Capital One Hiring Data Analysts With Bitcoin Know-How

US bank holding company Capital One is looking for data scientists with sufficient expertise to investigate cryptocurrencies and other emerging technologies, according to the company's website.

The advertisement states that the candidate needs experience with Hadoop, programming languages used in data analysis, and work experience in the field of data mining and statistical modelling.

More significantly for the cryptocurrency world, the new hire will be investigating the impact of disruptive technologies such as wearables, digital currencies and new means of payment. The ad says a key aspect of the role will be:

"Investigating the impact of new technologies like Google Glass, Leap Motion, smart watches, Bitcoin, and iBeacons on the future of mobile banking and the financial world of tomorrow."

“As a Data Scientist at Capital One Labs, you’ll be part of a team that’s leading the next wave of disruption at a whole new scale, using the latest in distributed computing technologies and operating across billions and billions of customer transactions to unlock the big opportunities that help everyday people save money, time and agony in their financial lives,” the ad states.

Capital One data scientists have to be able to write software capable of investigating large and messy data sets, integrate their software with existing APIs in order to track interesting trends, and create learning models.

Investigative role

The job posting does not mean Capital One is considering entering the cryptocurrency space just yet, however. On the contrary, Capital One is not very liberal when it comes to digital currencies, and last year closed a company's account over a mere mention of bitcoin.

With this job posting, Capital One makes it clear that it wants to investigate the impact of various technologies on the future of mobile banking and the financial world of tomorrow. Digital currencies are just one small piece of the puzzle and the other technologies listed have a significant disruptive potential in their own right.

The future of payments

CoinDesk examined the potential impact of wearable and always-on authentication technologies on mobile payments back in April. The advent of mobile beacons based on the Bluetooth Low Energy specification, including Apple’s iBeacon and Qualcomm’s Gimbal, could also have a big impact on certain industries.

Backed by digital wallets, advanced authentication technologies and widespread adoption led by major chipmakers and tech companies, a number of these innovative technologies will be deployed over the next few years.

Designed to bridge the gap between online commerce and brick-and-mortar operations, these technologies potentially offer a convenient, seamless experience that could benefit a wide range of industries, from banks to cryptocurrency operators.

Data mining image via Shutterstock