Dragonfly 2026 Crypto Talent Report — Key Takeaways

Overall: 2025 saw net layoffs of 472, but hiring matured — companies now hire based on real demand, not price action.

Biggest role shifts:
Compliance: +340%
Data Science: +74%
Legal: -41%
Marketing: -27%,
Design: -33%

Candidate behavior changed: People browse jobs but apply less (-26% applications). They now screen for company durability, ownership clarity, and technical credibility.

What candidates want: Clear runway, defined ownership in first 30–60 days, and a real AI strategy — not vague buzzwords.

2026 outlook: Flat to moderate growth, led by engineering, AI/data, and security. Quality over quantity — the loudest teams won't win talent, the most credible ones will.

Link: https://x.com/zorkary/status/2044222101255868808

See you tomorrow Dubai Web3 fam!
Sharing how it was last time 😊💜

🕒 When & Where
Date: Thursday, April 23
Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Don't be late! Doors close at 6:20)
Spot: Daos Hub, Business Central Towers (Tower B, 51st Floor)

✨ The Flow
6:00 PM: Tea & chats with fellow builders.
6:15 PM: 60 mins of Yin Yoga & Meditation with Esteban.
7:15 PM: Sharing circle & wind-down.

🎒 What to Pack
Your yoga mat 🧘
Comfy clothes
An open mind

Only 25 spots available! Grab yours now to recharge before the next build.

👉 Request to Join via Luma: https://luma.com/262hmmdi

Congratulations to Pavel on landing a Rust Developer role at a DeFi Protocol - fully remote! 🎉

Pavel had 4 years of Rust experience in traditional backend. Solid skills. Just pointed at the wrong industry.

One introduction from Jaya Talent changed that. Now he's building on-chain infrastructure remotely - and doing the best work of his career.

Your GitHub is your passport in Web3. Pavel's got him here.

🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
1/ Looking for a job in Web3/crypto → follow t.me/JayaTalent
2/ CV help or warm intros → DM "CV" to t.me/jayatalentoffice
3/ Looking to hire → DM "HIRING" to t.me/jayatalentoffice

Layoffs data
https://cryptojobslist.com/crypto-layoffs
https://cvin.bio/layoffs-report

🇬🇧 UK → Dubai

If you're a Web3 professional still paying UK income tax, read this.

The UK takes up to 45% of your salary. Dubai takes 0%.

Here's what that actually means for a Web3 dev earning £90,000 in London:
🇬🇧 London take-home: ~£54,000/year after tax
🇦🇪 Dubai equivalent: full salary. every penny.

And the UK web3 market? It's tightening.

The FCA is rolling out stricter crypto regulations through 2026 — more compliance headaches, slower hiring.
Dubai? VARA (Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority) is actively issuing licenses and companies like Binance, Tether, and Anchorage Digital are hiring RIGHT NOW — senior roles going up to AED 45,000/month ($147K/year) — tax-free.

What you gain moving to Dubai:
✅ 0% income tax
✅ Lower rent than London (significantly)
✅ Top web3 companies with open roles
✅ Fastest-growing crypto hub outside US & Europe
✅ Gateway to MENA, Asia & global deals

The UK gave you the foundation.
Dubai gives you the multiplier.

📲 For more insights and fresh jobs → t.me/jayatalent
Jaya Talent — Web3 Careers, Built Different.

🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
1/ Looking for a job in Web3/crypto → follow t.me/JayaTalent
2/ Career consultation (CV help, strategy, warm intros) → DM "33" to t.me/jayatalentoffice
3/ Looking to hire → DM "HIRING" to t.me/jayatalentoffice

gm gm 👋

Tomorrow we're dropping a fresh batch of roles at @jayatalent — straight from our existing clients.

🔥 Urgent will be posted tomorrow:
— ML Engineer — YC-backed project
— Business Analyst
— 2x Quant Traders — Dubai-based Hedge Fund


📌 Coming Soon in the next 3-8 days:
— Business Analyst
— Risk Manager
— Smart Contract Auditor
— Marketing Manager
— Community Manager
— COO
— Treasury Manager
— Rust Developer
— Solidity Developer
— Partnership Lead — SF Hedge Fund (onsite)
— Compliance Manager
— Institutional Sales Manager
— DevRel (Developer Relations)
— On-Chain Data Analyst
— CFO
— Data Analytics Engineer
— Support Specialist
— Founding Protocol Engineer
— Product Marketing Manager


Current roles that are posted already:
— Head of Operations - https://t.me/jayatalent/1433
— Product Lead / Business Analyst - https://t.me/jayatalent/1432
— Senior Backend Engineer (DeFi) - https://t.me/jayatalent/1424
— Marketing Manager - https://t.me/jayatalent/1398
— Listing Manager (BD) - https://t.me/jayatalent/1391
— Affiliate Manager (KOL & Growth) - https://t.me/jayatalent/1392

Some of these are moving fast - if you or someone you know is looking, apply now 🙏 Jaya Talent always remembers you 💛

🇦🇪 Jaya Talent - Dubai’s #1 Crypto, Web3 & Hedge Funds Talent Agency
🤝 Founded by Zhanna Manzyk: 450+ hires | <​2% turnover | 50+ Events
🧘 Merging Recruitment & Mindfulness

🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
1/ Looking for a job in Web3/crypto → follow t.me/JayaTalent
2/ Career consultation (CV help, strategy, warm intros) → DM "77" to t.me/jayatalentoffice
3/ Looking to hire → DM "HIRING" to t.me/jayatalentoffice

🇺🇸 US → Dubai
Americans in Web3 are doing the math — and moving.

Here's the calculation they're running:
🇺🇸 US federal tax: 22–37%
🇺🇸 State tax (varies): up to 13.3%
🇺🇸 Total gone before you see it: up to 50%
🇦🇪 Dubai income tax: 0%

A Web3 professional earning $150K in the US could be saving $30,000–$55,000 more per year just by relocating.
Dubai is not a downgrade. It's a strategy.

The numbers:
📌 Average Web3 salary in Dubai: $109,652/year — kept in full
📌 Cost of living: ~30–40% lower than NYC
📌 Health insurance: $150–$400/month vs $500–$1,500 in the US
📌 Safety ranking: #2 globally
📌 438+ active crypto jobs in Dubai right now

Note for US citizens: The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) shelters the first $126,500 (2026) from federal tax. Most Americans in Dubai pay dramatically less than back home.
The 3–5 year Dubai move has become the go-to wealth acceleration play for US Web3 talent.

📲 For more insights and fresh jobs → t.me/jayatalent

🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
1/ Looking for a job in Web3/crypto → follow t.me/JayaTalent
2/ Career consultation (CV help, strategy, warm intros) → DM "33" to t.me/jayatalentoffice
3/ Looking to hire → DM "HIRING" to t.me/jayatalentoffice

Thank you, Max - this means a lot 🙏

Max came to us for career guidance. Zhanna didn't just show up for the booked session — she went beyond it. No polishing, no generic advice. Just honest, long-term strategy - CV, LinkedIn, positioning, and most importantly, mindset.

Here's what no recruiter will ever tell you:
If you keep getting rejected, sometimes the problem isn't your CV. Sometimes it's how you show up. We'll tell you the truth —-because comfort doesn't get you hired.

🦄🪐
1) If you're job searching right now - follow @jayatalent 👀

2) Need direct support?
→ Career strategy session
→ CV optimization
→ LinkedIn makeover
→ Warm introductions
→ Mindset work (the thing that actually changes everything)
DM "HELP" → t.me/jayatalentoffice

Congratulations to Marcus on his new role as Global Head of Liquidity & Account Management at a leading Digital Asset Platform in San Francisco! 🎉

Marcus was running liquidity relationships at a prime brokerage in London. Solid career. Great network. But he knew the most exciting problems in institutional finance had moved somewhere else.
They'd moved to crypto. And crypto had moved to SF.

Here's what Marcus brought:
— 5+ years managing Tier-1 institutional relationships
— Deep expertise in market microstructure and order book dynamics
— A network across OTC desks and algorithmic trading firms built over a decade
— C-suite level negotiation across multiple jurisdictions

Why San Francisco?
— The heartbeat of institutional crypto in the US
— Home to the most well-capitalised digital asset firms in the world
— Where TradFi experience meets Web3 ambition at the highest level

Jaya Talent reached out. One conversation changed everything.
That's how it works sometimes.

🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
1/ Looking for a job in Web3/crypto → follow @JayaTalent. Fresh roles daily.
2/ Need CV help, LinkedIn makeover, or strategy → DM "22" to @jayatalentoffice
3/ Looking to hire → DM @jayatalentoffice "HIRING"

⚡️ Jaya Talent is hiring: 3 Quant Traders to join a fast-growing Crypto Hedge Fund⚡️

📍 Location: Dubai (Full-time)
Initially India, with future relocation to Dubai

Your mission:
🔹 Build, backtest & execute low-frequency crypto strategies
🔹 Apply AI/ML to extract actionable trading signals
🔹 Code in Python/C++ and maintain trading models
🔹 Take ownership of projects & contribute to innovation
🔹 Collaborate with Lead Trader on execution & risk

We’re looking for:
✔️ 2–4 yrs quant/prop/hedge fund trading experience (crypto a plus)
✔️ Strong coding + exposure to AI/ML
✔️ Tier-1 academic background in Math/CS/Engineering
✔️ Hunger to solve complex problems & build strategies

💰 Competitive tax-free salary + profit-sharing + potential equity

👉 Apply here: https://forms.gle/xKBmWHUupX75UkqT7

Join a fast-paced trading start-up where your strategies make a real impact from day one!

Congratulations to Sofia on becoming Marketing Manager at a Crypto Exchange - fully remote! 🎉

5 years in Web2 growth marketing. Great skills. Wrong industry.

Jaya Talent made the intro. Sofia made the leap. Now she's running marketing at a CEX and moving at a pace Web2 never offered.

The space doesn't need crypto natives. It needs people who can build and move fast.

🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
1/ Looking for a job in Web3/crypto → follow t.me/JayaTalent
2/ CV help or warm intros → DM "CV" to t.me/jayatalentoffice
3/ Looking to hire → DM "HIRING" to t.me/jayatalentoffice

Congratulations to Alex on becoming CTO at a DeFi Protocol in San Francisco! 🎉

6 years building in Web3. Always executing someone else's vision.
Jaya Talent called. One conversation. Three weeks later - CTO offer in SF.

The best roles don't get posted. They get filled quietly.


🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
1/ Looking for a job in Web3/crypto → follow t.me/JayaTalent
2/ CV help or warm intros → DM "CV" to t.me/jayatalentoffice
3/ Looking to hire → DM "HIRING" to t.me/jayatalentoffice

Imagine this as your daily routine:

Wake up on an island 20 mins from Singapore. Train in a rooftop gym overlooking the ocean. Eat optimized meals. Then spend the day building - surrounded by engineers, founders, and creators who are just as locked in as you.


Guest lectures from Vitalik, Bryan Johnson, Ryan Petersen. Solana and Monad ran full residencies here. This is where serious people go to get more serious.

That's Network School by Balaji.

And through Jaya Talent, our community gets exclusive access.

Room, meals, gym, coworking — all included. BTW, our CEO is heading there soon. 

Apply: https://ns.com/invite/jaya