BITCOIN will welcome a quiet Monday after a tumultuous week just gone. However it is being reported that the global Bitcoin boom could be a welcome boost for City of London job applicants as the underlying technology continues its move towards the mainstream.
Could India burst the bitcoin bubble?
With India set to become a major fintech hub and global financial capital in the years to come, it came of little surprise this weekend when prices began to plummet after many of India’s leading private banks targeted and suspended cryptocurrency exchange accounts.
For all the trimmings of its new status as a global economy, India still suffers from corruption on a massive scale and in 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided a sudden withdrawal of all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would help bring India’s cash economy back towards the centre.
The demonetisation or war on ‘black money’ was also supposed to help fight crime and terrorism by strangling funding at its source.
The fear is that bitcoin could fill the black hole left by black money and the ruling BJP will be keen to stop this from happening.
Price holds at start of week
Bitcoin’s price is at $11,677 at the time of press with Ethereum at $1,063 and Ripple $1.38.
One of the narratives running parallel to bitcoin’s staggering rise over the last year is its slow creep and retreat towards the world of mainstream finance.
The Telegraph are reporting today that a leading City of London recruiter Morgan McKinley told the paper that the, “increasing need for blockchain and cryptocurrency” would soon boost the number of jobs as banks look towards the underlying technology.
Mr McKinley said: “Many banks believe that blockchain technology holds great potential to optimise parts of the clearing and settlements process,” the recruiter said.
“Aside from the potential need for a support network, there will also be a need for technology specialists, namely blockchain developers.”
On Friday Express.co.uk reported on how Visa, the global payment system currently used by most bank debit cards is advertising on its website for a full-time “BlockChain” (yes, with a capital C) engineer.
The jobs listing says, “We are working on Blockchain technology and want to add a highly motivated Engineer to our team.”
Visa want a strong developer experienced with “Ethereum and blockchain architecture”.
They say that the ideal candidate will have worked with the Ripple, R3, Ethereum and/or Bitcoin blockchain.
