Employees abandon the crypto dream for more stable, traditional jobs

Sidharth Rai joined the crypto sector last year when the market was at an all-time high. After working with the Big 4s, he wanted to gain experience in public policy. However, things changed within a year.

Two months ago, Rai and his team members were fired. His goal of working in the crypto sector is likely over.

“The job opportunities in the market are very slim at the moment – I’ve even checked in other locations, especially Dubai, but currently there aren’t many roles. So, I am moving back to consulting and strategy roles,” said Rai.

A senior executive who voluntarily quit a crypto unicorn startup said regulatory uncertainty over cryptocurrencies has employees concerned.

“If there’s no clarity on regulations, it becomes especially tough to design a financial product. Anyone who is working on such a product will not be able to define what purpose it is serving,” the executive said. “It’s a very dangerous thing for new employees to get into crypto at the moment given there’s no clarity on law. Though it is perceived as a cool job, will a banking company or a financial institution consider this experience? It’s doubtful because the approach is very different.”

Limited chances

Rajat Sharma is leaving a crypto exchange and moving back to the traditional sector because he says the opportunities right now are very limited.

“In terms of hiring, not much action is happening in India right now. Exchanges now have a tight control over their expenses,” Sharma said.

The names of those mentioned have been changed to protect their identities.

In India, a combination of regulatory uncertainty, high taxes and falling cryptocurrency prices has taken a toll on startups, exchanges and companies in the sector. Even though the government has yet to recognise cryptocurrencies as legal tender, it has imposed taxes on crypto-based transactions. The Reserve Bank of India is in the midst of introducing a central bank digital currency.

The price of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has crashed from an all-time high of $68,789 in November 2021. It’s currently trading at about $21,000.

One person who recently quit WazirX said that when he joined the crypto exchange, it processed about $170 million of transactions daily, of which the 0.2 percent fee was its revenue. By the time the person left, daily transactions had fallen to $2 million, which meant there was hardly any revenue.

WazirX was founded in 2018 by Nischal Shetty, Siddharth Menon and Sameer Mhatre. However, there was uncertainty about ownership of the exchange after US-based Binance said it acquired WazirX in 2019.

“It was getting risky, also hard to get a sense of who is running WazirX since Nischal moved to his next startup,” the person told Moneycontrol, requesting anonymity.

His former WazirX colleagues have joined established companies and are moving away from crypto.

Moneycontrol spoke with at least half a dozen people who have either been laid off or have moved out of crypto startups. With the ongoing crypto winter, which led to the fall of even globally celebrated crypto startups, employees are highly concerned about the future of working in this volatile sector.

Numbers show the picture

Job opportunities in crypto startups have dropped massively from last year., Indian crypto startups had about 1,100 job openings, which have now dropped to 200, according to data from staffing firm Xpheno. The startups in this space now account for less than 2 percent of the overall jobs.

Hiring for crypto roles is mostly by IT services and BPM, BFSI or fintech, and BPO companies, among a few others. Openings peaked at 17,000 in July and have now dropped to 12,500.

Altogether, there’s been a 27 percent drop in active counts in Web3, blockchain and crypto jobs over the past three months.

Further, Xpheno said average salary packages for niche and specialist skills in the sector have remained in line with the previous quarter, amid a drop in hiring and a reduced war for talent. Average salary levels had grown by 8 percent to 35 percent in 2021 and early 2022. While a drop in salary packages is not yet visible, a stagnation in packages has been evident over the past two quarters.

What are crypto startups up to?

“The current business environment has been harsh on a lot of companies. This has led them to take very tough business decisions for survival. In the crypto space, most exchanges have let people go quietly. WazirX is not looking to restructure,” said Rajagopal Menon, VP of Marketing, WazirX.

He added, “All exchanges depend on market sentiment - when Bitcoin was at $60,000, our servers crashed because we couldn't keep up with the demand. Now Bitcoin is available at a third, and there isn't enough demand. This sentiment is reflected in the crypto job market as well. Yes, some professionals may leave the industry because of the current instability, but that is going to happen. The focus of most crypto companies is to survive this crypto winter.”

Rivals CoinSwitch and CoinDCX have started diversifying and are investing in Web3 startups.

In August, CoinDCX unveiled its first global product, Okto, which allows users to access Web3 and decentralised finance (de-fi) apps. CoinSwitch is gearing up to launch other asset classes.

Web3 refers to a decentralised internet that runs on a public blockchain, the technology that supports cryptocurrencies.

“We are maintaining regular connect with employees. Having open discussions about the company and the industry's future helps build their trust in the company and helps with long-term retention,” said Mudita Chauhan, head of HR at CoinDCX.

She added, “We are in the industry of the future and the time is ripe to join it in this early building stage. In the last one year, there has been a huge uptick in the talent's curiosity to join and contribute to crypto and Web3. We have increased our presence in Web3 communities and that helps us attract more relevant talent.”

CoinSwitch has grown to over 600 employees in 18 months or so and continues to hire for a mix of crypto roles and other assets.

“We are a tight ship, and we are also very well-capitalised,” said Ashish Singhal, cofounder of CoinSwitch. “Our job is to stay focused, clear out the noise, and continue to build. Some of the world’s best companies were built during bear markets and we hope to use this time to emerge stronger as we become a wealth tech platform.”

Meanwhile, between August and September, trading volume at WazirX has dropped around 94%, while in CoinDCX around 64%, according to data sourced from secondary research firm CREBACO.