I’m leaving crypto
After two years in crypto I’m leaving the space. I have a lot of mixed feelings about leaving. Reasons are:
No evidence of mass user adoption coming soon
There’s very little evidence that “normies” (non crypto enthusiasts) will begin to enter crypto in some meaningful volumes anytime soon. Today there are roughly 40 million crypto wallets, sort of the browser of crypto. The New York Times sees 89 million unique visitors a month. LinkedIn has 700 million registered users. Crypto participation is tiny.
Institutional money not coming
I’ve interviewed professional institutional investors from the traditional world and explained the various investment concepts that are available in crypto. They will tell you they can find all of those levels of adjusted risk-reward in the traditional world and that crypto, while intriguing, is still very small compared to the traditional markets.
Consider only the traditional global derivatives market. Its total actual value (not notational) is $12.7 trillion. The total market cap of crypto today is $222 billion.
Money drying up
In my previous role as head of sales for Efficient Frontier I’ve called on 100’s of companies in crypo. The vast majority of companies are taking steps, often extreme, to conserve cash. Even some of the larger ICO’s and major blockchains who still have money in the bank are cutting spending big time. One client, a major blockchain, has pulled out of we-work. All of their people working in San Francisco now work out of the CEO’s home. They don’t see a clear path to revenues and are hunkering down to survive the time it will take to figure it out.
Idealism, anti-Wall Street?
Unfortunately, crypto has not become a less corrupt financial system. Altcoin price manipulation is more common than it is not. The amount of unethical activity is abundant. Not to say there are not many clean actors working to create a trustworthy environment. What we’re dealing with here is people. You see the same broad set of human characteristics you get in any large group. Greed… the desire for power… all those human behaviors are here and unfortunately, idealism isn’t the dominating behavior.
Lack of jobs in crypto
The main reason I am leaving, however, is simply a lack of jobs, particularly for somebody at my level of seniority and earning requirements. Once you get to my level of seniority even in the traditional world it becomes more and more challenging to find interesting roles that truly exercise a broad set of muscles… this includes the level of compensation that my family requires. In crypto those roles are very few. Very few, and that's a global statement.
A young persons game
If I was a 20 or early 30 something and without the financial demands of a family I’d very likely stick it out in crypto. Many of the interesting startups in crypto are full of young people who are working on incomes that fit the phase of their careers. They’re having a great time. I love the culture, creativity and the excitement I found in crypto. Even the criminals are interesting. I’ve met so many cool people from around the globe, very creative, crazy smart people. I wish you all luck. In the next 10 years I believe there will be many great opportunities that will take hold.
What am I doing next? I’ve landed the coolest job of my career! That is the topic of my next post. Stay tuned!
