With Bitcoin reaching historic levels week after week, euphoria took over the market in 2021. As companies in the sector looked for manpower to serve an increasing number of clients, the most daring launched themselves into parallel projects, especially NFT.
To recap, Bitcoin hit $65,000 in April last year, followed by a sharp drop to $28,600 in June. Five months later, however, bitcoin was back, hitting another all-time high, reaching $69,000.
Cryptocurrencies seemed invincible and even the richest man in the world would agree. While Bitcoin sounded like a solution to inflation, which was affecting many countries, even Facebook caused a new sector to explode, the metaverse.
However, the US Federal Reserve stepped in and began raising interest rates to strengthen the dollar. Since then, Bitcoin has fallen month after month. Other projects even disappeared.
People who quit their jobs to work in the cryptocurrency market
Given the scenario, Vice exposed the current situation of people who gave up their regular jobs during the bull run of 2021 to fulfill the dream of a more decentralized world, but ended up on a roller coaster that only seems to go downhill.
One such person, Raihan Anwar, notes that enthusiasm has waned considerably. “People who used to use the word ‘no confidence’ for the sake of the sentence may now be so [dizendo isso] every two paragraphs.
Along with the drop in prices, all talk of the metaverse, P2E games, and web3 also vanished, giving way to headlines about mass layoffs, the bankruptcy of mining giants, and scams by brokers who squandered their clients’ money as if they were psychopaths.
“Trust is people. You can’t use a ‘smart contract’ to escape liars, cheaters and crooks”continued Anwar.
However, the magazine points out that the dream is still alive, albeit quieter. According to the article, most people see this bear market as a test, separating those who are genuinely interested in the potential of cryptocurrencies from those who were just looking for money.
“A lot of the engineering talent that has entered the space over the past year has come and stayed because this is such an interesting experiment and experience to behold”concluded Anwar.
Less work, more focus
Lily Nguyen, another Vice interviewee, recalls working non-stop during the 2021 bull market, including Saturday night extras and random 11 p.m. meetings.
About the current situation, the product designer notes that she now has “fewer distractions”. That is, it allows your work to be more relaxed and allows you to focus on what really matters.
“I believe there is a chance that cryptocurrencies have something to do with it [esse objetivo de criar uma internet melhor]🇧🇷concludes Nguyen. “Is it a panacea? Probably not, but shall I at least try to leave a mark? Yes.”
Basically, the market has undergone a major cleanup over the past year. Mediocre projects were stopped, scammers were exposed, and in the end only those who were passionate about what they were doing remained.
This is why many are comparing cryptocurrencies to the internet of the 1990s, citing that much of the industry will end up in ashes. It is noteworthy, however, that the survivors should emerge, as Amazon and Google have done over the decades.
Source: Live Coins
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
