Banks now in demand for Bitcoin, Blockchain and cryptocurrencies specialists

While most banks have tried to minimise competition from fintech start-ups in maintaining that new technologies look like opportunities rather than threats, they now shift into higher gear and look to optimise the technological potential of Bitcoin. A research analyst at BNP Paribas Securities Services, Johann Palychata explains that ‘given the expected potential of cryptocurrencies to revolutionise banking practices in the coming decade, banks need to invest both time and energy to understand how they can best use them before other players join the game and impose their own decisions’.

Some banks have already taken action. Nine of them - not the least important (State Street, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, BBVA, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, RBS and UBS) - have just engaged with the New York based start-up R3 to develop sales applications around Blockchain, Bitcoin’s underlying technology, in order not only to save on financial transactions but also to set consistent standards and protocols throughout the financial industry.

French banks on board the Bitcoin train

Despite warnings issued by the regulatory authorities that highlight a number of risks inherent in this e-currency, the key French banking institutions are moving with the times. BNP Paribas is said to be already beta testing to incorporate Bitcoin into one of its currency funds – so International Business Times, relying on an internal source at the bank. ‘We are currently looking at the Blockchain technology and how it can be used within sales processes to speed up things while potentially reducing costs, although all this so far is still at project and test level. Nothing has been implemented into our systems’, a spokeswoman for BNP Paribas commented.

Société Générale also raised attention after posting an ad earlier in July on the specialised US website Coindesk. Though the position was opened as a VIE – an international volunteer similar to an internship, the bank was looking to hire an IT engineer capable of developing several ways to collect quantitative information on the real evolution of the cryptocurrencies environment. Francis Pouliot, director of public affairs for the Bitcoin Foundation Canada in Montreal, said in an interview to Frenchweb: ‘It’s no wonder. I’ve observed that recruitments of engineers and Bitcoin specialists for large worldwide banks have accelerated over the past twelve months. Most of the time, they just need one expert for a corporation with over 10,000 headcount’.

A promising market

A Paris-based recruiter explains that ‘Bitcoin specialists in France are still being recruited in dribs and drabs, with banks mostly targeting interns’. Meanwhile, the most seasoned specialists can look at some fintech companies currently very active on the segment such as the Bitcoin marketplace Paymium that has just raised 1 million euros to finance its European expansion plans. ‘We intend to increase our trading volume fivefold by the end of 2016. In addition, the Blockchain technology on which Bitcoin develops is now widely acknowledged by the banking sector. This opens the way to new applications in digital trust and payments’, states Pierre Noizat, CEO and co-founder of Paymium.

Therefore, the Bitcoin transaction system offers the right potential to compete with traditional banking services. Éric Larchevêque, CEO of Ledger and founder of ‘la Maison du Bitcoin’ with entrepreneurs passionate about cryptocurrencies, explains: ‘the challenge of this currency is to provide access to a simple transaction system in places where traditional banking services are little developed’. ‘It is in the interest of banks to engage in partnerships’ – so Ronan Le Moal, MD of Crédit Mutuel Arkea, who indeed chose to engage with recently founded companies innovating in the banking sector.

Yet in the longer term, the Blockchain technology may well threaten another profession in the industry, namely the banks’ financial intermediaries. As the BNP Paribas analyst demonstrates, ‘once investors can exchange shares directly in a system that is reliable enough, brokers will no longer be needed’. Meanwhile, the enthusiasm for the sector continues to grow to such an extent that BitcoinJobFair, a recruitment fair specialising on the Bitcoin industry was created last year in the Silicon Valley. Definitely something worth considering if you are a fan of cryptocurrencies…