Last year, the crypto job market felt different, but overall it was a good different.

2019 was characterized by a volatile cryptocurrency market, a succession of high-profile layoffs, but also the creation of new blockchain jobs, the growth of Decentralized Finance, and increased awareness of Bitcoin.

I’m excited by the promise and potential of blockchain technology to drive social impact and provide nonprofits with new sources of funding.

Over the past few years, a few nonprofits have been early adopters and accepted donations in cryptocurrency.

Save the Children was one of the first nonprofits to accept cryptocurrency in 2013, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was the first major charity in the UK to accept bitcoin donations.

Fidelity Charitable began to accept cryptocurrency in 2015, and donors have contributed $106 million since then.

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and Twitter, announced on Wednesday in a series of tweets, Square Crypto, an open source initiative that will work towards building out the bitcoin/crypto ecosystem.

As part of the new initiative, Square Crypto is hiring three to four developers and a designer to work full-time on the open source protocol of bitcoin and the crypto ecosystem. Hires can work remotely from anywhere, have the option of being paid in bitcoin, and will report directly to Dorsey.

The demand for blockchain talent is still strong. Despite the bear market and recent industry layoffs, the number of blockchain job postings have been on the rise, and searches for roles involving Bitcoin, Ethereum, blockchain and cryptocurrency have increased.

Startups are offering top compensation packages, in particular for blockchain developers, as they compete for talent in an industry where supply is limited. The demand for blockchain talent has also grown as established companies, such as Amazon, Facebook and IBM, launch new teams to work on blockchain technology, and explore blockchain use cases.

Blockchain salaries have risen to be among the highest in the tech industry.

Following the one year anniversary of Cryptocurrency Jobs, I put together a thread on Twitter about the state of the blockchain and cryptocurrency job market. This post is a modified version of that thread.

1/ Blockchain and crypto jobs are in great demand despite prices being down from their all time highs. Demand is actually growing. This seems to indicate that people are interested in the technology and ecosystem, not just prices.

2/ Since launch, Cryptocurrency Jobs has featured over 1100 blockchain and cryptocurrency jobs at 400+ companies and startups across 100+ cities and 50+ countries.