The Crypto Industry cannot hire enough lawyers - Wall Street Journal
According to a report last week by the Wall Street Journal, the Crypto industry is desperate to hire more legal talent as the industry faces increased regulatory pressure, and as it looks to be accepted as part of mainstream finance.
Crypto Exchanges and other crypto focused companies are poaching lawyers from law firms and from each other to assist with navigating and setting the terms of an evolving regulatory landscape, while also keeping down legal costs paid to outside firms. At the same time. law firm are beefing up their crypto practises to maintain the expertise.
The rapid development of a crypto-focused legal sector is also a sign that the industry is accepting regulation as inevitable, with the expected benefit that a regulatory framework for the sector will attract more mainstream investment into digital assets and the supporting industry.
Competition for crypto-specialist legal talent is also driving up salaries in the crypto space at a faster rate than in the larger in-house legal firms, with total annual packages running into seven figure.
In February this year, the Chief Legal Officer at Kraken Tweeted that he expects to hire 30 lawyers in the next 3 months, but would like to hire 60:
In the next three months, I will hire thirty (30) lawyers at @krakenfx.
— Marco Santori (@msantoriESQ) February 7, 2022
I'd like to hire sixty but honestly I don't know how to get it done.
Can I acquire a law firm?
It is a similar story in the more traditional FX and CFD broking industry where Compliance Officers and Legal Counsel positions are in hot demand with a shortage of talent for the number of positions that are available.
See available senior Legal Counsel jobs here.
See available Legal and Compliance jobs here.
Read the Wall Street Journal article here.
