Top U.S. banks offer big incentives to lure crypto talent

Top U.S.-based banks and financial institutions have filled more than 1,000 positions for crypto experts in the past three years.

According to a Nov. 1 report from Bloomberg, financial institutions are offering significant bonuses to attract crypto talent, with human resource consultant Johnson Associates estimating that crypto positions pay salaries that are between 20% and 30% higher than comparable positions not related to digital currency.

The firm added that many senior crypto roles benefit an up to 50% bump in salary over comparable positions, with managing director Alan Johnson concluding:

“The banks can’t run the risk that their clients go to another bank to do these services, so they need to build up.”

Research firm Revelio Labs analyzed 287 crypto-related hirings from Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Fidelity, and JPMorgan Chase — the four largest employers of digital asset talent on the professional social networking site LinkedIn. Revelio concluded that crypto specialists enjoy a 9% pay rise over their banking co-workers on average.

In October, LinkedIn reported that site-wide job listings for positions relating to crypto and blockchain have jumped 615% since August 2020.

Related: Amazon job posting hints company’s Web Services are preparing to adopt crypto

Bank of America established a dedicated crypto research team in July, with the division’s Alkesh Shah stating: “The industry and the technology became too big to ignore.”

Morgan Stanley also launched a cryptocurrency research team in September, further signalling that top U.S. banks are seeking to attract crypto talent.