Over the past two years, leaders in the tech and traditional business world have begun migrating towards blockchain technology. Google, Uber, Amazon, Youtube and many more companies have faced an exodus of workers heading straight to Web3.

This is happening for a few reasons, although it has come as a surprise to some.

Why Web3 Companies Recruit Web2 Talent

Blockchain-based companies are looking to capture traditional professionals’ talent, experience and networks. This helps the entire industry gain legitimacy and respect in the business world.  There are very few people who understand blockchain and cryptocurrency technology and large firms typically choose to focus on traditional business experience

Many blockchain-based companies are just recently coming out of the start-up phase and will benefit greatly from experienced talent. From the founders of Twitter to Zynga Games, to executives at disruptive companies like Youtube, Airbnb, Amazon and Google, many in the tech space are drawn in by cryptocurrency’s excitement.

Traditional Businesses Losing Talent to Blockchain Technology

The technology industry has seen a more than-normal mass exit from some of its top performers over the past decade. 

Jack Dorsey was the most notable name the tech industry lost, specifically to Bitcoin. After stepping down from Twitter as CEO, he renamed Square, Bloc. Dorsey has committed his life to expanding the Bitcoin network and ecosystem. He is still the CEO of Bloc but with a new focus for the company, to develop a decentralized self-custody Bitcoin wallet. Jack has said that he believes Bitcoin is one of the most important inventions of our time and he isn’t alone among other social media gaint CEOs.

Eric Schiermeyer is the co-founder of a very popular cryptocurrency-based project called Gala Games. Gala Games is building out a gaming powerhouse in the Play-to-Earn space. The company has forged deals with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Death Row Record for Music NFTs, in additon to developing some of the more popular blockchain games. In a previous life, Schierermeyer founded Zynga Games, responsible for games on Facebook like Farmville, Zynga Poker and Words With Friends. Gala launched in 2019 and has well over a million users.

Youtube’s former Head of Gaming, Ryan Wyatt, recently became the Polygon Studio CEO, later followed by Airbnb’s former Human Resource Director, Bhumika Srivastava. Polygon is a layer two solution for the Ethereum blockchain and has attracted top talent from prestigious companies.  Both men have extensive experience and networks in the traditional tech world, which could help the protocol in the future. 

Exchanges have been one of the biggest culprits, stealing talent from big names like Amazon and Google. Amazon’s former general manager of AWS Pravjit Tiwana took a position as CTO of Gemini and Coinbase’s new Chief Product Officer is formerly Google’s VP, Surojit Chatterjee. 

Brian Roberts, former CFO of Lyft, and the former director of Uber, Jeremy Fine, have both taken high positions with the NFT exchange OpenSea. OpenSea is the leading marketplace for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain and has done billions of dollars worth of volume. Both ride-share apps were highly innovative and disruptive, similar to how OpenSea and digital assets are. 

Many top professionals are leaving extremely prestigious positions at some of the world’s top companies, leaving some wondering why.

Why Professionals Are Switching Careers 

At the end of the day, the real reason so many people are switching careers towards Web3 and blockchain is that it is a disruptive technology. Innovation at its finest. The most notable companies mentioned have been known for disrupting and pushing the boundaries, exactly what blockchain is doing. The decentralized space offers a level of excitement for many people that can not be matched in the traditional business world. 

Blockchain has seen a lot of hype and excitement recently and has very serious growth expected for the entire industry. Adoption is widespread and growing daily. In 2021 blockchain startups saw 33 billion dollars worth of funding or 8x the previous year’s amount. The space is expected to grow by over 60% for the next decade, providing lots of potential upside for early adopters and builders. 

Blockchain job postings have increased by over 400% since 2020, LinkedIn reports. This includes from companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Mastercard, Visa and many more traditional companies. Some of these companies laughed at the idea of Web3 and cryptocurrencies, and are now scrambling to find talent within the community. 

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