Crypto Goes Practical: Building the Blockchain Payments Talent Base for iGaming

An official from the gambling regulator confirmed that “we do now want to start looking at what the potential path forward would be to create a way for cryptoassets to be used as a consumer payment option for licensed and regulated gambling in Great Britain”.

This lines up with plans by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to produce a new regime to manage cryptocurrencies more broadly from mid-2027.

It also reflects a broader trend in the worlds of finance and gambling.

Over the course of a few years, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has gone from stark warnings about the links between crypto and crime to a view that digital currencies will remain the domain of criminals if nations do not create comprehensive regulations to govern their use.

Jurisdictions that bury their heads in the sand when it comes to crypto are likely to receive poor scores in the watchdog’s various assessments.

Of course there is also an economic impetus here. More and more people are holding crypto and more of them than ever are keen to use it to fund their gambling entertainment.

That means that more operators are in need of crypto and blockchain expertise in-house right now, with that demand set to skyrocket in the coming years.

However, the growth of regulated gambling in this space means that the truly high-in-demand staff are those who can combine a knowledge of the latest in blockchain tech with the ability to navigate complex jurisdictional regulations.

Crossing borders

At the same time as its growing use as a payments tool for gambling, crypto also has an emerging business case as a means by which to avoid the typical hurdles of cross-border payments.

Crypto's advantages come down to speed, cost, and structure. Blockchain transfers settle in minutes or seconds, whereas stablecoin remittance that takes 3–5 business days via banks can settle in roughly 60 seconds on the blockchain.

Charges for international stablecoin transactions are also a fraction of those charged by banks, often as low as 1%.

Crypto also has huge benefits for the unbanked. Anyone with internet access can receive value, which is useful in low-banking-penetration regions.

With watchdogs like the FATF and FCA in mind, crypto also adds traceability.

Stablecoin transactions are recorded on a public ledger, giving both sides real-time visibility, unlike wires that go dark once they leave the sender's bank.

Emerging roles

These two factors are driving hiring demand for several key specialist crypto roles and competition for these scarce staff is only projected to intensify.

• Crypto Payments Product Manager

Accepting crypto as a payment method demands more than simply flicking a few switches. Stablecoins are a fundamentally different mode of currency than traditional payment rails and knowledgeable staff are needed to ensure proper integration.

• Blockchain Engineers

Crypto and the blockchain are inextricably linked, but an understanding of the specifics of how to create, read and plug into ledgers is a related, but not identical set of skills to working with cryptocurrencies.

These hires will also become increasingly important in the regulated crypto future. AML requirements in particular will see gambling operators routinely asked to prove how they can verify the provenance of digital currencies - a skillset that differs massively from traditional forensic payments specialisms.

• Crypto Compliance

Much as we saw with the growing demand for compliance staff over the past decade, driven by the growth of local online gambling regulations, we expect to see the need for crypto-compliance experts skyrocket.

Where the UK Gambling Commission leads, others often follow, so for Europe in particular we are likely set for the creation of a patchwork of crypto gambling payments rules across the continent by the early 2030s.

Where and when to look

So if you’re looking to prepare for the bold new future of crypto payments in regulated gambling, you may be tempted to begin a quest for the perfect candidate: a master of gambling with cryptocurrencies, with blockchain credentials and a backbone of regulatory expertise.

The bad news is, while these candidates do exist, they are very thin on the ground and likely to be extremely expensive to employ.

In reality, smart businesses and their workforce partners are looking to sister sectors to borrow staff from related industries.

A growing knowledge base on crypto has developed in the financial services industry over the past decade and there are plenty of willing staff in these sectors that would be able to get up to speed on the specifics of gambling without too much heartache.

Of course there’s also the possibility of skipping some of the hiring headaches and relying on contract staff, or an entire team via a partner like PaymentGenes, which could step in and get the ball rolling.  

That includes spinning up crypto payment rails, establishing compliance frameworks and building in AML controls.

Full-time staff will be needed to manage these projects long term, but the concentrated need for expertise will happen at the start of this journey.

Finally, a warning on the risks of jumping too quickly into this bold new world. While there’s little doubt that regulated crypto gambling is coming in the medium-term, there’s little evidence to project that it will come close to rivalling fiat gambling any time soon.

We also don’t fully know the timelines of when the UK or other nations/states will adopt their new rules. Over-hiring in the short term could leave you with a talented group of staff that have very little to do.

Staying dialed in to the latest regulatory developments and relying on the advice of a workforce partner like PaymentGenes should ensure that you are adequately prepared for what is to come and know when to pull the trigger at the right moment to fully capitalize.