Cryptocurrency companies as well as some of the world’s tech giants, including Meta, Google, and Amazon, have created and opened up lucrative crypto positions over the past few years.
As the crypto industry matures amid exponential growth, available job opportunities are attracting many of the world’s top talent, especially in blockchain and Web3 development, data and software engineering and security.
Like in other industries, crypto jobs are available on full-time, contract, freelance, internship, and part-time. Amongst all these categories, remote work takes up a considerable share and thus a key aspect of the overall crypto jobs market.
Below you’ll find 30+ top crypto job statistics in 2022.
Key stats for crypto jobs
- 42% of cryptocurrency and blockchain jobs are at crypto exchanges, while crypto organisations and foundations employ about 10%
- 158 major crypto companies employed 18,200 in 2019, with more hired amid the DeFi and NFTs boom in 2021.
- Crypto jobs per million rose 1,457% between 2015 and 2019, while the COVID-19 pandemic helped push crypto hires another 1500% by 2022.
- The average crypto salary for a blockchain developer is $154,000, while companies have offered even more depending on hiring needs.
- The United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia and India lead global interest in crypto jobs in 2022 as per search interest on Google Trends.
Crypto jobs by roles and hiring needs
1. Over 60% of crypto jobs are technical roles
According to a Blockchain Job Report 2022 by Center for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), more than 60% of crypto and blockchain jobs demand technical skills such as Engineering, IT & Operations, Data Science and Product Management.
2. 87% of crypto and blockchain jobs are similar to roles at tech companies
If you look at job roles at major technology companies and jobs at crypto and blockchain companies, 87% are within a similar scope (at sometimes even salary ranges.)
3. Over 67% of new hires by technology companies are for crypto-related jobs
According to Indeed.com, demand for crypto experts has increased in the last three years to see such positions account for more than two thirds of roles in the technology industry. As per this report, crypto accounted for 67% of new hires in the tech industry by June 2022, up from around 41% in 2019.
4. The most in-demand crypto jobs roles are in engineering
Engineers account for 40% of hiring needs across the crypto space, the CFTE research found, with the biggest percentage of this going to blockchain development roles.
5. Full-Stack Engineer represents 47.9% of engineering roles at blockchain companies
Nearly half of crypto jobs requiring engineering skills are for Full-Stack Engineers, with the role taking up 47.9% of open positions. Roles in Security, Front-end, Back-end, and Data are among the top hiring needs.
6. Blockchain ranked top among 10 most in-demand hard skills in 2022
LinkedIn research ranked blockchain as the most hard in-demand skill in 2020, with the boom in blockchain adoption across mainstream companies boosting hiring needs.
7. Business Development is the hardest job role to fill for blockchain companies
While there’s a growing pool of talent for blockchain companies to recruit from, recent research shows that Business Development leads as the toughest role to get talent at more than 61%. Solutions Engineer and Full Stack Engineer are second and third at 28% and 23% respectively.
8. More than 70% of new crypto hires are men
Men continue to dominate the crypto employment space, with the sector seeing more than 70% of new jobs going to men since 2018.
9. 26% of crypto hires are women, compared to 43% in finance and banking
More women find jobs in finance and banking than they do in crypto, with data from 2021 showing only 26.5% of crypto hires in the year were women. Comparatively, 43% of new hires in finance and banking (since 2018) have been women.
Employment opportunities in the cryptocurrency industry
10. Nearly 42% of blockchain jobs are at crypto exchanges
An industry research from 2019 found that cryptocurrency exchanges account for 42% of crypto sector employees.
11. About 11% of crypto jobs are at mining hardware manufacturers
CryptocurrencyJobs’ research from 2019 also revealed that mining hardware companies provide 11% of the cryptocurrency jobs in the market.
12. 10% of crypto jobs are at foundations running different crypto projects
While more people work at crypto exchanges, about 10% are directly employed by organisations and foundations such as Ethereum Foundation, TRON Foundation, Block.one and IOHK.
13. Blockchain development companies offer 5% of crypto jobs
The fourth largest employment sector within the crypto industry is blockchain development, with just over 5% of cryptocurrency jobs market share as per a 2019 study.
14. 158 major crypto companies employed 18,200 in 2019
A Genesis/Block report from 2019 found that a total of 158 leading blockchain and crypto companies employed 18,200 people.
15. San Francisco was top US city by share of crypto jobs per capita in 2021
According to a study of the biggest hiring hubs in the US (per capita), San Francisco topped with 10%, Austin, Texas came second with 2.1% and New York, the financial hub of the world, ranked 3rd with over 16% of crypto hires in top US cities in 2021.
Growth in crypto and blockchain jobs from 2015 to 2022
16. Crypto jobs per million rose 1,457% between 2015 and 2019
The 2017 crypto boom contributed to a major spike in cryptocurrency jobs, a study by Indeed.com from 2019 showed. According to statistics highlighted by Venturebeat, the booming market of 2017 helped push overall growth in crypto jobs from 2015 to 2019 up by 1,457%.
17. Cryptocurrency job postings grew 800% between 2020 and 2022
Job openings across cryptocurrency, blockchain, NFTs and Web3 have exploded 1500% since April 2019, according to a report by the leading jobs site Indeed.com. The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 bull market played a role in spiking interest in blockchain and crypto jobs, with Indeed noting an 804% spike between April 2020 and April 2022.
18. Full-time crypto jobs on Indeed rose 118% in 2021
As crypto boomed once again in 2021, career crypto job postings via Indeed.com spiked by 118%, illustrating the demand for crypto talent by mainstream companies.
19. Crypto job openings outpaced wider tech industry by almost 200% in 2021
According to LinkedIn’s labour market report of 2021, crypto job postings saw unprecedented growth of 3955 in 2021, outpacing the wider tech industry by almost 200%. (The wider tech industry saw a jobs opening growth rate of 98% that year).
20. US crypto jobs market expanded 73% in 2021
Net crypto hires in the US market jumped 73% in 2021, compared to positions filled in 2019. According to a LinkedIn report, this was higher than in traditional finance, where hires across companies fell 1% during the same period.
Crypto jobs salaries
Salary is one of the key considerations for people when looking for a job, and that is the same with the cryptocurrency industry. Salary scales differ depending on various factors, including the type of job, the employer and location.
21. Coinbase offered a senior software engineer up to $464,000 to join from Google
A senior software engineer revealed a US-based crypto exchange offered $230k in basic salary and bonuses of more than $200k to join it from tech giant Google.
22. COO is one the highest paying crypto position
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) role ranks amongst the highest paying crypto jobs (data for US market). The role, together with Chief of Staff and President command an average salary of $144,000 per year.
23. Blockchain developer among highest paying technical roles at crypto companies.
Salaries at crypto and blockchain companies can vary as noted above, although data collected from job boards like Glassdoor, Ziprecruiter, and Salary.com, show this to be the average salaries for the listed job roles:
- Blockchain developer – $154,500
- Solidity developer – $127,000
- Security analyst – $124,946
- Software engineer – $118,560
- Product Designer – $112,500
- Senior blockchain project manager – $117,870
- Data engineer – $108,744
- UI/UX designer – $91,938
- Customer support – $77,000
- Office Manager – $59,000
Interest in crypto jobs over the past five years
24. Crypto jobs interest fell 62% in 2022
Despite the overall growth in crypto jobs interest since 2019, the past year has seen remarkable decline in interest amid the crypto winter. According to a BanklessTimes analysis, 2022 has seen a 62% decline in crypto jobs interest with layoffs contributing to the scenario.
25. Worldwide interest in remote crypto jobs rose 400% between January 2021 and February 2022
Interest in remote crypto jobs reached the 100 score in early February 2022, according to worldwide searches for remote crypto jobs recorded by Google Trends. At the peak, search interest using the terms ‘remote crypto jobs’ was more than 400% up on search interest in early 2021.
26. Global interest in remote crypto jobs in 2022 has been highest in the United States and United Kingdom
Google Trends shows the highest search interest for remote crypto jobs globally in the past 12 months has originated from the US and the UK. Malaysia and India are third and fourth among regions with highest interest.
Crypto jobs increasingly going remote
27. Remote-based blockchain jobs increased 36% in 2021
Blockchain-related remote job openings increased 36% in 2021. According to a report from Indeed, the growth rate outpaced the 7% rate in non-blockchain remote jobs.
28. 44% of crypto remote jobs are in software development
In 2021, about 44% of remote blockchain job openings were related to software development, compared to 31% growth for non-blockchain related job postings.
29. 66% of crypto talent in MENA region fancy remote work
A recent poll by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) showed that nearly 66% of crypto talent in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region prefer to work remotely.
30. Canada tops list of desired remote jobs locations
A higher percentage of talent from MENA prefer to look for remote work in the digital asset industry in Canada. Other countries topping the list are France, Germany, and the UAE.
Key takeaway
Statistics show the crypto job market has grown significantly over the past five years, with new job postings and hires much higher than in traditional tech or finance industries.
While there was a slowdown in hiring across many crypto firms in 2022, with some notable layoffs, it appears the overall trajectory for the space for now – as shown on Google Trends in November 2022 – is upwards.