“Although there are many talents who are able to develop cryptocurrencies through open-source codes, there are not many talents who are able to develop Mainnet and manage nodes (participants.” said a high-ranking official of a blockchain foundation.
A South Korean blockchain company recently set up a R&D team in China because Chinese labor force is faster in development and it is more advantageous if it guarantees fair return.
There are concerns about lack of talents despite South Korea’s blockchain ecosystem continuing to expand.
Although there are many talents who are able to issue Ethereum ERC-20-based tokens, talents who are able to design blockchain cores are almost nonexistent.
According to industries, South Korean blockchain companies are searching for talents in foreign countries rather than in South Korea.
Although Xblocksystems has a development team in South Korea, it is hiring talents from Europe, Russia, and South-East Asia. Xblocksystems is a company that was selected as a blockchain demonstrator by National Election Commission.
Symverse recently hired a talent who had worked on network development for more than 17 years in Japan. Symverse is a company that was selected as the best company by a blockchain incubator called ‘Incublock’ and it developed a next-generation network operating method called PoN (Proof of Network).
Another blockchain company recently set up a R&D team under its Chinese business headquarters as it believed that it will be faster to develop Mainnet in a foreign country.
“To hire a South Korean who is capable of developing blockchain cores, we have to pay them at least $88,000 (100 million KRW).” said a representative for a blockchain company. “While it is a lot of money, it is also difficult to find such talent in South Korea.”
As South Korea’s blockchain markets are becoming mature, there are more demands for talents with advanced technical skills. Just early this year, most of blockchain companies had only focused on ICO (Initial Coin Offering). However, types of talents that they require have changed as they start to prepare Mainnet. They are seeking talents who not only know how to handle open-source codes but also understand telecommunication protocols.
Some are pointing out that period of inactive telecommunication network equipment industry 10 years ago has led to lack of talents in blockchain industry. Because blockchain is a technology that stems from network, it is difficult for a person to be talented in blockchain just by studying blockchain.
“Understanding of telecommunication network is required to develop a blockchain protocol, our network equipment industry has become stagnant due to Chinese companies.” said Adjunct Professor Jeon Sang-kwon of Ajou University who is also the vice-president of Symverse. “This manpower shortage is the result of lack of technical skills in relevant software.”
“Although education on blockchain is trending throughout universities, it will take significant amount of time to actually train necessary talents.”
Staff Reporter Ham, Jihyun | goham@etnews.com