The exodus of talent from Web 2 technology companies to cryptocurrency continues.
Cryptocurrency continues to draw the brightest minds from the traditional IT industry.
Chad DePue, a former senior director of engineering at Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., joined Uniswap Labs as vice president of engineering on Wednesday.
DePue has worked in technology since at least 1997, notably at Microsoft and the Whisper App. He is also a General Partner at venture capital firm Uncommon Projects.
I’ve been a fan of Uniswap as a user for what feels like years (in crypto). But joining a company is about the team, and when I met @haydenzadams I was beyond impressed by his vision for the company, the industry, and the product.
— Chad DePue (@chaddepue) March 9, 2022
DePue noted “the limitless possibilities that awaits us in web3” as a motivating factor for joining the team in a blog post.
“I’ve spent years developing developer tools in collaboration with inventors and creators and thrive on the challenge of taking products from zero to one. While Uniswap is a household name among crypto-natives, the larger culture is only beginning to learn about us,” he added.
The hire comes as Uniswap begins to grow beyond Ethereum’s blockchain and environment. Uniswap, in comparison to Sushiswap, has only deployed to Optimism, Arbitrum, and, as of December 2021, Polygon.
According to Coingecko data, Uniswap is the largest decentralised exchange by volume, with a 35% market share, albeit it trails Curve Finance in terms of total value locked ($7.5 billion vs. Curve’s $17.7 billion).
Uniswap Labs, the development organisation behind Uniswap, is one of the numerous cryptocurrency and Web 3 startups actively recruiting. The organization’s job page presently lists 17 available roles, and the team has 53 employees on Linkedin. In October 2021, the team hired Hari Sevugan to oversee its communications operations. Sevugan formerly worked on the presidential campaigns of then-Senator Barack Obama and current Secretary of Transportation Peter Buttigeig.
Polygon, Dapper Labs, and Aave have all recruited legacy tech talent in recent weeks, as part of what many observers have labelled a “brain drain” from Web 2 to Web 3.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
