“The Brain Drain Is Real”, Crypto Space Thirsts For Lawyers As Regulatory Pressure Mounts

Per a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, crypto companies are strengthening their legal departments. As a reaction to an increase in regulatory and political pressure on blockchain-based companies, the repercussions have caused a ripple effect across multiple sectors.

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In an article titled “Crypto Industry Can’t Hire Enough Lawyers”, Menggi Sun reports on this sector’s efforts to lure talent from the traditional sector. The results have been a brain drain as more talent embraces the crypto industry.

In the space, the demand for legal talent has increased their financial compensation. Sun reports that senior positions can see as many as seven figures packages with additional privileges. They get to work in small companies, be part of management decisions, and more.

The article quotes John Wolf Konstant, senior consultant at Whistler a firm focused on legal recruitment for tech companies:

In (the crypto) space, the consensus is you need to have someone in-house early. Especially since investors are going to require that, you need to have someone there to help chaperone the process and to make sure everything is buttoned up from the start.

In addition, Sun quotes a tweet from Marco Santori, Chief Legal Officer for crypto exchange platform Kraken. Therein, the executive claims that the platform was getting ready to hire 30 lawyers or more. He asked his followers: “Can I acquire a law firm?”

Santori’s tweet highlights the increasing demand for legal talent, but also the need to create departments to fit their own needs. The crypto industry is moving rapidly, as mentioned, and many platforms are operating as banks, loan/savings, and futures trading, and they demand a different approach.

You guys we are literally building a new kind of bank.

and a crypto exchange.

and a futures offering.

and we're doing it globally.

we need lawyers.

— Marco Santori (@msantoriESQ) February 7, 2022

Santori told Sun the following:

We are attracting the best lawyers from both traditional finance and white-shoe firms. The brain drain is real and we couldn’t be happier with it.

Crypto Under Fire, Prepares To Push Back?

The report claims that crypto companies have been absorbing 10% to 15% of all the placements from recruiting companies. Some legal firms even claim to be working on as many as 10 in-house projects in the space. The demand is massive, and it is justified.

As Bitcoinist reported, the state of New York is currently working on a potential ban on Proof-of-Work mining, DeFi companies have been scrutinized by U.S. regulators and politicians, others have been pushed out of certain states and banned from offering their products to citizens.

In Asia, the situation seems far worse with China banning PoW mining across its territory and cracking down on any crypto-related operation. The European Union (EU) follows the same path as it prepares to introduce legislation that could compromise the users’ privacy.

In the current regulatory and political outlook for the space, seems logical that some companies want to buy entire law firms.

Related Reading | EU Tightens Noose Around Bitcoin Price To Protect Ethereum, Internal Documents Reveal

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) trades at $40,200 with a 1% profit in the last 24-hours.