Where do companies get their "Bitcoin experts" from?

[Mt. Gox]

According to this article, PwC hired 400 blockchain experts in 2018:

Rival PwC said it had taken on a similar array of clients and currently employed about 400 "blockchain experts" globally, across multiple divisions, including its consultancy business.

And that's just one company. That number doesn't count those working for other companies like EY, KPMG, Microsoft, etc.

My question is, where do these companies find them? What qualifies someone to be a "expert" in this field? Given that the cryptocurrency community is still a fairly small and nascent one where everyone knows everyone else, the actual experts tend to be well-known figures, and Bitcoin degrees aren't really a thing yet (other than the one or two rare exceptions), how was PwC able to find 400 of them?

In fact, the number of people who have contributed code to the Bitcoin codebase over the past decade since Bitcoin has been around is only about 500. For Ethereum, it's only about 300.

Or do these companies just treat anyone with a computer science degree to be an expert? (Heck, I'm a computer science student. Can I be a Bitcoin expert too?)

[rosezionjohn]

I don't think you provided the correct link to the article, can you check it?

Blockchain is not all about cryptocurrency though. If you do not like the term experts used here, you can simply refer to them as blockchain developers.

[Mt. Gox]

I don't think you provided the correct link to the article, can you check it?

Blockchain is not all about cryptocurrency though. If you do not like the term experts used here, you can simply refer to them as blockchain developers.

Hmm... You're right. The link works when accessed through Google, but fails when accessed directly. Very odd.

Anyway, here's a rough mirror of the original article (same content, just worded differently):

https://cryptoslate.com/major-accountancy-firms-race-to-offer-auditing-services-for-crypto-and-blockchain-companies/

Edit: I've replaced the original link in the OP.

[Yakamoto]

According to this article, PwC hired 400 blockchain experts in 2018:

Rival PwC said it had taken on a similar array of clients and currently employed about 400 "blockchain experts" globally, across multiple divisions, including its consultancy business.

And that's just one company. That number doesn't count those working for other companies like EY, KPMG, Microsoft, etc.

My question is, where do these companies find them? What qualifies someone to be a "expert" in this field? Given that the cryptocurrency community is still a fairly small and nascent one where everyone knows everyone else, the actual experts tend to be well-known figures, and Bitcoin degrees aren't really a thing, how was PwC able to find 400 of them?

In fact, the number of people who have contributed code to the Bitcoin codebase over the past decade since Bitcoin has been around is only about 500. For Ethereum, it's only about 300.

Or do these companies just treat anyone with a computer science degree to be an expert? (Heck, I'm a computer science student. Can I be a Bitcoin expert too?)

Like rosez, I can't see the article itself because it's likely behind a FT paywall. It might be an interesting article, but I'm not paying for it lol.

A Bitcoin "expert" is literally just a label that people put on someone else. I want to believe that companies would have a bit more of a refined definition of what an "expert" actually is, but there's a decent chance that it's anyone who can describe the blockchain and has some tech/coding experience. There isn't a way that you can define an "expert" when there's no benchmark that they can be measured against.

I'd put money that anyone who can walk into a company and accurately describe the blockchain system while also flexing a Comp Sci degree or something similar can be regarded as an expert, whether they deserve it or not. I don't think that there are many experts out there, but it's a completely subjective definition.

[Herbert2020]

i don't exactly know what PwC is but with a little search it seems like they have a foot in financial services. so it is possible that "blockchain expert" in their definition translates into a person who has been making speculation in the cryptocurrency market. and we all know how stupid that kind of people are and they are far from experts but we have a lot of them.
it certainly wouldn't be the first time a company does this though.

[CryptoBry]

As of now, there is no school that is officially offering a degree on the blockchain and bitcoin so most likely the so-called experts are based on their experience and skills. This is all about coding so if one can code well then the person can work with open-source programs being utilized with many cryptocurrency-related projects. I have seen some profiles in the LinkedIn site and many of them use reference of the projects where they were involved with. I am not a bitcoin technical expert though so this must be just one of my many opinions.

[Mt. Gox]

A Bitcoin "expert" is literally just a label that people put on someone else. I want to believe that companies would have a bit more of a refined definition of what an "expert" actually is, but there's a decent chance that it's anyone who can describe the blockchain and has some tech/coding experience. There isn't a way that you can define an "expert" when there's no benchmark that they can be measured against.

I'd put money that anyone who can walk into a company and accurately describe the blockchain system while also flexing a Comp Sci degree or something similar can be regarded as an expert, whether they deserve it or not. I don't think that there are many experts out there, but it's a completely subjective definition.

That's what I suspected. Being a blockchain developer today is like being an aerospace engineer in 1910 or a web developer in 1992.

i don't exactly know what PwC is but with a little search it seems like they have a foot in financial services. so it is possible that "blockchain expert" in their definition translates into a person who has been making speculation in the cryptocurrency market. and we all know how stupid that kind of people are and they are far from experts but we have a lot of them.
it certainly wouldn't be the first time a company does this though.

They're a big accounting firm based in the UK. They tend to be more involved with consulting/advising/auditing the financial matters of a business rather than market speculation. Their clients are usually large businesses and corporations.

[Herbert2020]

i don't exactly know what PwC is but with a little search it seems like they have a foot in financial services. so it is possible that "blockchain expert" in their definition translates into a person who has been making speculation in the cryptocurrency market. and we all know how stupid that kind of people are and they are far from experts but we have a lot of them.
it certainly wouldn't be the first time a company does this though.

They're a big accounting firm based in the UK. They tend to be more involved with consulting/advising/auditing the financial matters of a business rather than market speculation. Their clients are usually large businesses and corporations.

then it doesn't make sense to me because that is the only way i could explain this kind of big number. otherwise we don't even have enough blockchain experts to have 400 of them only working with this firm alone!

[leonair]

Bitcoin itself is an innovation technology and studying and knowing its fundamentals will be more easy to those people who already have background in different fields of software developments so please don't be confuse to where these companies got their experts  

Or I'm wrong, maybe these companies are only claiming that they've have a lot of Blockchain expert just for their publicity to gain reliability from people.

[vladimirhf]

they find on those linkedin resumes "serial entrepeneur, blockchain expert, data driven moron..."  
 "ico advisor" used to be a thing too but not anymore.

I think that most people labeling themselves "experts" are in the business field not in computing.

[Ucy]

I guess they pick those who are experts in computer science, software engineering/programming and give them short training in blockchain technology. Or maybe they are secretly training this people lol.

The numbers scare me a little bit considering that they are coming from the big companies while the decentralized community who believe in this technology has few experts

[Kiefner]

Maybe that's too strong a word. The real experts on bitcoin are its creators. And the rest are just people who have been working with crypto for a long time and know some of its subtleties. That is, they are called experts because of their experience.

[olamidey]

It's more of picking experts in general computer science, blockchain and technology experts. That amount looks too vague for only crypto experts. I believe it's more diversified than what was stated. I know more people are coming into the crypto space.

[Polyxchange]

Expert is just an experienced specialist. It is not necessary to have a scientific degree or worldwide recognition to be considered an expert in cryptocurrencies/blockchains.

[boyptc]

I think they already have an expert and that determines the range of the knowledge of their new hirees. There will be a training but as long as they have knowledge about the technology I think they are considering it as an expert and it's a plus factor that they have programming skills in different PLs.

[jseverson]

There are blockchain courses from reputable universities now, so maybe completing a few of those is a requirement? "Expert" might be an oversell, but considering how new and small the field is, there really isn't much to learn about it. Even the earliest contributors only really looked at the code and built from it, so it's not exactly rocket science.

You could probably market yourself as an expert once you get working knowledge of the code.

[DoublerHunter]

Just saying on my own. Blockchain experts are the term used for developers who focus on blockchain technology. They automatically considered as experts since they are only a few that developed and mastered blockchain technology. But it is correct, blockchain does not always mean bitcoin or cryptocurrency. It's about the frameworks and the algorithm the blockchain had.

[jakelyson]

They're a big accounting firm based in the UK. They tend to be more involved with consulting/advising/auditing the financial matters of a business rather than market speculation. Their clients are usually large businesses and corporations.

They are accounting firms, so their definition of blockchain expert may be a little different from what we know. It could be that to them, "blockchain experts" are those who have knowledge on how blockchain works, its intricacies but do not necessarily need to be a coder or developer. Though I agree that "Expert" here is an oversell.

[akeegan]

Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly qualified Dave Jevans of CEO of Ciphertrace as a testifying expert on Bitcoin in a Canadian court in a 2015 court case. Jevans has also been called upon to solve some of the world's largest crypto crimes and dark web markets.

[Kriptonian1661]

2 Months of willingfull learning and you can be a Expert in Blockchain.. that is if you know coding beforehand