New York – EarthyRealist.com

When Blockchain.com was looking for a new home for its U.S. headquarters, it decided to leave New York and move to downtown Miami.

“New York is a great city,” says Peter Smith, the cryptocurrency company’s co-founder and CEO. “But Miami was an easy choice for us.”

Miami’s vibrant nightlife and warmer weather were certainly a draw, but according to Smith, the decision ultimately came down to the city being better aligned with his company’s goals.

“It’s the gateway to Latin America,” he says. “It’s on the East Coast time zone. And more importantly, it’s probably the most excited city in the world about crypto right now.”

Cryptocurrencies are seen by many as the future of finance, and Miami is aggressively angling to become the world’s crypto capital – in a direct threat to New York’s status as the country’s financial hub, threatening New York’s dominance in finance.

Smith credits Mayor Francis Suarez with raising the city’s profile. During his first term, Suarez has gone all in on Bitcoin and blockchain, the technology that underpins it.

Today, Miami has its own cryptocurrency, called MiamiCoin, and last year, it hosted one of the world’s largest digital currency conferences.

“Crypto is incredibly important to the future of the city, and to how we are positioning ourselves right now,” Suarez told NPR in a recent interview. “We really have created the epicenter for crypto.”

(Bloomberg) — Booming cryptocurrency firms say they’re struggling to find the right candidates to fill hundreds of positions as a frenzy of interest in digital currencies and other assets pits them against some of the world’s biggest financial institutions.

Despite a rout in May, cryptocurrencies’ total market value is up 400% over the past year to about $1.4 trillion, and traditional financial firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and DBS Group Holdings Ltd. are starting to offer services and trading. Meanwhile, the likes of CME Group Inc. are expanding crypto derivatives offerings — all of which is helping the asset class to mature.

That’s leaving fewer candidates for crypto firms who need dozens or hundreds of new workers to expand their business.

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is advertising for some 370 positions globally, according to its LinkedIn recruitment portal. New York-based Gemini plans to boost its Singapore headcount to 50 from 30 by December. Hong Kong-based Crypto.com, currently lists more than 200 openings, with over half of them based in Asia.

“We are hiring aggressively,” Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said by email. “We see the industry growing exponentially on a year-to-year basis, and we need to scale our team to cope with it.” He added, “We are a geo-equal-opportunity employer. We don’t mind where people are, as long as they produce results.”

Hundreds of Applicants

For potential candidates, interest in crypto jobs has risen by about five to 10 times in the past nine months, according to Neil Dundon, the founder of recruitment agency Crypto Recruit. A single job posting can attract hundreds of applicants, he said.

Despite the boom, finding candidates with relevant experience can be difficult, meaning that some companies are lowering their expectations or changing job criteria.

“In terms of length of experience, one or two years is good enough these days,” said Dundon. “The skills shortage is so bad at the moment that companies are casting a wider net.”

Both Gemini’s Asia-Pacific head Jeremy Ng and Crypto.com’s director of talent acquisition, Tom Lau, agree that experience is a major challenge.