My last article on this topic dates back to September 2015, so it is time to give my readers an update on my favorite disruptive technology.
Blockchain and Crypto have been under the spotlight even more in the last 12 months. As the Bitcoin Ambassador Andreas M. Antonopoulos well said, there are 5 stages of disruption denial:
- Confusion: we don’t get get it – what this is all for?
- Repudiation: e.g. “Twitter. What could I possibly say in 140 characters”
- Shaming: “Bitcoin is used by drug dealers and shady character and money launderer! Stay away from it!”
- Acceptance: If you can’t beat them, join them.
- Forgetting: pretending we never criticized it and we accepted it from Day 1!
We are now in Stage 4, as we can clearly see looking at the R3 Consortium, a Blockchain development company supported by 45 financial companies (Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, State Street, UBS, Metlife, etc). Founded in 2014, in 2015 it was supported by just 9 companies!
Of course we are still in its infancy. Many challenges are ahead, such as no consistent regulatory framework for financial services applications, lack of user friendly interfaces and widely accepted applications that would allow everyday Joe to pay in a coffee-shop or online.
However, let’s not forget that payment is only a small part of the whole technology, the possibilities are several such as smart contracts, accounting and ledger applications, as well as voting or rating systems!
Job Market in the UK
Blockchain: 89 Jobs , + 144 rank, 57k £ Salary
Bitcoin: 17 Jobs , + 66 rank, 82k £ Salary
Ultimately, if you want to up your career. I think you are not going wrong by studying these topics!
ITJobWatch.co.uk