As we approach Bitcoin’s 10th birthday, I am super excited to think about where this industry has been and how far it has come.

My heart fills with hope for a brighter future. Today I will not talk to you about problems, today I am welcoming you to celebrate what I believe to be huge wins for our blockchain industry.

First of all, I would like to celebrate and acknowledge the fact that we are now past being predominantly Bitcoin cryptoanarchists and have developed the whole blockchain ecosystem into an entire industry.

It is a big deal because only a couple of years ago there was a predominant belief that it was all about BTC and nothing else – Bitcoin purists ruled this industry. Now we see many cryptocurrencies thrive on the markets.

Birth of infrastructure

Secondly, we no longer fear that Bitcoin is going to be outlawed any day now. It is a huge deal as only five years ago it was the greatest concern. In fact, I am pleased to see the birth of the first comprehensive regulatory infrastructure for this industry. I am talking about the ‘Blockchain Island’ of Malta. I can not stress the importance of this enough and have written about it before. Many countries are currently following Malta’s lead. I am anticipating that this will lay a solid foundation for the global adoption of the blockchain industry.

Thirdly, I would like to bring to your attention to women in this industry. This one is a huge deal to me. At first hand I can attest to you that we have come a long way in a positive direction.

In the good old days when I had just entered the industry, it was indeed a ‘Boys Club’. I remember being told not to worry my pretty little head with men things – “concentrate on being a wife and mother”.  I heard things like “organise some parties”, “just do the woman things, you know… be a good hostess”. I could go and on, but instead I would like us to focus on where we are now.

We’re in demand

In my opinion, the blockchain industry is very inclusive of women now and, in the past year or so, I have seen women hold executive roles in many companies.

We see many female groups thrive on Telegram and other social media channels and these groups are heavily supported by men in the industry. Most conferences have a diverse list of speakers and female consultants such as myself are in high demand.

Lastly, but probably most importantly, we have long seen reports about how any sizeable portfolio would benefit from exposure to cryptocurrency.

More and more institutions have been getting into this space. This month, however, we have seen most conservative investors such as university endowments talking about dipping their toes into blockchain.

A significant landmark

Yale announced their participation in the space on 4th October this year. Shortly after, we saw reports that Harvard, MIT, and Stanford were also investing. These types of institutions are always very conservative due to reputation risk. Their participation in our industry communicates to me that we have arrived at a significant landmark.

Research indicates that it takes 10 years to establish skill and expertise. I believe that we can apply this hypothesis and say that it takes 10 years to develop an industry. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done, but I think that, overall, we have done well. Let’s keep up the good work and make Satoshi proud!

Irina