A compensation survey designed for the industry it serves.
Our specialist compensation survey is built pure-play for digital assets and fintech — a job taxonomy and compensation framework designed for how these firms actually organise, across cash, bonus, equity, token grants, and carry.
- Total cash
- Equity
- Token
- Total comp
| Role | Lvl | Co | N | Avg | P25 | P50 | P75 | P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backend engineering | IC3 | 11 | 87 | $238k | $205k | $238k | $285k | $370k |
| Protocol engineering | IC4 | 8 | 38 | $425k | $350k | $415k | $510k | $685k |
| Quantitative trading | IC3 | 6 | 26 | $380k | $310k | $375k | $470k | $615k |
| Customer support | IC2 | 9 | 145 | $55k | $44k | $52k | $62k | $78k |
Cycas Solutions is a specialist compensation advisory serving digital asset, fintech, and high-growth technology firms. Founded and led by Dexter Chong — formerly Global Rewards Leader at a leading crypto exchange, with prior rewards leadership roles at major tech companies.
Built from the industry up.
Generalist surveys can filter their datasets down to specific firms. What they can't change is the architecture the data was mapped into. Cycas is built the other way around: bottom-up, purpose-built for digital assets and fintech.
- Software Engineer — SeniorCycas
- 01Solidity Engineer (EVM mainnet)
- 02Rust Engineer (Cosmos SDK / Substrate)
- 03Move Engineer (Sui / Aptos)
- 04L2 Protocol Engineer
- 05Payments Engineer (fintech)
- 06Regulatory / PSD2 Engineer (fintech)
- TraderCycas
- 01Market Maker — HFT crypto
- 02Market Maker — OTC desk
- 03Prop Trader — discretionary
- 04DeFi yield strategist
- Investment ManagerCycas
- 01Digital-asset VC — Partner
- 02Token Fund — Portfolio Manager
- 03Liquid Token Strategist
- 04Digital Asset Mgmt — PM
- Economist / Research AnalystCycas
- 01Tokenomics Designer
- 02On-chain Analyst
- 03Token Strategy / Policy
- Operations ManagerCycas
- 01Exchange Listings Ops
- 02Custody Ops
- 03Travel Rule / KYC Compliance
- 04Risk & Fraud Ops
Upload. Process. Report.
The survey runs end-to-end in three phases. Participants interact with the first and the third; everything between is handled by the platform.
Data submission
Upload HRIS. AI matches every employee to the Cycas taxonomy. Your team reviews and approves.
- Standard HRIS export — no proprietary schema
- Automated classification with confidence scores
- Participant review of flagged edge cases
- #1847Solidity Engineer, IC398%Matched
- #1848L2 Protocol Engineer, IC494%Matched
- #1849Tokenomics Designer, M171%Review
- #1850Market Maker — HFT, IC395%Matched
- #1851Payments Engineer, IC488%Matched
Data processing
Normalisation, org-weighting, outlier handling, suppression, percentile estimation — run once per cycle against the full peer set.
- Organisation-weighted to prevent any firm skewing the distribution
- Minimum 3 organisations per cut
Participant data is confidential from the moment of upload. Submissions are held under strict access controls, used only to produce the survey outputs, and never shared with third parties. Every published cut enforces minimum three-organisation suppression — no single firm’s data is identifiable. Full terms →
- NormalisationDone
- Outlier detectionDone
- Org-weightingDone
- Suppression checkDone
- Percentile estimationRunning
Data reporting
Market data, your positioning against the peer set, and an executive summary — delivered through the reporting system alongside a written narrative report on cross-cohort trends and insights.
- Standard cuts by role, level, geography, and segment
- Interactive reporting system — every client has access
- Written narrative report — cross-cohort trends and emerging role themes
- Backend engIC3P58
- Protocol engIC4P72
- Quant tradingIC4P22
- TokenomicsM1P45
Your quantitative trading team (IC3–IC4) sits at P18–P22 in cash compensation — below the market interquartile range for APAC trading roles.
What founding participants get access to over time.
The inaugural cycle is the first delivery, not the last. Founding participants see each release before any subsequent cohort.
- Jul — Oct 2026
Inaugural cycle
NextData collection opens July 2026 · Results published October 2026
- 2027 H1
Offer calibration
PlannedPaste a draft offer → instant percentile against your peer set
- 2027 H2
Market-heat layer
PlannedAnonymised job-posting signals · supply-side tightening alerts
Built for your industry. Shape the first cycle.
Participation in the inaugural cycle is limited to digital asset and fintech firms with 50+ employees. Founding participants receive a discount on list pricing for subsequent cycles, shape the taxonomy, and see each cycle’s data first.