Cryptocurrencies and its underlying technology - blockchain is the future.
In his book 'What The Future (WTF) and Why It's Up to Us', Tim O' Reilly says:
It is possible to see the future.
We just have to think in vectors.
'Thinking in vectors' involves paying attention to what we currently have; and ask ourselves, "What happens if this goes on?"
What happens now that we have fire?
What happens now that we have wheel-carts and chariots?
What happens now that we have electricity?
What happens now that we have computers?
What happens now that we have the Internet?
What happens now that we have driverless cars?
What happens now that we have Bitcoin?
Cryptocurrencies are here to stay
Nobody can say with absolute certainty whether Bitcoin will live forever.
But what is certain is that its underlying technology -- blockchain will live on.
And we have Bitcoin to thank for that.
We highly recommend reading the original Bitcoin whitepaper released by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. It is only 8 pages and an entertaining read.
However, although cryptocurrencies and blockchain are receiving an unprecedented amount of attention today, I am worried about the outlook for Malaysia.
Dissolving Malaysia's 'get-rich-quick' reputation
A few days ago, a very talented friend of mine was about to secure some international sponsorships to run several training workshops to grow more blockchain developers in Malaysia. Sadly, I was informed that the sponsorship was canceled in favor of other countries such as Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore.
Apparently, our country is perceived quite negatively in comparison to others - crowd quality is unsophisticated and technology talk is tepid at best.
An article this week titled, 'Blockchain ignorance endangers Malaysia', sends a shiver down my spine.
Is there truth to this?
Based on my observation, yes. The crypto-conversations that take place in Malaysia tend to be skewed towards making money quick. They are not the same as those neighboring countries which have made stronger strides to be leaders in this space. We are now 6 months in 2018 and both Vietnam & Philippines have held global summits, conferences, and hackathons.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia, it seems 'crypto' is almost synonymous to scam, there is much fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) and this creates a lot of confusion among the public as well as with the regulators.
As a result, we are severely behind.
BitcoinMalaysia Roadshows
BitcoinMalaysia is confident that Malaysia has what it takes to reverse our image into a positive one. This would take some time --- and a lot of work. But definitely possible!
Malaysia is rich in talent, multi-lingual, creative and energetic! Two of the world's largest crypto-companies, Etherscan and CoinGecko were founded by 'Orang Malaysia'.
We just need to channel the energy to where it matters most --- that is to create a huge adoption base. We need more Malaysians to use, experience and enjoy cryptocurrencies.
Hence the roadshows we have been doing since May.
BitcoinMalaysia in Kedah, 6th May 2018
BitcoinMalaysia 16th May 2018
BitcoinMalaysia 6th June 2018
Our roadshows aim to:
- Provide a friendly place for people new to crypto to understand why it matters
- Help you relate how crypto can bring value to your daily lives
- Spur actual adoption and use of crypto and other blockchain innovations
- Maximise learning absorption by simplifying & making easy-to-understand content
- If you are in business, inspire you to develop innovations that will benefit your society
Right now, we are trying to keep our roadshows 'Free-to-Attend'. We are able to do this largely thanks to our sponsors such as 
Post-event feedback has been promisingly positive so far and we are seeing growing numbers attending our events each time. Clearly, there is a hungry appetite to get involved. However, it is still not enough. Currently, we are drawing about 50 people per event. Doing it twice a month, we would reach out to 600 people by the end of the year.
We need to ramp up our efforts.
We want to double our reach by year end and grow x10 in 2019.
To do this, we would need:
- More venue sponsors across KL to offer us space so that we can provide more options for people to attend our events.
- More developers to take our stage and share their blockchain-based innovations with us so that more people may experience the benefits and grow the number of positive stories in the space.
- More volunteers to step forward and help conduct cryptocurrency & blockchain education in their own communities and social circles.
Time will pass very quickly.
I hope that by the year 2020, Malaysia will gain a much more positive reputation worldwide when it comes to the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
This is what we hope to achieve. How about you?
Jason
BitcoinMalaysia.com
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