? Now May Not Be the Best Time

With ongoing layoffs and hiring freezes, prospective hires need to reconsider their strategy in the face of what could become the most brutal crypto winter ever.

Crypto Winter

In what is without a doubt a brutal bear market, you may need to put a pause on your crypto job hunting.

Over the last two years or so, the crypto ecosystem has seen a boon in funding rounds, increased mainstream adoption – and jobs aplenty for anyone with a transferable skill set. From software development to marketing, every project, investment firm, and crypto exchange was in rapid expansion mode. 

But, like all things, the crypto markets are cyclical and make no mistake, the crypto winter has arrived. 

For those looking to make the leap into crypto full time, it’s time to consider that it may no longer be the right time to give up your current post. Just consider for a moment the following: Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges and a publicly listed company on the NASDAQ, has laid off a staggering 18% of its workforce. 

“Given what’s happening in the economy, it feels like the most prudent thing to do,” Coinbase COO Emilie Choi said in an interview with Kate Rooney of CNBC. 

Coinbase even rescinded a number of job offers to incoming employees who by all accounts very likely quit their previous employment. 

“Our employee costs are too high to effectively manage this uncertain market…it is now clear to me that we over-hired,” Coinbase Founder and CEO Brian Armstrong added. 

Not to single Coinbase out, other exchanges were also eliminating positions. BlockFi CEO Zac Prince took to Twitter to discuss the platform’s

“Like many others in Tech, we’ve been impacted by the dramatic shift in macroeconomic conditions, which have had a negative impact on our growth rate,” Prince said in the thread. 

BlockFi intends to reduce its staff numbers by 20%. 

Twitter seems to be the medium by which crypto founders and CEOs like to communicate their messages on the subject. Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek posted a thread where he discussed a reduction of 5% to the staff base. Some Twitter users responded by pointing out the enormous amounts the company had spent on marketing would pay for the lost jobs.

‍

Binance Bulls

Interestingly, on the flip side of all of these layoffs, Binance seems to be bulldozing along. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) posted a tweet citing an article by Fortune about Binance being the exception to the market. CZ spoke to these sentiments at the Consensus 2022 conference in Texas last weekend, which is where the article sourced the quotes.

“We have a very healthy war chest; we in fact are expanding hiring right now…If we are in a crypto winter, we will leverage that, we will use that to the max,” CZ is cited as saying in the piece by Andrew Marquardt.

Binance of course has been quite busy in its expansionary efforts opening access to its services across Europe, the Middle East and South America. You may recall license acquisitions in Dubai, Bahrain, Brazil, and many other locations. 

Of course, there are other contributing factors to Binance’s atypical approach to the colder market as well. Remember when Crypto.com spent $700 million on the naming rights of the arena where LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers play? Many crypto-centric companies made enormous financial decisions like this during the peak of the last cycle. Binance, however, stood pat on the sidelines – and it seems to be paying off.

‍

Working Things Out

Ultimately, it all comes down to risk tolerance. The same tolerance you currently have when looking at your portfolio will help you decide whether now is the time to make the leap into crypto full time. Whether you are seeking out freelance work or career advancement, navigate the terrains of this space carefully because anything can happen.

If you are intent on looking for work in the space, check out our jobs page where you can find all types of crypto-related work. Happy hunting!

Source : bsc.news