Banks looking for qualified crypto staff

According to LinkedIn, in the first eight months of 2021, recruitment of staff specializing in crypto by banks grew by 40% compared to the previous year.

Big banks study crypto

JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Mellon, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Merrill Lynch, are among the banks that have hired more staff specialized in cryptography and thus blockchain and cryptocurrencies. 

According to Bloomberg, as of 2018 alone, major US banks would have hired around 1,000 new engineers specializing in cryptocurrencies, to develop solutions for blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Goldman Sachs reportedly hired 82, Wells Fargo hired 74, Fidelity 68 and JP Morgan hired 63.

Data from a US recruitment firm, Revelio, claims that salaries for these staff would be up to 50% higher than traditional salaries in marketing and software development.

Per the Financial Times, which interviewed a London-based headhunter, cryptocurrency traders could earn an average salary of $137K to $273K, while blockchain programmers could be paid up to $337K per year.

Banks and cryptocurrencies, a contradictory attitude

This news highlights a certain contradiction on the part of banks towards the world of cryptocurrencies. Always in words, major banks have always been very critical of Bitcoin and major crypto assets.

In 2017, the CEO of JP Morgan Jamie Dimon stated in no uncertain terms that Bitcoin was a scam and would soon disappear. Dimon compared the great rise of Bitcoin to the speculative tulip bubble of the 1800s.

However, in 2021, Dimon himself had to admit that Bitcoin was of interest to his customers and therefore the bank offered it to its wealthiest clients. Analysts at the bank predicted a target price of $135,000 for Bitcoin by 2022.

Goldman Sachs has also been very critical of cryptocurrencies in recent years, but a few days ago its analysts predicted a new rally for Ethereum that could take it above $8,000 by the end of the year.

Morgan Stanley’s CEO, James Gorman, said a few days ago that he thinks cryptocurrencies are not a fad at all, although he does not consider them a big business for his bank at the moment. Interestingly, these words came just days after the announcement of an internal research team at the bank on cryptocurrencies.

Morgan Stanley itself was the first major US bank last March to offer its wealthiest clients the chance to invest in cryptocurrency funds.