A new report from Tiger Research reveals that as of June 18, 2026, the global crypto industry had only 2,932 active job openings, marking a decline of over 97% from an estimated peak of approximately 130,000 positions in 2022. This sharp contraction underscores the prolonged bear market and regulatory headwinds that have pushed talent demand in the sector to near-zero levels.
Layoff Wave Continues Through H1 2026
The report indicates that the crypto industry's layoff momentum remained strong in the first half of 2026. March emerged as the most intense month, with multiple well-known companies announcing workforce reductions simultaneously, including Gemini, Crypto.com, Algorand, OP Labs, PIP Labs, and data platform Messari. Some firms, after repeated rounds of layoffs, ended up being acquired at distressed valuations. A notable example is Messari: after three rounds of job cuts, it was acquired by Blockworks in June 2026 for approximately $10 million—a staggering decline from its previous valuation of $300 million, representing a loss of over 96% in enterprise value.
Job Structure: CEX Dominates, Stablecoin Hiring Highly Concentrated
Breaking down job openings by sector, centralized exchanges (CEX) offered the most positions—904, or 30.8% of the total—primarily contributed by OKX, Bybit, and Binance. The stablecoin & payments segment ranked second with 13.4% of openings, but hiring in this niche was overwhelmingly concentrated at Tether and Ripple, reflecting the oligopolistic nature of the stablecoin ecosystem. Other segments such as DeFi, infrastructure, and NFTs showed comparatively fragmented demand.
AI Skills Demand More Than Doubles in Crypto Job Postings
Perhaps the most striking trend in the report is the rapid rise in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities within the crypto industry. The proportion of crypto job postings mentioning AI-related skills jumped from 23% in early 2025 to 53.1% in March 2026—more than doubling in just over a year. This indicates that as AI and blockchain technologies increasingly converge, candidates with expertise in machine learning, natural language processing, and other AI disciplines are becoming a top priority for crypto companies. The industry is shifting from a purely 'blockchain-native' talent requirement toward a demand for 'blockchain + AI' hybrid professionals.