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The Node: How Do You Know Crypto Is Winning? Look Where the Talent Is Going

Then there are the regulators who have made their home at crypto upstarts. Former acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks took charge at Binance.US the same day former top U.S. commodities regulator Chris Giancarlo joined BlockFi’s five-person board.

These are figures who, as part of their remit, had large swaths of the economy under their supervision and identified the most dynamic and personally rewarding opportunities as being in crypto.

“The internet is a remarkable social and technological phenomenon. It’s by no means seen its course. What it’s done first to information then to retail and transportation, it’s now doing in financial services in a very broad way,” Giancarlo said the morning of his announcement, on CoinDesk TV.

These human flows demonstrate the viability of what’s being built in crypto. Capital deployment is a big indicator, and there are crypto projects doing big numbers. But that’s all a calculated risk, a gamble, a hope for yield in an economy where everything seems to offer returns. Tomorrow Tesla could announce it sold its BTC horde.

Human beings taking jobs in crypto is different. It’s stickier. But it also gives a peek into the industry’s dynamics. People may be motivated by competitive salaries or startup equity, but they may also have harder-to-define motivations, such as a belief or feeling that crypto is the future.

Employment reports consistently show blockchain skills are in high demand.

“The bitcoin and crypto industry has the highest asymmetry opportunity in any industry, so it is not surprising to see thousands of people moving from legacy businesses to these disruptive upstarts,” the influential Anthony Pompliano said over email.

Pomp kicked up a crypto jobs board four months ago to help place the experienced and inexperienced in open crypto roles. He says 50,000 people have already applied for positions, and as many as 20 people have been hired.

Mike Wen recently left Apple to go “all in on crypto.” He says he followed a familiar path for millennials: used BTC to buy a fake ID in 2014, invested in “the next wave” in 2017 and started to get curious again about DeFi in 2020. And now he’s hooked.

Crypto firms fall short on anti-money laundering rules, UK watchdog says

Representations of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin are seen in this illustration picture taken June 2, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration

Many cryptocurrency firms are not meeting Britain’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules, the country’s financial watchdog said on Thursday, showing how some parts of the emerging sector are struggling to meet required standards.

The cryptocurrency world has been plagued through its 12-year life by lax standards on money laundering and other illicit activities.

While standards are widely seen to have improved, global regulators and policymakers have in recent months expressed concerns over the illicit use of crypto. read more

Since January, cryptocurrency-related firms have had to register with Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) - which oversees their compliance with UK laws designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing - before doing business.

“The FCA will only register firms where it is confident that processes are in place to identify and prevent this activity,” it said.

Only five firms are registered with the FCA. As of May 12, another 90 have temporary registration, allowing them to continue trading while their applications are assessed. The FCA says this status does not deem them “fit and proper”.

The watchdog will extend the end date of its temporary registrations regime from July 9 to the end of March 2022, it said.

The FCA said 51 firms have withdrawn their applications for registration and can no longer trade. Firms that do not do so are subject to FCA enforcement, it added.

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