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When Ignacio Palomera founded Bondex in 2021, he didn’t just want to build another hiring platform. He wanted to reinvent professional networking for the Web3 era.
“I was filtered out because I didn’t go to a target school,” recalled Palomera on the sidelines of TOKEN2049 Singapore last week, who once struggled to break into investment banking despite strong credentials. “Resumés fail to portray someone’s real potential. The infrastructure we use today (LinkedIn profiles and PDF resumés) is completely obsolete for the future of work.”
That frustration became the blueprint for Bondex, a decentralised professional network that blends AI and blockchain to connect employers and talent with trust, transparency and shared incentives. Today, just five years later, Bondex counts over two million active users and operates Web3 Careers, the world’s largest job board dedicated to the decentralised economy.
From resumés to verified digital reputations
Palomera’s vision is to replace static resumés with a verified digital identity. “We’re building the most trusted professional network in the world,” he said. “Instead of unverified claims, your Bondex profile becomes a digital reputation: a verified, on-chain record of your skills, education and performance.”
By combining blockchain and AI, Bondex ensures credentials are authenticated through proof-of-work, proof-of-education and proof-of-performance mechanisms.
On top of this foundation, AI automates the matching process between job seekers and employers. Recruiters can describe roles in natural language, and Bondex’s AI drafts detailed job specs while identifying the most relevant candidates. Job seekers, in turn, receive AI-powered guidance to refine their profiles and career goals, thus removing the inefficiency of traditional recruitment.
Taking on LinkedIn with trust, transparency and tokens
While LinkedIn remains the global leader in professional networking, Palomera believes it’s out of sync with the decentralised internet.
“LinkedIn never really served the Web3 community,” he argued. “People were finding jobs on Twitter or Telegram, but those platforms weren’t designed for trust or talent exchange.”
Bondex’s approach flips the economic model of traditional platforms. Instead of monetising users’ data and networks, Bondex shares value back through token-based rewards and referral bounties.
“Your network is your net worth, but on existing platforms, they’re the ones monetising it,” said Palomera. “We’re democratising recruitment fees so everyone can earn from their own network.”
Bondex uses gamified reputation points to reward users for activity – posting jobs, verifying credentials or referring talent. These points can be converted into Bondex utility tokens, which redistribute a portion of the ecosystem’s revenue to active contributors.
“It’s a way to reward participation, not speculation,” Palomera explained. “You can’t just buy our token and sit on it. You have to add value.”
This crowdsourced recruitment model lets anyone become a recruiter, blurring the line between social networking and work opportunity. “Everyday, people recommend friends for jobs and get nothing but a thank-you,” he said. “We let you monetise that matchmaking.”
Web3 hiring trends: Beyond engineers
As the operator of the world’s largest Web3 job board, Bondex has a front-row view of the industry’s hiring evolution.
“In the early cycles, everyone was hiring engineers and blockchain developers,” said Palomera. “Now projects have products and they need people to sell them.”
The shift toward business development, marketing and partnership roles reflects a maturing Web3 ecosystem. The influx of Fortune 500 firms experimenting with tokenisation and blockchain, such as global banks and asset managers, has only intensified competition for talent.
“We’re seeing traditional enterprises hunting for the same skills as crypto startups,” Palomera noted. “The difference is, they can pay more and offer stability.”
He also observes a migration of Web2 professionals into the decentralised economy. “We had too many ‘degenerates’ starting purely in Web3,” he laughed. “Now we’re seeing experienced operators from finance and technology bring structure and best practices. That’s healthy for the space.”
According to Bondex’s latest Web3 career intelligence report, the industry increasingly hires senior roles and offers higher compensation than comparable Web2 positions, making Web3 one of the most lucrative technology sectors today.
APAC: The next frontier for Bondex
While Bondex has built a strong presence in the U.S. and Europe, its next chapter lies in APAC, where digital adoption and blockchain innovation are surging.
“The industry has been fully dominated by Asia, both in adoption and trading activity,” said Palomera. “But each country is different, you can’t just launch region-wide. You need a country-by-country strategy.”
Headquartered in Miami, with teams across London, Spain and Portugal, Bondex plans to expand into APAC through localised language versions, regional job board acquisitions and country-specific partnerships. Its M&A-driven growth follows the successful acquisition of Web3 Careers, and new deals are in the pipeline.
By 2028, Bondex aims to reach 10 million users and US$10 million in annual recurring revenue, with the goal of becoming cashflow positive within the next 12 to 18 months.
AI in recruitment: Efficiency, not elimination
For Palomera, the real story of AI isn’t job loss. It’s productivity. “Internally, AI has made us 30 per cent more efficient,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we hire 30 per cent fewer people. It means we can do more.”
He warns that the real threat isn’t automation, but digital complacency. “If you don’t know how to use tools like ChatGPT, it’s like refusing to adopt email in the 1990s. You become irrelevant.”
In Web3 specifically, AI has yet to reduce hiring demand because most roles remain senior and specialised. “You hire entry-level positions when you’re a mature company,” he notes. “In Web3, we’re still early-stage.”
Toward a universal reputation layer
Ultimately, Bondex isn’t just building a job board, it’s creating a universal reputation protocol for the digital economy. Palomera envisions a future where the Bondex Reputation Score is interoperable across professional networks.
“LinkedIn, Upwork, Fiverr: they could all benefit from verified digital reputations,” he said. “In five years, I want our reputation score to be the trust layer adopted by every talent platform on the internet.”
Bondex may not need to dethrone LinkedIn to win. If it succeeds in redefining how trust and talent intersect in the AI and Web3 age, the world of work could soon be verified, one block at a time.
