hiring - Pwim.Net

UK’s Financial Regulator Seeks to Hire Crypto Specialist to Spearhead Digital Asset Regulations

The UK’s financial industry regulator is seen getting serious about cryptocurrency. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) posted a job listing seeking to recruit a crypto intelligence expert to join its core function team.

The FCA is the UK’s financial regulatory body, whose role involves overseeing and regulating financial product offerings in the country. The financial watchdog aims to boost its involvement in cryptocurrency assets and crypto-related businesses.

The agency is currently seeking someone with experience in working with crypto assets, blockchain, distributed ledgers, and emerging fintech products. The job listing emphasizes on crime, compliance, and 5MLD (EU’s fifth money laundering directive).

The regulator requires the right candidate to have a good working knowledge of specific legislation, including General Data Protection Regulations, Regulation of Investigatory Powers, and Financial Services and Market Act. The candidate’s main responsibility is to act as an internal expert on all things associated with crypto and its possible regulation. The successful candidate will be responsible for providing intelligence advice and support to other parts of the FCA, which are tasked with regulating the sector.

The crypto intelligence associate will involve a considerable amount of stakeholder management and liaison with different government agencies. This focus is on obtaining information on crypto assets, economic and financial crime related issues and the role of various processes in regulating crypto activities, and to assist the FCA in making informed decisions regarding specific cases.

The responsibility of the recruit lies with the regulator’s new crypto-crime team that is expected to have regular anti-money laundering inspections of other high-risk companies. The candidate would report on how companies manage financial crime risks and the controls put in place.

By focusing its hiring efforts in crime and intelligence decisions, the regulator could be looking at ways to harden the relative laissez-faire approach it has embraced in the country until now.

Financial Conduct Authority, the Pacemaker of the UK FinTech Revolution

Financial Conduct Authority, on the 2 Key Initiatives to the Era of Open Finance

Image via Shutterstock

Japanese Multinational’s Blockchain App Taps India’s Tech Talent Pool Neglected By Trump’s Visa Ban

NEC Corporation, the Japanese multinational firm is taking advantage of the hole created by President Donald Trump’s US H-1B visa ban, which has left thousands of technology talents in limbo as they are unable to secure work within the United States with their specialized skills.

NEC Corporation, a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics company, has partnered with Persol Career, a job-hunting firm, to pilot its blockchain app to help corporate Japan recruit Indian tech engineers. Nearly 2000 Indians are expected to be hired via the app in the next three years, according to Nikkei Asian Review.

Addressing the recruitment headache

Japanese firms have been finding it cumbersome getting skilled tech personnel. The blockchain-powered app will fill this void from a vast array of Indian engineers.

As per the announcement:

“The app will aid Japanese companies as they struggle to find skilled tech workers. With President Donald Trump’s administration suspending the issuance of U.S. H-1B work visas, Japan’s business community has more opportunities to tap the large pool of Indian engineers.”

The app’s pilot version is to go live later this month, while its full launch is scheduled for March 2021. Prospective candidates will take a skills test undertaken by Indian-based startup HackerEarth, and results stored in the blockchain app and other information like educational backgrounds.

Deterring academic falsification

By leveraging the blockchain app, Japanese companies will be provided with authentic academic credentials from prospective hires. Internet services provider GMO Internet is among six companies expected to trial the app for three months.

Japan is expected to grapple with a hiring gap of approximately 800,000 IT engineers by 2030. This shows a tight supply in the nation’s labor market.

According to the announcement:

“Persol said 7.05 job openings existed for every midcareer IT and communications professional seeking a job in June. This indicates a much tighter supply of workers than in the country’s overall labor market, where there are 1.66 openings per applicant.”

The blockchain app seeks to offer light at the end of the tunnel by assisting in the recruitment of IT engineers. It is speculated to be rolled out in other target countries.

A global UAE Bank is also building a blockchain-enabled architecture for sovereign and federated digital identities to curb forgery and identity theft.

Fidelity Digital Assets to Hire 70% Staffs to Meet Rising Cryptocurrency Demand

Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investment Inc., has announced plans to expand the number of its staff so that to meet the rising demands for crypto services from institutional investors, according to a Bloomberg report.

The subsidiary intends to hire about 100 employees in technology and operations across Salt Lake City, Boston, and Dublin. Tim Jessop, the president of Fidelity Digital assets, said that the employees would assist in developing new products and expanding into other crypto assets apart from Bitcoin.

Fidelity Digital Assets was established in 2018, and since the firm has been providing custody, trading, and other services for Bitcoin.

In 2020, the year “was a real breakthrough year for space, given the interest in Bitcoin that accelerated when the pandemic started,” Jessop stated.

Unlike most financial markets, which close in the afternoons and on weekends, Fidelity Digital Assets plans to provide cryptocurrency trading throughout most of the weeks. Jessop said that firm intends to be a place where the trading of crypto assets is full-time for most of the weeks.

Jessop acknowledged that the demand from institutional investors to get access to Bitcoin, Ether, and other virtual currencies is increasing. He stated that Fidelity Digital Assets has witnessed using interest in Ethereum cryptocurrency, so it wants to be ahead of that demand.

“Bitcoin has been the entry for a lot of institutions. It’s now really opening up a window on what else is going on in the space. A big shift is in “the diversity of interest” from new and existing customers,” Jessop said.

He disclosed that the first clients for Fidelity Digital Assets appear to be hedge funds and family offices. The number of corporations and retirement advisers seems to expand, who seek to hold crypto tokens as an asset class.

Why More Mainstream Acceptance?

After years of hesitation and resistance to adopt crypto assets, it appears that the floodgates are eventually opening, like retail outlets, credit card firms, banks, and even vehicle manufacturers are making major shifts.

With major endorsements from Silicon Valley billionaires such as Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk, Bitcoin price rose to $65,000 this year, with some speculating that it could hit $100,000 by 2022.

Major companies such as credit card giant Mastercard, Apple Inc, Tesla, and others have moved into the sector. Despite Bitcoin declined its value and currently trading at $33,226 due to regulatory concerns, firms continue to accept the cryptocurrency for transactions or invest heavily into it with corporate finance itself.

This year began with a rush by institutional and retail investors searching for dollar alternatives and high-yielding assets amid rock-bottom or even negative interest rates globally.

Walmart Hires Digital Currency and Cryptocurrency Product Lead

The multinational retail giant in the United States, Walmart, hires the leader for cryptocurrency and digital products.

According to the official recruitment information, Walmart aims to find talent with more than ten years of experience in product or project management and technology commercialisation and a specific in-depth understanding of cryptocurrency and related technologies.

As the digital currency or cryptocurrency director, this position is mainly responsible for formulating and promoting Walmart’s digital currency strategy and supervising and executing each step of the product roadmap. Duties also include the use of blockchain-related technologies to identify customer trends and plan related investments.

The global leading retail business company has been committed to developing its digital currency strategy to provide its customers with more diversified and convenient payment channels.

Meanwhile, it establishes cooperative relations with other cryptocurrency-related companies and promotes investment.

Blockchain.News reported on August 2 on 2019, Walmart has filed a cryptocurrency patent to develop its own U.S dollar-backed digital currency similar to Facebook’s Libra.

Walmart also stated that its coin would have features that can apply to a token used in retail companies. Walmart’s significant difference is that the proposed cryptocurrency will provide a zero or low-fee marketplace for users to keep financial reserves.

British Lloyds Banking Group Recruits Digital Cryptocurrency Experts

British retail banking giant Lloyds Banking Group is seeking for hiring digital cryptocurrency experts.

According to BYP Network recruitment information, Lloyd’s Banking Group aims to find qualified candidates for a “digital currency and innovation senior manager”, who should be familiar with financial technology services and the current market and have a specific in-depth understanding of cryptocurrency and related technologies.

Lloyd’s job posting read that:

“The outlook for digital assets has evolved considerably as several factors have combined to make them ready for the possibility of wider use.” “While central banks are aggressively studying digital currencies, regulatory clarity is improving. 86 percent are conducting pilots, and some geographies, such as China, are on the verge of becoming live.”

Lloyd said that a newly established risk department is mainly responsible for leading the company’s payment liquidity and settlement. As the senior digital currency or cryptocurrency manager, the candidate is expected to develop payment use cases based on the group’s “global network of bank partnerships” and conducting business or investment around digital currency.

The starting salary for this position is £59,040 per year, and the bonus is £87,600 per year, or $120,000. And the position would be based in Birmingham, Edinburgh, or London.

Lloyds Banking Group is one of the UK’s largest financial services organizations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees with nearly $500 billion in assets under management(AUM). Lloyds Banking Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the FTSE 100 Index constituent.

Lloyds Banking Group made the job announcement following the recent surge of Fortune 500 companies trying to hire digital currency expertise.

In addition, as reported by blockchain.News on August 16, The multinational retail giant in the United States, Walmart, hired the leader for cryptocurrency and digital products.

OpenSea Desperate to Hire New Engineers to Relieve its Overwhelmed Staff

Decentralised Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace, OpenSea is on the lookout for new engineers as it looks to relieve its current staffers from the overwhelming tasks of managing the marketplace’s trading volume. As revealed by Nate Chastain, the Head of Product at OpenSea, only about 37 people are handling over 98% of all trading volumes on the platform.

The growth of NFTs has been unprecedented in 2021. Marketplaces like OpenSea have built an ecosystem to encourage retail trading of digital collectables and, as such, helping to drive more mainstream adoption of the new technology.

With the marketplace made possible by OpenSea, many digital artists and creators can find a place to earn rewards for their skills. The fundamental reason behind OpenSea’s popularity is that it pioneered lowering the barrier for entry into the NFT metaverse.

As reported earlier by Blockhain.news, the daily transactions being processed on the OpenSea platform is now 650x the transactions processed for the whole of 2020. In monetary terms, this exponential growth showed that the platform processed $95 million worth of NFT transactions in two days compared to the cumulative volume of $21 million recorded in the entirety of 2020.

While competitor platforms such as Rarible and SuperRare, OpenSea’s foundational role has been entrenched, and future growth push cannot be ruled out. To further emphasise the urgency of the proposed staff hunt, Chastain is offering a referral bonus of 1 ETH (worth $3170) to anyone who points the team in the right direction where they can hire the best candidates.

OpenSea recently raised $100 million in a Series B funding round, a boost that pushed the company up to the ranks of crypto unicorns with a $1.5 billion valuation. With this funding, the firm has enough liquidity to bolster its workforce, and it is committed to doing so in the coming months.

Moody’s Getting into Crypto Space, Wants to Hire Cryptocurrency Analyst

Moody’s Investors Service Limited, one of the world’s largest credit-rating firms, is seeking to hire a cryptocurrency analyst, according to the recent job posting.

As for the job ads, the major credit rating company based in New York placed a new opening on LinkedIn’s employment listings. The positing signals that Moody’s is taking a more serious look at digital assets such as cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens, and DeFi assets.

The job listing indicates that Moody’s Blockchain C4E team is seeking to hire an experienced crypto analyst to develop the company’s digital currency, NFTs, and DeFi strategies and leverage the research and development the team has put together.

“You will be part of a team of individuals responsible for supporting successful project deliveries for our C4E. The role also includes advocating for operational and process changes to move towards a more data-driven organizational paradigm,” the Moody’s job listing notes.

Moody’s job posting indicates that an understanding of DeFi is a very vital part of the job. The company is looking for someone with “[Managing and maintaining] deep understanding of the financial markets and the potential wide-reaching impact of decentralized finance (DeFi) on [an] existing ecosystem. [Alongside performing] back-testing of assessment framework(s) developed by Blockchain C4E using market data to analyze crypto-assets and other related products; provide detailed feedback for further refinement of risk factors.”

The employment listing shows that Moody’s is also interested in stablecoins, CBDCs, and NFTs. The company wants the analyst to develop in-depth knowledge on DeFi and blockchain-based elements like stablecoins, non-fungible token (NFT) assets, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Moody’s expects the crypto analyst to stay up-to-date on development within the industry and carry out a risk analysis of DeFi (blockchain) protocols and other features. Of course, the company wants a person who is very passionate about blockchain and DeFi.

Companies on Crypto Hiring Spree

Based on its current commitment to hiring a cryptocurrency expert, Moody’s, therefore, joins a rising number of major companies exploring the viability of digital currencies such as Bitcoin, NFTs, and DeFi.

Moody’s recruitment efforts come after similar job postings listed by major corporations like Amazon, JPMorgan, British billionaire Simon Nixon’s family office, among others.

On July 25, Amazon Inc. announced that it would hire a blockchain and digital expert to join its payment team. The corporation stated that an experienced digital currency and blockchain product lead would help the firm develop its digital currency and blockchain strategy and product roadmap. Amazon took such a decision because of what it termed as being “inspired by the innovation taking place in the crypto sector” and therefore needs to examine what it could look like within the company.

Last month, Walmart multinational retail giant announced its intention to hire a leader for cryptocurrency and digital products. According to the job posting, Walmart wanted to employ talent with experience in product or project management and technology commercialization and an in-depth understanding of cryptocurrency and related technologies.

In addition, late last month, Seek Capital family office, owned by UK Billionaire Simon Nixon, announced plans to hire a cryptocurrency analyst to help the firm expand its investment products into the crypto sector.

Binance.US Appoints Ant Group Executive to Succeed Former CEO Brian Brooks

Binance.US has announced that it has hired Brian Shroder as president and appointed him as the board member.

In the new role, Shroder will oversee the firm’s fundraising, strategy and execution, corporate and business development, and manage the company’s HR, legal, and product and technology functions.

Shroder comes to Binance.U.S, with a solid background in fintech. In the past, he worked at Ant Group, the firm behind the mobile payment app Alipay, as the head of its Southeast Asia operations. During that time, Shroder was in charge of expanding Alipay and other Ant Pay services across the region. Before that, Shroder worked at Uber Technologies Inc in the Asia office as head of the strategy and business development.

The appointment of Shroder, a Harvard MBA who kept a low profile while serving senior functions at Ant and Uber in Asia, seems to be an effort by Binance.US to ramp up its operations. The appointment is a clever approach by the exchange to bring in an executive with experience in doing business in Asia and someone with the ability to face off competition in the US market, with companies such FTX aggressively winning market share.

Binance.US is an independent firm but is completely linked to its relationships with the Binance Group, a company with deep roots and leadership in Asia. Shroder’s experience makes him fit to navigate this business culture while building an increasingly regulated business in the US.

Shroder talked about his appointment and said that his experience at fast-growing firms would help him bolster Binance.US toward its plans to go public. He believes that the company has all the necessary resources to become the largest and most successful crypto exchange in the US.

Considering Going Public

The move of Binance.US to hire Brian Shroder comes one month after former CEO Brian Brooks was abruptly reassigned from the exchange after just three months on the role.

In the meantime, the operations of Binance.US is being led by an interim CEO, Joshua Sroge.

Shroder’s coming is set to help the exchange prepare for its initial public offering expected within the next three years, depending on business growth.

Earlier this month, the exchange announced plans to go public, with the founder Changpeng Zhao stating that Binance.US is about to close a huge private fundraising round in the next two months that should reduce his control of the board. He said that after Binance.US plans to conduct an IPO by 2024.

Zhao insisted that despite ongoing pressure from regulators worldwide, business operations are running smoothly in the US now that the crypto exchange has put down a regulatory anchor.

Binance.US was launched in 2019 following a suspension of crypto services associated with its parent company Binance Group to US customers – a move to ensure complete compliance with agencies like CFTC and SEC.

Binance beefed up internal regulation through the establishment of Binance.US and is now able to protect its access to the US crypto markets as it can adjust its exchange operations to meet the specific requirements imposed by federal regulators.

Binance Hires Former IRS Special Agents to Ramp Up Its Compliance Team

Binance cryptocurrency exchange has announced hiring two IRS special agents to ramp up its compliance efforts as it navigates complex regulatory issues in a still-evolving industry.

Last Thursday, September 30, Binance announced that it has named former IRS special agent Tigran Gambaryan as the vice president of Global intelligence and investigations.

Besides that, Binance also disclosed that it has appointed another IRS special agent, Matthew Price, to serve as its senior director of investigations.

Russian-born Gambaryan spent more than ten years at the Internal Revenue Service – criminal investigation cyber-crimes unit. He started his IRS career at the Oakland expert, a well-known blockchain expert in crypto law enforcement circles. Gambaryan’s most career achievements involved leading several successful multi-billion-dollar cyber investigations, including those concerned with the notorious Silk Road drug marketplace and the Mt. Gox hack.

Price also has a profound experience in the crypto industry, having led the IRS’s investigations into Bitcoin mixing services Helix whose founder and CEO – Larry Dean Harmon – recently pled guilty to charges related to money laundering.

The hiring of the two agents from the IRS and prominent individuals who helped run sophisticated law enforcement operations is likely to assist Binance in uncovering illicit activity on its platform – an activity that critics stated the exchange turned a blind eye to until recently.

The two new officers will help Binance to improve its compliance as part of a broader push to reform the firm’s reputation as recent violations of regulations brought the firm into the limelight from regulators around the globe.

Binance’s audit and investigations team will focus on external and internal investigations to prevent threats and financial losses while continuing working with law enforcement and regulators around the globe, the firm stated.

Investing in Compliance Roles

Currently, Binance has been on a hiring spree to add compliance teams as the firm faces regulatory scrutiny over tax evasion and money laundering issues.

Last month, Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance exchange, announced that his top priority is to hire people with compliance and regulatory experience.

Regulators across the globe have been taking a more complex look at the freewheeling cryptocurrency industry, which boomed as the prices of Bitcoin surged to record highs this year.

Regulators have been concerned that criminals use cryptocurrency exchanges to conceal transactions linked to everything from ransomware attacks, drug tracking, fraud to money laundering.

In May, the US Justice Department opened an investigation into the Binance operations. US officials expressed concerns that crypto assets are being used to conceal illegal transactions, including drug deals and theft.

Several nations recently announced probes and demanded that Binance affiliates cease operations within their jurisdictions.

In early July, the CEO of Binance admitted that the crypto exchange did not get everything right in the past and stated that the firm has plenty of room to grow, following a crackdown from regulators around the world.

One of the key measures that Binance recently took is investing in its compliance roles.

Payment Firm Stripe Offers Positions by Hiring Engineers to Develop Crypto Strategy

Giant payment firm Stripe has started developing its crypto engineering team to design the future of its digital assets.

The head of engineering and cryptocurrency at Stripe, Guillaume Poncin, announced on Tuesday, October 12 that he is looking to hire at least four staff to help develop Stripe’s crypto strategy.

Poncin stated that he is building a team of engineers and designers to integrate cryptocurrency into their platform.

Poncin tweeted that: “We’re starting a new crypto team at @Stripe. I’m hiring engineers and designers to build the future of Web3 payments.”

According to the job posting on LinkedIn, Stripe is seeking to hire four new positions with the title “staff engineers, crypto.”

The job listing states, “We hear a growing need from developers and users in that space for better building blocks to accept payments, move funds, exchange between fiat and crypto. By focusing on these problems and needs, we aim to build faster, more trustworthy, and higher quality crypto-enabled experiences.”

The engineering team will “lay the foundation to support and inform Stripe’s crypto strategy” and will design and build the core components that the firm needs to support crypto use cases. The engineers are expected to identify and resolve long-term technical challenges, from user experience, API design, blockchain, data storage services, backend operations to payment and identity systems.

As per the job posting, the open positions are limited to engineers based in the U.S. who is required to have a background in developing the crypto space, including more than ten years of experience as an engineer.

Stripe is a giant payment firm with customers all over the globe already using the platform. The announcement could be another gateway to increased mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. The job listing further stated that “many businesses and users already rely on and trust in Stripe. This gives us a massive opportunity to be at the forefront of a new wave of innovation.”

The hiring announcement comes two years after Stripe CEO Patrick Collison stated he was sceptical of crypto assets.

Stripe initially began accepting Bitcoin in 2014, but the service was later halted in 2018 because of concerns associated with transaction confirmation times and fees on the main chain.

Since that time, the development of the Lightning Network has made Bitcoin a viable means of exchange without the long confirmation times and high fees.

Whales in The Crypto Markets

Stripe is set to become a new whale in the cryptocurrency market where clients come to purchase crypto tokens. The payment firm follows a rising number of traditional companies capitalizing on potential opportunities in the cryptocurrency market.

Several fintech firms are assisting in fueling demand for Bitcoin as they open the floodgates of millions of people to trade it and other crypto tokens.

For example, Square payment firm and PayPal launched crypto-related solutions that enable their clients to buy cryptocurrency supply entering the market each day. Visa and Mastercard have also been actively looking to capitalize on the rapidly growing industry.

The crypto space has been heating up amid more interest and increased focus on digital payments, partly driven by the Covid-19 pandemic and the rapid surge in eCommerce.