The District Weekly - November 25th, 2017

News and updates from the district0x Network

Given the Thanksgiving holiday, a rather short work week has come and pass. In light of this, I thought I’d instead take some time to write and reflect a bit more freely in place of a regularly scheduled update.

I’ve been working in the cryptocurrency space for three years now, and have been interested in the space for nearly twice as long. Naturally, the topic comes up with family and old friends at various get-togethers. Holidays are a unique opportunity for me to interface with older and younger generations at length. Seeing the proliferation of familiarity and interest in cryptocurrencies across the spectrum each successive year serves as a personal watermark for the industry’s progress.

2017 has been a historic year in the growth of cryptocurrency, and that’s reflected in the types of interactions that I’ve had this holiday weekend. The same basic analogies I’d use to explain bitcoin a year or two ago are no longer sufficient to answer the complex questions being asked. It’s no longer that some in the room have heard of bitcoin, but most. Some have even heard of Ethereum, and can name a token or two. The baseline understanding of what a digital currency is and how a decentralized network might maintain one is beginning to sink in. It’s no longer just “that bitcoin thing”.

And yet, at the very same time, when interfacing with my peers from grade school and university, it’s the exact opposite result that I find surprising. The general understanding of digital currency is not any more common or further along than the rest of the people in my life. Even among those with technical background in computer science, mathematics, or economics, cryptocurrency is still a very small niche that require zero effort to avoid.

This recalls what I’m confronted of time and time again, that the new world we’re working towards won’t be built overnight, but over the course of an entire generation. We are still in the very early days of the development of this ecosystem, and though we’ve added a countless number of new community members this year, we’ve grown to just a tiny fraction of the potential this new technology holds.

The district0x team has come together across borders as a group of individuals all sharing the conviction of this potential. We’ve known from the beginning that the road ahead is a long one. Having a dedicated community of thinkers and dreamers walking this journey alongside us has been incredible, and offers constant motivation to keep working towards a more equitable world we want to be a part of.

From the entire team, we are thankful for your support. Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!