‘Exodus’: Top Talent Heading to Cryptoland?
If you want to know what the future holds then one of the better ways, especially for the near term, is to see where the top talent are investing their time and careers.
In another strong signal that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and that blockchain innovation will redefine the mainstream, in much the way that the web did from 1998, high flyers are increasingly heading to cryptoland, even in favour of Wall Street.
According to Michael Chang, who leads the Wachsman Strategic Advisory Group “There’s a first-of-its-kind trend happening right now on Wall Street. Top executives from the world’s leading multinationals, including the Big Four, are showing signs of a mass exodus from old-school investment banking and consulting for a chance to join the Blockchain startup movement”.
But it’s not just about the money, it’s a “once in a generation” chance to do something positive which will improve the lives of many, at the same time. That will lead to greater transparency and accountability and greater security, he says. Plus of course it’s invaluable experience for the future if you think, as many clearly do, this is it.
But the money’s there too, and it’s happening faster: While payment processor Square took three years to reach a $1B valuation Coinbase required less than a year to be valued at $8B and has now secured a gargantuan investment worth $20B.
Meanwhile the first ‘Industry Overview’ report from the UK All Party Parliamentary Group recently concluded that the UK can become a global hub for blockchain, having the “resources as well as industrial and governmental will”. The report posits that this can become a “next generation Digital Crypto Economy by approximately 2022.”
But there’s no place for complacency – we are not yet on-track. We’re barely out of the starting-blocks and several centres are already well ahead of us.
While this report is welcome, and a good start, what’s urgently needed is education and training:
“Companies are increasingly looking to the UK’s pool of talent and capital. The common theme is the need to understand more about Blockchain and how it can help them to stay ahead of competitors” says Jonny Fry, CEO of TeamBlockchain, “which is why we’ve recently started running workshops to help organisation, also introducing them to specialists and real companies that are already harnessing blockchain technology”.
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