New York-based financial services giant Citigroup is looking for certified bitcoin professionals, seemingly in an attempt to curb the risks of money laundering with cryptocurrencies, as its looking for a vice president and senior vice president to staff up its anti-money laundering group.
According to LinkedIn job ads, those hired by Citi will look into money laundering in bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and other nascent technologies. For the role of senior vice president, the financial services giant asks for qualifications that include “knowledge of cryptocurrency and bitcoin monitoring.”
Both positions describe a “Bitcoin Professional Certification” as a plus. These certifications are unusual, as according to Business Insider a LinkedIn search for “certified bitcoin professional” only pulls up Citi’s ads.
These certifications, while uncommon, are like other financial professional certifications such as certified public accountant (CPA) and certified financial analyst (CFA). A number of organizations provide bitcoin professional certificates, including the Cryptocurrency Certification Consortium, which offers it to those who complete a two-year course.
Whoever gets hired as senior vice president is set to “support the Global Head of AML Monitoring Risk Management-Emerging Risk by identifying, analyzing, and implementing AML transaction monitoring risk programs related to developments in cybersecurity, cryptocurrency and emerging payment technologies, products and methods.”
The position will likely also look at other emerging risks. According to Dash Core chief executive Ryan Taylor, this shows Citi is looking to manage the risks surrounding the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
“The job ads are intentionally vague (…) Citi is very seriously looking at risks surrounding the nascent market for digital currencies. They are either identifying risk to eliminate certain profiles, or this could be a prerequisite to identifying new opportunities in the space at a later point.”
Citigroup is notably a financial institution that’s been opposing cryptocurrencies for some time. The organization barred clients from purchasing cryptocurrencies with its credit cards back in February, along with Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, citing the risks associated with the cryptocurrency market, including volatility.
It’s also worth noting the financial institution has been looking into blockchain technology for years, going as far as developing its own blockchain to run a currency called Citicoin, while trying to create a platform similar to Bitcoin.
