Where can you hire crypto developers beyond LinkedIn?

You need a smart contract developer, someone who writes the programs that run on a blockchain, so you post the role on LinkedIn. A week later, your inbox is full of recruiters and of applicants who have never written code for a blockchain. In crypto, or web3 as the sector also calls itself, that is common: many developers work under a pseudonym, a stable online name that is not their legal name, and have no LinkedIn profile. This guide shows where to hire crypto developers, how each place works, and how to contact someone without being ignored or banned.

Why LinkedIn misses most crypto developers

LinkedIn still works for many roles in crypto companies, such as compliance, finance or country management. It works far less well for developers.

The first reason is the name. Many crypto developers are known only by a handle, an online name, on GitHub, Discord or X. They are not "doxxed", the crypto word for having your legal identity made public. A pseudonym is not the same as anonymity, though: an anonymous contributor leaves no stable identity behind, while a handle keeps its history, so you can read its past work.

A LinkedIn search runs on names and job titles, and these developers publish neither. Hiring someone under a pseudonym raises questions of its own, covered in the guide on how to vet pseudonymous developers.

The second reason is geography. In 2024, Asia accounted for 32% of crypto developer activity, and the United States, still the leading country, for 18.7%. A network built in one city misses most of them.

The third reason is good news: the work is public. The same 2024 study covered 902 million code changes across 1.7 million code repositories, the online folders where projects keep their code. The developers you want have a track record you can read, even with no profile to browse.

The examples in this guide come from crypto. In other complex markets the places change, and hiring in a regulated market adds rules of its own. The method stays the same: find where people show their work, learn each community's rules, then write to them about that work.

Developer communities: Reddit, Discord, Telegram and X

Reddit is organised into forums called subreddits, each with its own volunteer moderators and rules. For crypto hiring, the useful ones are technical, such as r/ethdev for Ethereum development. Ethereum's official site keeps a list of the main forums and chat rooms.

Take part in a forum before you recruit there, and read its rules before you post a job. If they say nothing about job posts, ask the moderators first.

Discord is a chat app where each community runs a "server", split into topic channels. Crypto projects often run their community there, and the ethereum.org list includes developer servers such as Ethereum Hackers and CryptoDevs. The way in is to join, read and help: answer a question, report a bug, join a technical discussion. Then look for a jobs channel, or ask a moderator where a job post belongs.

Never message members in bulk: Discord bans unsolicited bulk messages, and moderators can remove you from the server. When a project runs its community on Telegram instead, the same habits apply: read first, then ask an admin before posting a role.

On X (formerly Twitter), start from the developers behind the crypto tools and services you use. Look at who they reply to, quote and recommend. That circle is a good list of people to study.

Where the work is public: GitHub, hackathons and audits

GitHub. GitHub is a site where developers publish and maintain code, and each change shows who made it. Start from the projects close to yours, such as the open-source tools your product relies on. Open the list of contributors and read what the most active ones wrote, and how they discuss changes.

Write to them through the contact they chose to put on their profile. Do not copy an email address from someone's code history into a mailing list: GitHub's rules forbid using information from the site to send unsolicited emails.

Hackathons. A hackathon is a contest where teams build a project in a few days, often a weekend. ETHGlobal, an organiser focused on Ethereum, has run more than 95 hackathons and summits. Its project showcase gives each past project a page with its source code and a note on how it was made.

Bounties. A bounty is a paid task posted in public: whoever delivers the best work gets the reward. Superteam Earn, tied to the Solana ecosystem, lists bounties and freelance projects in development, design and content. A bounty lets you see how someone works before any talk of a job.

Audit contests. Smart contracts hold money, so security is a field of its own. In an audit contest, a project funds a prize pool and many independent security researchers review its code at the same time. The best findings earn the most. Platforms such as Sherlock and Cantina run these contests and publish leaderboards, a public record of who finds serious bugs, often under a handle.

Bug bounties. A bug bounty lasts longer: a project offers a reward to anyone who reports a flaw. Immunefi, a bug bounty platform, has paid out more than $140 million in such rewards. It also keeps a hall of fame of its ethical hackers, known as whitehats.

Specialist job boards to hire crypto developers

Job boards built for crypto, such as web3.career and Cryptocurrency Jobs, reach people who are actively looking. They suit a clear role with a stated salary range, and web3.career also publishes developer salary data to check yours. They miss the developer who is busy building and not looking.

How to approach a developer

A first message gets read when it shows you looked at the person's work. Keep it short and include:

• the piece of work you saw, such as a pull request (a proposed change to someone else's code), an audit finding or a hackathon project;
• who you are and what your project does, in two sentences;
• the role, the pay range and how payment works;
• whether the role requires them to share their legal identity, and at what stage;
• one clear next step, such as a short call or a paid test task.

Some developers will also ask to be paid in crypto, so decide early whether you can offer it. And respect the pseudonym: do not try to work out someone's legal name from their posts.

Avoid the mistakes that get you ignored or banned:

• sending the same message to dozens of people at once;
• posting a job ad in a technical channel without asking;
• asking for an unpaid test task;
• judging the person on a CV instead of their code.

Where to start

1. Write the role in one paragraph: what the person will build, on which blockchain, and the pay range.
2. List five open-source projects close to yours and open their GitHub contributors.
3. Join two developer communities on Discord or Reddit, and read their rules.
4. If the role touches security, read the leaderboards of an audit platform.
5. Pick ten people whose work you have read, and write to each about that work.
6. Offer a paid test task before any long interview process.

Finding developers with Other--Side

Other--Side recruits for businesses in regulated and complex markets across Europe, from a first hire to a full leadership team, technology roles included. We find the people who already know your market. Before you meet a candidate, we check them against its rules, and we look at whether someone will stay, not only at whether they are free. See our services, or tell us about the role you need to fill.