The theft of half a trillion dollars from the Coincheck coin exchange is still giving way to talk through the ecosystem. 

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It is rarely mentioned how, at least in part, the problems were due to the lack of cryptographic engineers in Japan. The shortage of engineering know-how is a perfect recipe for exploiting security breaches.

Shortly after the theft was discovered, Koiniro Wada of Coincheck revealed: "We knew that we did not have enough people working on internal controls, administration and system risk. We strive to expand, using headhunters and agencies, but we end up in this situation. "

It was a spectacular disaster, and, in many ways, the industry continues to grapple with its ramifications: mergers, collective demands, requests for greater and stricter regulation. Dramatic runs occur in the exchange as users try to withdraw what is left, and all that happens only four months after the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of the country gave the exchange formal approval for their operations.

Japan is a hot spot of cryptoactivity. The country has more than 30 exchanges. And that does not include the "100 other companies that have approached the regulator that oversees the sector to apply for a license," the FSA told Reuters.

Mike Kayamori, of the Fintech company Quoine, explained: "The FSA is controlling safety, compliance and risk. And if he does not hire more people, he can not survive. "

According to Pascal Hideki of Descartes Search , a recruiter specializing in technology and part of the Japan Blockchain Association , placement services such as yours can not satisfy the cryptotalent demand. In fact, according to the company, 60% of the jobs within the technology are related to the sector, 15% more than a year ago.

"Exchanges are ready to pay," says Reuters. "Many are increasing salaries and offering guaranteed bonuses to engineers from other businesses," said two recruiters. The base salary went up by 20 to 30 percent compared to last year, they said, raising the salaries of engineers with five years of experience to 11 million yen (US $ 102,720). "

The diminished criptoadvantage of Japan and the vision of Vitalik

The Bitcoin developer, Nick Szabo, refers to it as the US $ / knowledge ratio, whereby the high salaries offered by employers get very few qualified employees.

And it is, surely, a problem throughout the world. The leading technological work service Toptal reports that, since January 2017, the demand for blockchain engineering talent registered by them has grown by 700 percent, and 40 percent of the fully managed software development projects requested in the last month require blockchain skills. "

A new potential solution was presented by Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, who believes that "developers and researchers should be employed by several companies or organizations ... [and] ... knowledge of the technical considerations behind protocol updates should be democratized , so that more people can feel comfortable participating in research discussions and criticizing protocol changes. "

For Japan, however, culture also comes into play. Professional movements are rare, and "the majority of Japanese who understand blockchain and cryptocurrency already work for companies with lifetime jobs, and have never considered the idea of ​​changing jobs," Blockchain director Daigakko told Reuters. an engineering training firm.

Alexander Jenner, of Computer Futures , fears that this scenario "could stop everything". The sector is growing so fast, and the best exchanges are surviving. But many of them will fail, "ending the country's early competitive advantage.