Written by: @Fromadistance11 & @ryanyoon_eth,Tiger Research

Compiled by: AididiaoJP, Foresight News

Although the overall hiring scale in the cryptocurrency industry continues to shrink, compliance and legal positions have seen significant growth against the trend. Engineering demand remains resilient, with centralized exchanges (CEX) and stablecoin sectors becoming the main force in recruitment. This report, based on real job data, clearly outlines the industry's trajectory from the speculative era to institutionalization and compliance.

Key Points

The cryptocurrency hiring market has not yet recovered to the peak levels of 2022. According to Coincub data, the number of new cryptocurrency positions in 2025 is projected to reach 66,494, rebounding 47% year-on-year, but still far below the highs of 2022.

In 2026, the contraction further intensified, with major hiring platforms reporting a year-on-year decrease of about 80% in new positions in January.

As of the first half of 2026, among the 2,932 active positions tracked by Tiger Research, engineering roles accounted for the highest proportion at 34.1%; compliance/legal roles ranked second at 10.4%. Active positions are highly concentrated in regulatory compliance and technology development.

By sector, CEX accounts for 30.8%, and stablecoin and payment sectors make up 13.4%, together approaching half of all positions. The gaming and NFT sectors only account for 2.4%.

In the past, the market driven by token sales concentrated demand in community operations and token sales roles. As the market shifts towards institutional involvement, the importance of product operations management and regulatory compliance capabilities has significantly increased.

Hiring Peaks of 2021-2022 and Current Market Status

The peak period of hiring in the cryptocurrency industry was from late 2021 to the first half of 2022. At that time, both Bitcoin and Ethereum reached historic highs, NFT trading volume surged, and DeFi's total value locked peaked at hundreds of billions of dollars.

Major centralized exchanges expanded their global operations aggressively. At that time, Coinbase had over 250 open positions, Kraken over 300, and Binance over 600. DeFi protocols and the NFT market simultaneously recruited a large number of engineers and marketing talent, while the GameFi boom also drew traditional game studios into the recruitment frenzy. The focus was more on rapid expansion rather than immediate profitability.

Starting in the second half of 2022, the number of new positions plummeted. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of cryptocurrency-related positions in most parts of North America and Europe decreased by about 40%. The collapse of FTX in November 2022 further exacerbated this slowdown, and the market has since failed to return to peak levels.

To accurately grasp the current state of cryptocurrency hiring and read market directions from the data, Tiger Research has compiled a proprietary dataset. As of June 2026, a total of 2,932 active positions have been tracked. Data sources include web3.career, cryptocurrencyjobs.co, various company recruitment pages (Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever, etc.), and manual collection from local South Korean platforms Wanted and Jobkorea. DAO contributors, freelancers, and contract positions are not included in the statistics.

Major Crypto Companies Continue Layoffs in the First Half of 2026

Restructuring began even before the first half of 2026. Wemade and Consensys laid off staff in the second half of 2025, and this trend continued into 2026 with major exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, Crypto.com, and Kraken.

March was the month with the most concentrated layoff announcements in the first half of 2026, with six companies including Gemini, Crypto.com, Algorand, OP Labs, PIP Labs, and MessariCrypto disclosing layoffs in the same month. In the first quarter, geopolitical tensions in places like Iran and overall market weakness led multiple companies to choose this time to reset their strategic direction.

The reasons given by various companies are diverse: Algorand mentioned the macro environment and falling token prices; Crypto.com and Gemini emphasized AI integration; Coinbase announced its transformation into an "AI-native company."

After several rounds of layoffs, some companies were ultimately acquired at valuations far lower than before. Messari experienced three rounds of layoffs starting in 2023 and was acquired by Blockworks for about $10 million in June 2026. At its peak, Messari was valued at $300 million, illustrating the harsh reality of the current market.

Recruitment is Concentrating in Specific Regions

The proportion of remote work in the cryptocurrency industry remains high. In the active positions of the first half of 2026, remote positions accounted for the largest share at 40.2% (1,180 positions).

Excluding remote positions, office recruitment is mainly concentrated in regions with mature regulatory frameworks or lower uncertainty: the United States accounts for 21.8%, Singapore 5.9%, and Hong Kong 4.2%.

The cryptocurrency industry, once branded as "borderless," increasingly requires local operations and proactive regulatory engagement, and the recruitment structure is gradually concentrating in these mature regulatory centers.

Compliance Roles are Rapidly Rising

Engineering positions in the first half of 2026 still lead, accounting for 34.1% (999 positions), showing that even in an overall shrinking market, the demand for technical development remains robust.

More noteworthy is that compliance and legal roles have firmly established themselves in second place. In Tiger Research's 2023 Global Crypto Jobs Report, this category had not yet been separately counted, but in just three years, it now accounts for one-tenth of all active positions.

This trend is particularly evident in the exchange sector. Among 904 exchange positions, engineering roles number 275 (30.4%), compliance and legal roles 145 (16.0%), and business development/sales positions only 61 (6.7%). The number of compliance positions is 2.4 times that of business development/sales, indicating that exchanges are allocating more resources to regulatory defense rather than business expansion.

The increase in compliance hiring is partly due to the full implementation of the EU MiCA framework—starting December 30, 2024, CASP licenses will become a mandatory requirement. European exchanges and asset management companies have significantly expanded their compliance teams accordingly.

A similar situation is observed in South Korea. After the implementation of the "Virtual Asset User Protection Act" in July 2024, domestic exchanges have seen a noticeable increase in demand for compliance talent. This explains why compliance roles in South Korea account for 18.4%, nearly double the global average (10.4%).

A survey by CryptoJobsList shows that content creation and community management are the functions most hoped to be automated. These two types of work often involve repetitive tasks and emotional labor, with relatively low technical complexity, thus becoming the areas most likely to be replaced by AI agents. Currently, the recruitment demand for these positions is declining, and practitioners also believe they are most suited for automation.

CEX Dominance is Solidified, Stablecoin Sector Strongly Rises

The CEX sector has a total of 904 positions, accounting for 30.8%, nearly one-third of all positions. The main contributors are leading exchanges such as OKX (267), Bybit (138), and Binance (135).

The stablecoin and payment sector ranks second, with 392 positions (13.4%). However, Tether alone accounts for 224 (57.1%), and Ripple contributes 104 (26.5%), together occupying 83.6% of this sector. This indicates that current data reflects the concentrated recruitment of a few large companies rather than the overall explosiveness of the sector. The situation may change in the second half of the year—as U.S. legislation regarding stablecoins progresses, the recruitment environment in this sector is expected to undergo substantial transformation.

The market making and trading sector has reached 101 positions (3.4%), sufficient to form an independent category. Key players include B2C2, GSR, Keyrock, and Wintermute. This category was not separately listed in the 2023 report, and its emergence reflects the consolidation of institutional liquidity provision and asset management within cryptocurrency infrastructure.

The gaming and NFT sector now has only 71 positions (2.4%). This sector, which once led recruitment during the GameFi boom in 2022-2023, now has a share lower than the market making sector.

Current recruitment is no longer driven by cyclical bull and bear markets but revolves around sectors emphasizing structural stability: exchanges, payments, and regulatory infrastructure.

Cryptocurrency Recruitment Market After AI Adoption

During the same period, the AI industry, in stark contrast, has shown a completely opposite growth trend. PwC's 2026 Global AI Job Index analyzed over one billion job postings across six continents, finding that by 2025, about 1.12 million jobs in the U.S. will require AI-related skills, a 66% year-on-year increase and accounting for 2.8% of all positions.

The cryptocurrency industry is also following a similar path. The proportion of cryptocurrency positions mentioning AI skills rapidly rose from 23% in early 2025 to 53.1% by March 2026.

Overall, AI is creating new jobs across various sectors, while the cryptocurrency market is achieving higher productivity through leaner teams.

The contraction and selective enhancement of the cryptocurrency recruitment market

The global cryptocurrency recruitment market has not only shrunk in scale, but more importantly, the nature of recruitment work has undergone fundamental changes.

The focus has shifted from marketing to regulatory compliance and infrastructure operations. Roles previously common in bull markets, such as promoting tokens and expanding communities, have significantly decreased; while demand for positions directly dealing with operating systems, exchange operations, stablecoin infrastructure, and on-chain risk management remains stable or even grows.

Communications with frontline practitioners also confirm this shift. Project teams no longer emphasize finding "degen" (decentralized enthusiastic) talent. After an early educational phase, the recruitment standards now employed in the blockchain industry are as rigorous and demanding as those in traditional finance and fintech.

These changes indicate that the cryptocurrency industry has moved out of the speculative phase and is gradually integrating into the institutional mainstream. The market no longer needs those who build beautiful narratives, but instead requires professionals who can truly build and verify reliable infrastructures.

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