Cryptocurrency firms struggling to fill hundreds of vacant positions

The American banking group, Citigroup Inc. is taking another step into the world of cryptocurrencies.

The Wall Street giant will help its richest clients bet on crypto as part of a new digital assets group inside its burgeoning wealth management unit, based on a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg News. Citigroup is forming the new unit as investor demand for digital assets continues to soar, despite wild swings in prices of major cryptocurrencies.

The move follows similar efforts at rivals like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, which both recently invested in blockchain or blockchain-related companies. The new effort at cryptocurrencies at Citigroup is being led by Alex Kriete and Greg Girasole, who will serve as liaisons to all other business groups at Citi, which are expanding into this rapidly emerging space.

In the memo, Iain Armitage, Citigroup’s global head of capital markets for its private bank and Rob Jasminski, who oversees the bank’s investment management arm globally, advised that Kroete and Girasole, “will be responsible for developing our future product capabilities, client delivery mechanisms and thought leadership around all digital assets”.

Details of Citigroup’s crypto plan

Under Citigroup’s crypto plan, as outlined in the memo, the new group will help clients invest in the currencies, stable coins, non-fungible tokens as well as central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. The newly formed unit comes just weeks after the chief executives of the six biggest US banks were grilled by Congress over their ties to cryptocurrencies.

Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser at the time said her bank was taking tentative steps in the space. Citigroup has been building out its wealth management unit ever since forming the division earlier this year and naming longtime executive, Jim O’Donnell to lead the effort.

More recently, the lending institution has been focused on building out a series of wealth management hubs across Europe and Asia, as it seeks to exit some retail banking operations in both regions.

Many vacancies as crypto firms going unfilled

Booming cryptocurrency firms say they’re struggling to find the right candidates to fill hundreds of positions, as a frenzy of interest in digital currencies and other assets pits them against some of the world’s biggest financial institutions.

Despite a rout in May, cryptocurrencies’ total market value is up 400 per cent over the past year to about $1.4 trillion and traditional financial firms such as Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of New York Mellon and DBS Group Holdings are starting to offer services and trading. Meanwhile, the likes of CME Group are expanding crypto derivatives offerings, all of which is helping the asset class to mature.

That’s leaving fewer candidates for crypto firms that need dozens or hundreds of new workers to expand their business. According to its LinkedIn recruitment portal, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is advertising for some 370 positions globally.

New York-based Gemini plans to boost its Singapore headcount to 50 from 30 by December. Hong Kong-based Crypto.com, currently lists more than 200 openings, with over half of them based in Asia.

“We are hiring aggressively,” Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao said in an email response to Bloomberg.

He added: “We see the industry growing exponentially on a year-to-year basis and we need to scale our team to cope with it. We are a geo-equal-opportunity employer. We don’t mind where people are, as long as they produce results.”

For potential candidates, interest in crypto jobs has risen by about five to 10 times in the past nine months, according to Neil Dundon, the founder of recruitment agency Crypto Recruit.

A single job posting can attract hundreds of applicants, he said.

Despite the boom, finding candidates with relevant experience can be difficult, meaning that some companies are lowering their expectations or changing job criteria.