Looking for a job as a developer in cryptocurrency and blockchain in 2019? Cryptocurrencies and block-chain are experiencing the highest developer activity and growth since the internet says Ben Horowitz. The legendary investor is the co-founder of Andreesen Horowitz and has always been giving insights about the cryptocurrency market.
During a talk at TCDisrupt, Horowitz said that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies should both be considered as new computing platforms. He mentioned that every 20 years there are new developments that end up becoming new and revolutionary platforms.
He further clarified that cryptocurrencies work in a similar way to older platforms – they’re both slow and complex, but the difference between the older platforms and blockchain/cryptocurrency that really sets the two apart is simple: trust. For Horowitz, he said that this is a very important thing because it is powerful, people who use this don’t have to trust third parties to participate in the network – the trust is built in.
Furthermore, he said that developers have a completely new world that they can build applications for, such as money. It is possible to program law, money, digital property, etc etc. He claims that it is not necessary to trust a platform, another third party, or a judge, or a lawyer.
He then talked about Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). He compared them with the dot-com bubble.
“Somebody at the office said the other day: ‘Not all ICOs are bad but all bad companies have an ICO. I think that’s right”, is what Horowitz had to say about ICOs.
Horowitz went further regarding ICOs and his comparison with the dot-com bubble, remarking how back in the 90s, companies were adding ‘dotcom’ to their names. This helped propel them up in the charts and in the market, but it didn’t contribute to the growth of the company, nor the industry, so they experienced a sell off. They became irrelevant to the space.
He further remarked that he believes that the same thing is happening today with some companies in the cryptocurrency market. They are changing their names (Long Island Iced Tea to Long Blockchain), adding the word “blockchain” to attract new investors (Long Blockchain skyrocketed 500% before correcting), and in a very short amount of time, they fall to previous price levels (see here https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/02/the-iced-tea-company-that-changed-its-name-to-include-blockchain-retracts-on-bitcoin-mining-operation/ external/outbound link).
Back in July, Aragon co-founder Luis Cuende, said that there is a new wave of developers that are entering into the space. He remarks about these new developers: “I don’t know any good Ethereum developer that isn’t a millionaire, and it’s only a matter of time before it will become a gold rush among developers to learn the technology”.
He’s right. The number of developers using Ethereum has increased over the last few months. Additionally, several universities and colleges are working with its decentralized platform.
At this moment, cryptocurrency and its market are expanding. We’re currently experiencing a bear market, but don’t tell that to big banks and financial institutions (more here). Companies are testing different solutions and new merchants are starting to accept virtual currencies as a means of payment (we take litecoin!)
Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are going to see huge updates in the middle-term including the anticipated Lightning Network (LN), and Sharding and Plasma in Ethereum. This increased activity in the number of developers working in the space means that cryptocurrencies are useful, they have purpose, and they have real-world use. We just need to be patient until they become mainstream.
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