Crypto and Wall Street ‘Don’t Speak the Same Language’

The past few months have not been kind to job seekers looking to move into crypto.

A series of layoffs – including blue-chip companies from Coinbase to BlockFi to Genesis – induced by the double meltdown of Terra stablecoin UST and the digital asset lending market has become the norm. Potential Web3 hoppers from cushy traditional finance seats have suddenly found fundamental equity valuations and grading mezzanine debt tranches far more interesting. And stable.

But a growing number of opportunistic players with deep pockets, from Sam Bankman-Fried of crypto exchange FTX to hedge fund powerhouses including Steve Cohen of Point72 Asset Management, have snapped up top talent in spades.

Dan Eskow of his New York-based Up Top Search recruiting firm has made a number of high-profile placements lately, adapting a business model honed in the halls of Wall Street to the new crypto realities. The shift starts, Eskow told Blockworks, with “setting realistic expectations,” especially when “there’s a level of competition now that this industry has never seen.”

Eskow, who previously built out his own quantitative headhunting department at another shop, which he spun off into Up Top Search in August 2021, said he has had to hone soft skills and learn to trade quant nerd-speak for the nuances of crypto- lingo.

The veteran bounty hunter, who went “all-in” on crypto, spoke with Blockworks about weathering the steep ups and downs of two very different cycles — including the inherent challenges of “building in a bear.”

Blockwork: We’ve reached something of an inflection point in crypto, following the Terra debacle on the heels of the Celsius and Voyager bankruptcies and corresponding bailouts. There have been many layoffs. Much of the news is grim. What does it take at this moment in crypto history to get hired? And how do you approach it from the headhunter’s perspective? And how has it changed from a bull market where things are going well?

Eskow: When talking to candidates, the most important thing in my mind is to set realistic expectations. Because my goal is not just to get them hired immediately, but it’s to build a relationship where they will trust me when it comes to hiring for the rest of their career. So it starts with setting realistic expectations in this market and not over-promising. And the reality is that the layoffs and the market crash have affected different skill sets in different ways.

I have seen the biggest influx in the market from the layoffs on the institutional sales and business development side. So it seems like the easiest people for these companies to lay off were sales, marketing and partnerships. And there are still sales opportunities and [business development] opportunities, employment-wise, but it has become extremely competitive.

So I always lead with the truth. And what does it take to get hired? In every skill set right now, everyone is very conservative in terms of hiring. So the interviews are still going on, much like they were before, but at this point they’re looking for 10 out of 10 hits.

Unless you’re that person, they’re probably not going to hire you. But building those relationships is definitely important. The customers, the recruitment companies, see it too – that it is important to build relationships with candidates for future employment.

Blockwork: There was once a strong argument that fledgling crypto firms needed white-glove Wall Street talent to be taken seriously by skeptical up-and-coming institutional investors. But crypto-natives are landing big traditional finance checks (TradFi). What are people looking for on that spectrum? Macro-wise, how has it changed over time?

Eskow: Well, that’s an interesting question.

These times have led to an interesting crossroads between TradFi and crypto-natives, where in TradFi you have stable organizations that can take advantage of all the crypto-native talent coming into the market and use this to figure out how to build more of a footprint in room.

Crypto natives recognize – what they’ve learned – is that they too need to be more aligned with institutional guys.

We see that the line becomes very gray now. These two types of people are so different that I think they find it very difficult to communicate with each other. And if there’s one big positive that comes out of this crash, it’s that it sort of forces institutional and cryptonatives to come together and work together, sort of. And hopefully the cultural barrier will be reduced a bit.

But right now I see this big communication barrier, almost like they don’t speak the same language at all.

Blockwork: How do you solve it?

Eskow: The way to solve it is through relationships. The main driver of this problem is ego.

And the only thing that can convince someone to let go of their ego and be open to the other side is actually meeting someone from the other side. That’s all that’s ever going to change your mind. So that’s going to require communication. That’s it.

Well, relationships, not just communication, but actually real relationships, because there has to be trust. Each side has such different views on things. And they don’t want to trust each other – it’s not natural for them. And that just creates a divide where they can’t really achieve anything together. And that is what we need to see improve.

Blockwork: Is now a good time to leave your cushy seven-figure Wall Street job for crypto?

Eskow: Absolutely not. No no no.

You’re not a bear market kind of guy. There are almost none. You are not.

I’m building in a damn bear market. I’m building in a bear market, but if you have a sweet seven-figure job on The Street, and you’re passionate about this, you’d be here already.

If you haven’t bought in 1000% and you’re still stuck at your traditional job, I think it’s time to stay.

Get today’s best crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every night. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.