‘Crypto Winter' threatens to cool red-hot area for finance jobs

tech.hindustantimes.com:

The surge in cryptocurrencies last year brought along with it one very positive real-world effect: A boom in jobs at startups and other companies trying to get in on the action.  Now that many tokens have crashed as much as 50% or more in a few months, companies in the industry are being much more careful with their plans, according to Hany Rashwan, co-founder and chief executive officer of 21Shares, a provider of exchange-traded products that invest in cryptocurrencies. Still, Rashwan says that his company, which oversees about $2.5 billion in assets, is holding firm to its hiring plans.

Rashwan joined the “What Goes Up” podcast to talk about the effects of what’s being called “crypto winter” and how 21Shares was able to grow quickly in just three years. Below are condensed and lightly edited highlights of the conversation. Click here to listen to the full show and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

A: Of course it changes the scene. People are more careful. All of a sudden, companies that were more casually doing $1 million sponsorships for conferences of mostly crypto insiders are probably rethinking some of these; companies that were not on solid footing. Well, now we see who’s swimming without any swim trunks. 

Now a lot of sunlight is the best disinfectant here. And so it makes everybody more careful, which is probably why the data shows that downturns are better times to build companies. Not everything is going well. You have to make sacrifices. You have to think about this or that, which is a new paradigm shift for our industry. But you are honest with yourself. You’re intellectually honest with yourself. You’ve seen this coming, if you’re careful. You’ve seen this coming if you’re in crypto, that’s