Crypto jobs

Gemini flags ‘big plans’ for Asia with India hub and regional CEO

The exchange reports its new Indian engineering hub will be second in size to its hub in the United States.

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has announced plans to tap into India’s pool of top tech talent with the establishment of a new engineering hub in the country.

In an April 20 statement, Gemini’s global chief technology officer, Pravjit Tiwana, announced the exchange is “in the midst” of opening an engineering center in Gurgaon, India. It said it would be the exchange’s second-largest engineering hub, behind its hub in the U.S.

Heading up the operation will be Tiwana, who has been appointed as the CEO of Gemini Asia Pacific in addition to his role as global chief technology officer.

According to a separate statement made on the same day by Gemini founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the exchange “has big plans for international growth this year in APAC,” starting with its India hub.

Gemini’s Pravjit Tiwana. Source: Gemini

Gemini’s India arm will seemingly focus on a wide remit, with Gemini saying it will develop web and mobile user experiences, contribute to platform compliance, data pipelines, warehousing, security and payments.

The hub will also develop new feature sets for Gemini’s nonfungible token and crypto asset marketplaces, it noted:

“The products and features built in our India location will be used by our retail and institutional customers in 70+ countries.”

Gemini said it’s “actively hiring” talent in the country, and its careers page lists 18 open roles — 14 engineering positions and one for a regional vice president.

Tiwana acknowledged the talent that India possesses, saying it is “a hotbed for bar-raising technology talent.”

Additionally, the exchange reported it will expand its business teams in India and Singapore with a focus on growing Asia Pacific-based institutional and individual customers.

Related: Gemini and Genesis’ legal troubles stand to shake up industry further

This development follows Gemini’s announcement on April 12 that it has filed a pre-registration undertaking with the Ontario Securities Commission, the regulator responsible for the capital markets in Canada’s most populous province.

The undertaking is a mandatory requirement for cryptocurrency exchanges seeking to conduct business in Canada and become a restricted dealer in the country.

Peer exchange Coinbase has also signaled interest in building more of its business outside of the U.S. and recently received a license to operate in Bermuda as many in the industry are unhappy with the regulatory treatment of crypto firms.

Magazine: SBF denies stealing FTX assets, SEC charges Gemini and Genesis, and more: Hodler’s Digest, Jan. 8-14

Crypto winter? DeFi, Metaverse, and NFT job market still hot — Recruiters

The number one attribute to succeed in the crypto industry is a “start-up mentality” and the ability to “roll with the punches,” a crypto recruiter tells Cointelegraph.

The ongoing crypto winter has seen budgets and jobs slashed, but the search for top-tier talent hasn’t stopped across several Web3 verticals, according to some crypto recruitment firms.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Kevin Gibson, founder of crypto recruiting firm Proof of Search said that the majority of staff cuts in the crypto market have been from centralized exchanges, most notably the 18% staff cut at Coinbase in June, 10% cuts at Gemini in July, and the 5% cut at Crypto.com.

Despite this, he said there is “still a great deal of demand” for crypto job seekers to get work with “Game-Fi, Metaverse, De-Fi and NFT-oriented companies.”

Gibson explained that crypto job boards continue to be dominated by developer and engineer roles, adding there is also “a shortage of experienced CTO, CMO, and token experts.”

Gibson added that venture capital firms have continued to deploy capital “to companies with solid business models which have seen sustained hiring activity despite market fluctuations.”

These claims appear to be backed by a recent report from crypto analytics firm Messari, which showed that $30.3 billion was poured into crypto companies in H1 2022, which was more than 2021. While Web3 and NFT projects captured $8.6 billion of the total amount invested in the period.

Founder of CryptoRecruit Neil Dundon told Cointelegraph that the majority he had seen came from “non-essential areas.”

Dundon said however over the short to medium term, the crypto job market will “remain relatively stagnant for the time being until we get confirmation that we have exited the bear market,” despite there still being plenty of “great opportunities” out there for both crypto companies and job seekers.

Related: How to start a career in crypto? A beginner’s guide for 2022

But bear market or not, Dundon said that a crypto company’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances will go a long way towards success in this market.

“Crypto is still a nascent industry the most important attribute to have when entering this space is a start up mentality. The ability to roll with the punches when things get a bit tougher or company direction changes. Building new things is not for the faint hearted.”

Some of the world’s largest publicly traded companies have also poured funds into the crypto market in 2022. According to BlockData, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, PayPal, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs are among some of the companies to have participated in funding rounds.

Crypto winter? DeFi, Metaverse and NFT job market still hot — Recruiters

The number one attribute to succeed in the crypto industry is a “start-up mentality” and the ability to “roll with the punches,” a crypto recruiter tells Cointelegraph.

The ongoing crypto winter has seen budgets and jobs slashed, but the search for top-tier talent hasn’t stopped across several Web3 verticals, according to some crypto recruitment firms.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Kevin Gibson, founder of crypto recruiting firm Proof of Search, said that the majority of staff cuts in the crypto market have been from centralized exchanges, most notably the 18% staff cut at Coinbase in June, 10% cuts at Gemini in July and the 5% cut at Crypto.com.

Despite this, he said there is “still a great deal of demand” for crypto job seekers to get work with “GameFi, Metaverse, decentralized finance and NFT-oriented companies.”

Gibson explained that crypto job boards continue to be dominated by developer and engineer roles, adding there is also “a shortage of experienced CTO, CMO and token experts.”

Gibson added that venture capital firms have continued to deploy capital “to companies with solid business models which have seen sustained hiring activity despite market fluctuations.”

These claims appear to be backed by a recent report from crypto analytics firm Messari, which showed that $30.3 billion was poured into crypto companies in H1 2022, which was more than 2021. While Web3 and nonfungible token (NFT) projects captured $8.6 billion of the total amount invested in the period.

Founder of CryptoRecruit Neil Dundon told Cointelegraph that the majority he had seen came from “non-essential areas.”

Dundon said, however, over the short to medium term, the crypto job market will “remain relatively stagnant for the time being until we get confirmation that we have exited the bear market,” despite there still being plenty of “great opportunities” out there for both crypto companies and job seekers.

Related: How to start a career in crypto? A beginner’s guide for 2022

But, bear market or not, Dundon said that a crypto company’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances will go a long way toward success in this market:

“Crypto is still a nascent industry the most important attribute to have when entering this space is a start up mentality. The ability to roll with the punches when things get a bit tougher or company direction changes. Building new things is not for the faint hearted.”

Some of the world’s largest publicly traded companies have also poured funds into the crypto market in 2022. According to BlockData, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, PayPal, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are among some of the companies to have participated in funding rounds.