The cryptocurrency industry is on the rise, and it is no longer just an industry dedicated to currency. Many thought that 2017/2018 was the peak year for the crypto industry when hundreds of currencies and startups were created and destroyed. This is no longer true. While the currencies might have been experiencing a decline as of late, the industry is more on the rise than ever before. There are dozens of companies being founded around the world every day, there is new legislation related to the industry introduced around countries and what might be the most interesting turn of events, large corporations are taking an interest in them as well.

This interest seems to be going beyond the simple investment activity that was just starting a year and a half ago. There is evidence that companies around the globe are looking into picking up their own developers to work with, blockchain engineers and blockchain app builders who they can have on their teams. And the offers to individuals with credentials to qualify for these jobs are rather impressive. But why? To what end? Where are most of these jobs located and what can the nature of the companies hiring these people tell us about the future of blockchain and FinTech?

Where are the jobs?

A recent study conducted on the popular job search website Glassdoor reveals that the number of crypto job postings has increased dramatically over the past year or so. Most of these jobs seem to be coming from the US, accounting for more than 50% of the jobs demanded. The second most are in the UK. And the numbers are not small - the US is looking for around 2600 positions to have filled, only on Glassdoor, while the UK is looking for 1000. The rest of the 2100 jobs are scattered across the world. These are not startups looking for engineers either. Large scale corporations, such as IBM, Ernst & Young and Oracle are all looking for professionals in the industry.

VISA is not falling behind either. The company has recently created a large number of jobs across Europe and the US, trying to acquire more and more professionals across Eastern and Central Europe with their VISA Fintech project. The company is looking for project managers, engineers and other professionals in the field.

Euroweekly reports, based on an Upwork study, that salaries in the crypto industry are soaring, with freelancers earning as much as 49 USD to 119 USD an hour, with regular jobs soaring north of one hundred thousand US dollars.

Even Gazprom Bank has decided to turn its attention to cryptocurrencies, deciding to start offering services for investment and management of crypto related dealings. The bank itself is diversifying its crypto portfolio.

It seems like large corporations are taking an interest in the crypto industry, and it seems like the interest is not unfounded. The recent few years have proven the cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies are a reliable and successful product. Projects such as Ethereum, XRP, Ripple and so on have started integrating themselves into the daily lives of users and the world, producing exceptional results. The large companies seem to just want to keep up with the trends of the world and see how far they can push the technology.

But what does this mean for cryptocurrency?

It has been predicted by many an economist in the past few years of the rise and fall of crypto, that digital assets and currencies would pass into history. It seems that with large institutional interest being attracted to the tech, this is not to come true, at least not any time soon. The past year has seen the crypto market fall from the early 2018 rates. But new legislation and new interest might revitalize the market.

The last time the value of coins fell was because people were afraid of the volatility and once one fall started, the market panicked and started the large sell off that resulted in the fall of the value. Today, the increasing interest of large corporations and venture funds will result in a renewed trust in the coins. But that is not the future of Blockchain, or at least, not the main future.

The potetial of blockchain technologies lies within the many projects that have been planned on its foundation. Ambitious projects that hope to build AI, or combine the computers of the world into a supercomputer capable of solving complex questions. Projects such as Ethereum and Golem are simpyl the first step - there seems to be an endless optimist towards what Crypto may be able to do. With the arival of large institutions, the potential seems to be easier to fulfill than ever before.

IBM is hoping to creat cryptographic anchors with the help of blockchain, in order to ensure the authenticity of all products delivered across the world. Their blockchain tech has already entered the banking world, and their work on a price stable crypto backed by FDIC papers will be of great importance to the industry in general. Other companies are joining in on the race to built crypto tech that could revolutionize our world and the supply chains that we have today.

So what?

The final point of all of this is that such interest by large scale institutions and governments (which should have an entirely different post of its own dedicated to it) and the resulting technological advancements will have an efect on crypto currencies that is the oppsite of what its biggest proponents have wanted for the industry. A stable interest, the introduction of stable price cryptos and standardizes blockchain technologies might stabilize the value of assets, which will make specualtion much less lucrative than it has been up to this point.

But what might be even more terrifiying too the crypto industry participants, is the possibility of the crypto and blockchain techonologies becoming centralized. The larger the governments and the institutions get involved, the more power they will have over their blockchain tech. This means centralization of power, even if anonymity remains. This means that crypto loses the inherent democratic nature that it was infused with from the beginning.

Which might result in the general population being more interested in the cryptosphere, but the current popualtion being disillusioned, and leaving it behind.

Conclusion

The development of the crypto industry is an unavoidable future. It has been unavoidable since the very first days of the boom of 2017 and the continuation of the boom until the first part of 2018. The digital assets has been noticed and, in the eyes of the rich, legitimized as a possible investment. Now, large institutions will be taking a closer look and the rate of advancement of Blockchain techonologies will increase a lot faster. Unfortunately, this will stabilize the market, centralize it and result in what the current proponents of the market never wanted it to be. Still, it is exciting to see new techonologies enter the interest of the general populace.