Crypto Experience Rising on Resumes of Wall Street Applicants

(Bloomberg) -- The latest line Wall Street job applicants are using to stand out: conversant in crypto.

More quantitative and algorithmic traders are using personal experience with cryptocurrencies to boost their status in the job market, even as banks remain hesitant to plunge into the trade, according to the recruitment firm Selby Jennings.

While figures on CV entries are hard to come by, Ben Hodzic, a recruiter at the firm who focuses on the quantitative and algorithmic openings, estimates about 5 to 8 percent of resumes he has seen this year cite experience with cryptocurrency. That compares with about 2 percent last year, he said.

"A lot of the talent have been looking at the crypto markets for a year or two and just messing around with it," Hodzic said in an interview. "It’s not something they were doing as part of an organization or as part of an investment bank."

Wall Street has taken a cautious approach to the volatile cryptocurrency market. Firms began offering futures from Cboe Global Markets Inc. and CME Group Inc. in December. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is a rare bank starting to build a limited Bitcoin-trading business that will focus on derivatives.

That means the amount of jobs lags behind some candidates’ enthusiasm. Until then, traders are using their experience simply as a way to differentiate themselves or to start a conversation in an interview, Hodzic said.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Mathis in New York at wmathis2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Dan Reichl

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