Dec 23, 2025 
23 mins to read Historical Echoes: When Digital Identity Meets the Recruitment Revolution
It reminds me of the systemic rebuilding of credit assessment systems by Wall Street after the 2008 financial crisis. Essentially, the rise of on-chain identity and decentralized verification in the Web3 space is triggering a similar foundational restructuring. In recent institutional-level recruitment cases handled by MyJob.one, over 60% of native Web3 companies now require candidates to provide digital credentials like ENS or BrightID—a proportion that was only 15% during the bear market.
Strategically, we are at the "TCP/IP moment" for digital identity infrastructure. Just as no one in 1995 could predict that .com domains would become a standard for business, the adoption speed of ENS recruitment requirements has exceeded my expectations. Looking back at the past three cycles: 2017 focusing on whitepapers, 2020 on GitHub profiles, and 2023 on Proof of Humanity recruitment profiles—the dimensions of talent assessment are undergoing a paradigm shift.
Deconstructing the Talent Market Adaptability of Four Major Identity Protocols
1. ENS: The Gold Standard for Digital Resumes
In the compensation data from MyJob.one, developers with ENS addresses showed an average salary premium of 23%. This reminds me of the impact of LinkedIn personal profiles on financial professionals in 2009. However, the current ENS ecosystem exhibits a clear "Matthew effect": early registrants of short domain names receive disproportionately high endorsement value.
2. BrightID: The Workplace Passport for Anti-Sybil Protection
BrightID recruitment is particularly prevalent in DAO ecosystems, where its social graph verification mechanism effectively filters out "resume padding." However, our observations indicate that this system faces cultural adaptation challenges in East Asian markets—many are reluctant to expose their social relationship networks.
3. Worldcoin: The Double-Edged Sword of Biometric Verification
When a top market maker's job description included Worldcoin recruitment requirements, it sparked intense debates within my team. The privacy compromise from iris scanning resonates subtly with traditional KYC/AML requirements in the financial sector. This contradiction could become a decisive factor for compliance-sensitive positions.
4. Proof of Humanity: An Experiment in Humanism on Chain
What most moved me about the Proof of Humanity recruitment process was the "digital humanity" warmth created by its video verification step. However, high deployment costs mean it's currently mainly seen in humanitarian projects, similar to the situation of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) in traditional finance during the 2010s.
Cycle Insight: The Dialectic Law of Bubbles and Value
Throughout internet history, identity systems have always been accompanied by speculative bubbles: digital certificates in 1999, OpenID in 2005, OAuth in 2012... Now it's the turn of on-chain identity protocols. Among the 20 related projects tracked by MyJob.one, I predict that no more than three will ultimately achieve network effects.
The current market shows three dangerous signals: 1) ENS domain secondary market P/E ratios exceeding 50 times; 2) Identity protocol token circulations typically below 20%; 3) The homogenization competition of decentralized verification solutions. This reminds me of the "compliance agreement wars" during the 2018 STO热潮.
Strategic Recommendations: Building an Anti-Cyclical Portfolio of Identity Assets
- ENS + Gitcoin Passport as the foundational configuration, similar to the Bitcoin position in an investment portfolio
- Select specialized certifications based on specific fields: DeFi developers prioritize BrightID recruitment recognition, while AI ethics focuses on Proof of Humanity
- Guard against the "full-stack identity" trap: Over-diversifying efforts across multiple systems dilutes professional identity
Recently, a candidate transitioning from JPMorgan to Web3 left a strong impression: He used ENS as a unified identity gateway, integrating Gitcoin donation records, POAP achievement badges, and Karma3 reputation scores. This "modular resume" received three times the average interview invitation rate on the MyJob.one platform.
Institutional Perspective: The Art of Balancing Compliance and Innovation
When traditional enterprises enter Web3, they often face a dilemma between decentralized verification and KYC regulations. Our solution is to design a hybrid verification flow: offline verification for legal identity, online verification for professional capabilities. This layered architecture has already proven effective in Swiss private banks and Singaporean hedge funds.
Notably, the Worldcoin recruitment adoption in institutional markets shows regional differentiation: European and American companies focus on its privacy controversies, while emerging markets place greater emphasis on its anti-fraud effectiveness. This divergence mirrors the geographical penetration trajectory of biometric technology in banking during the 2000s.
Future Outlook (2025-2030): Three Inevitable Trends and One Critical Variable
Based on model simulations from MyJob.one's research institute: 1) By 2025, mainstream recruitment platforms will natively integrate on-chain identity verification; 2) ENS domains may evolve into "credit scores" for digital assets; 3) Identity protocols will likely form a dual-dominant格局 similar to Visa/Mastercard.
However, the critical variable lies in the evolution speed of regulatory frameworks. If the SEC classifies certain decentralized verification systems as securities, the entire ecosystem could face an impact comparable to the 2017 ICO ban. This necessitates maintaining the liquidity and portability of identity assets for job seekers.
Historical Lessons for Web3 Builders
Building on 12 years of experience in financial technology recruitment, I must emphasize: Technology evolves, but human nature remains constant. The value explored by Proof of Humanity recruitment lies not in the technology itself, but in rediscovering human connections in the workplace. Just as Wall Street rediscovered the concept of "moral hazard" after 2008, this bear market is teaching us: True professional capital has never been just technical skills, but verifiable integrity and value-creation ability.
In recent employer surveys by MyJob.one, 82% of Web3 companies listed "on-chain reputation" as a more important screening criterion than technical skills—a data point that may mark a new epoch in digital workplace civilization. When our careers are permanently inscribed on the blockchain, perhaps it's time to reconsider Bacon's ancient adage: "History makes one wise." Only now, history is being written by us.
