Jobs in crypto: Which specialists are in demand now?

​At the beginning of 2026, the cryptocurrency job market was still struggling with a shortage of vacancies. By autumn, however, the situation had changed, with companies once again actively recruiting. Why are job postings increasing while applications are declining, and which specialists does the industry actually need today?

CryptoJobsList recorded 382 new positions in July, 886 in August and 1,241 in September. Over the same period, the number of applications fell from 26,728 to 19,605, a decline of approximately 27%. Meanwhile, the number of employers posting vacancies increased from 107 to 125.

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However, these figures do not mean that the entire job market tripled in size within two months. Cryptogrind, which tracks hiring at 56 predominantly large cryptocurrency companies, recorded 460 new positions in July, 426 in August and 460 in September. The data points more toward a recovery from a weak start to the year than a new industry-wide hiring boom.

Crypto companies are hiring again, but for different roles

In 2025, the number of new job postings increased by approximately 47%, although it remained below the 2022 peak. The beginning of 2026 was weak again, with new vacancies on major job platforms falling by roughly 80% year over year in January.The changing structure of recruitment provides the clearest indication of how demand is evolving.

In Cryptogrind's September sample, artificial intelligence and machine learning became the largest category, accounting for 73 positions, or 15.9% of all new postings. Security ranked second at 12.6%, followed by operations at 11.7%. Blockchain developers accounted for 9.3%, roughly the same share as marketing.

Fields that were almost automatically associated with Web3 just a few years ago have lost considerable ground. In September, analysts recorded only 12 positions in the Web3 category and 11 for smart contract specialists. Monthly demand for these roles declined by 25% and 52%, respectively. NFT and gaming projects accounted for just nine new positions.

By contrast, demand for blockchain developers increased by 59%. Companies remain willing to hire specialists with a deep understanding of the technology, but they are increasingly less interested in recruiting someone solely to build another smart contract or standalone Web3 product.

Demand for artificial intelligence specialists is growing particularly quickly. In May, AI accounted for just 4.7% of Cryptogrind's positions. In June, the number of AI vacancies increased almost fivefold to 89. Since then, AI has remained among the largest recruitment categories.

The range of available positions shows that AI is no longer confined to dedicated research teams. In 2026, Coinbase has openings in machine learning, compliance automation, customer service, internal infrastructure and algorithmic trading.

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Security also remains one of the largest hiring categories. Companies are recruiting specialists in product security, on-chain transaction investigations, threat analysis and internal control systems.

September's employer statistics reflect the same shift. Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, Fireblocks and Ripple posted the largest numbers of new vacancies in the sample. Large companies increasingly account for a significant share of demand as they seek employees capable of supporting complex financial and technological infrastructure.

From Web3 to financial infrastructure

One of the most notable changes has occurred in compliance. In the first half of 2026, legal roles accounted for approximately 10.4% of active vacancies in Tiger Research's sample, making them the second-largest category after engineering.The trend is even more pronounced among cryptocurrency exchanges. Of the 904 vacancies at centralized platforms, 145 were related to compliance and legal functions, compared with 61 in business development and sales. In September, analysts also recorded a 40% monthly increase in compliance and legal roles.

As the market matures, cryptocurrency companies increasingly face the same challenges as traditional financial institutions. Licensing, customer identification, anti-money laundering requirements, sanctions screening and internal procedures all require dedicated teams.

The composition of employers is changing as well. In the first half of the year, centralized exchanges accounted for approximately 30.8% of active positions, while stablecoin and payment companies represented another 13.4%. Together, these segments made up 44.2% of the sample.

Several years ago, a significant share of new jobs came from DeFi protocols, DAOs, NFT projects and small Web3 teams. Today, demand is increasingly driven by major platforms, payment companies, infrastructure providers and businesses operating in regulated markets.

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Regulation is influencing not only team composition but also the geography of recruitment.

According to analysts, approximately 40.2% of active positions remained remote in the first half of the year, but a significant share of the remaining vacancies was concentrated in the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong. For certain roles, location is directly tied to a company's license, regulator or target market.

High salaries, but fewer entry opportunities

The upper end of the market continues to offer substantial compensation, with annual salaries of around $200,000.

However, this figure should not be interpreted as the average salary in the cryptocurrency industry. Salary ranges were disclosed in only about one in ten vacancies in the sample, and most of those postings came from large companies. Instead, the figure illustrates how much employers are willing to pay for scarce expertise.

For example, Fireblocks offered a mobile developer an annual salary of 177,000–230,000, while a legal specialist in cryptocurrency services could earn up to $312,000. Such compensation ranges can be found in infrastructure, security, AI, legal services and risk management.

At the same time, remote work is no longer an unconditional industry standard. Fully remote positions accounted for approximately 32% of the September sample. Coinbase, for example, remains a remote-first company but requires employees to periodically attend in-person working sessions.

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This is changing one of the cryptocurrency job market's former advantages. Several years ago, the industry competed for talent not only through salaries but also by offering the opportunity to work from anywhere, receive token-based compensation and move quickly between emerging projects. Today, requirements increasingly resemble those of traditional fintech companies, with greater emphasis on jurisdictional restrictions, internal procedures and specialized expertise.

This shift may help explain the decline in job applications.

CryptoJobsList itself attributes the drop in applications to a shrinking pool of available candidates and expects shortages of protocol developers, compliance executives and quantitative trading specialists. However, this is the platform's own assessment rather than a confirmed explanation.

The market has become both larger and more specialized. Companies are opening more positions, but they increasingly seek specialists in AI, security, compliance, infrastructure and quantitative trading — fields where the pool of qualified candidates is already limited.

Therefore, fewer applications do not necessarily mean that people have lost interest in working in cryptocurrency. The industry is moving away from mass recruitment of generalist Web3 professionals. High salaries are increasingly reserved for scarce expertise rather than simply having experience in the cryptocurrency sector.