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Nov. 30 (NBD) -- As prices of the world's leading digital currency Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fall sharply from the bull run that occurred during the end of 2017, the blockchain job market is experiencing great changes as well.

Salary for blockchain job openings has slid by 30-50 percent compared to its peak this June, approaching a rational level, said Wu Yuanwen, co-founder of Jingtum Tech, in an interview with NBD.

In sharp comparison, salary almost doubled during the period from last October to this February or March, said a chief operating officer with a Chinese blockchain company.

A report on blockchain talent released by think tank BlockData showed that the number of blockchain-related job openings in the first quarter of 2018 increased by more than 300 percent compared with the metric for the fourth quarter of 2017 and job openings were estimated to surpass 10,000 for the first six months of 2018.

Rocketing digital currencies late last year, to some extent, pushed up demand for blockchain-related talents and salary level during the first half of this year.

Wu explained that a blockchain project involves a wide range of issues including corporation management, project management, research and development, marketing, promoting as well as management of investors. Besides, blockchain-related firms need a lot of operation and media personnel and leading figures in the area, hence luring talents with fat even sky-high salary, Wu added.

The above-mentioned chief operating officer told NBD that the prior soaring job opportunities and surging pay for blockchain talents were probably related to companies' move to secure the talent pool in advance, which resulted in the salary premium in the blockchain-related job market.

Now that the industry is starting to be rational, and everyone realizes that the blockchain itself needs to achieve actual technical application. Without bubbles in competition for talents, companies will be more calm in hiring and select candidates who better meet requirements of the companies, the chief operating officer noted.

However, Wu pointed out that demands for blockchain talents, especially research staff, remain strong.

BlockData's another report on blockchain talent landscape for the third quarter of 2018 made the same conclusion, adding that demands for blockchain-related marketing and operation personnel started to shrink.

Zhang Jun, CEO of human resource service provider ChainHR, told NBD that as an increasing number of traditional brick-and-mortar enterprises adopt blockchain technology, there will be an evident increase in demands for related talents, staff with blockchain expertise in particular, and the overall pay level of the blockchain sector will be closer to that for the Internet industry. But salary for inter-disciplinary talents is unlikely to decrease, Zhang added.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn