Tech Executives and Engineers Leave Big Firms for ‘Once-in-a-Generation’ Opportunity with Crypto

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Anonymous reader shares report: Ms Carter is part of a wave of executives and engineers leaving comfortable jobs at Google, Amazon, Apple and other big tech companies – some of which pay millions of dollars in annual compensation – to chase what they see as a once in a generation opportunity. The next big thing is crypto, they said, a catch-all designation that includes digital currencies like Bitcoin and products like non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, which are built on the blockchain. Silicon Valley is now teeming with stories of people making seemingly ridiculous crypto investments like Dogecoin, a digital coin based on a dog meme, into life-changing wealth. Bitcoin has climbed around 60% this year, while Ether, the cryptocurrency linked to the Ethereum blockchain, has more than quintupled in value.

But beyond this speculative mania, a growing contingent of the best and brightest in the tech industry sees a moment of transformation that occurs once every few decades and rewards those who spot seismic change before the rest of the world. . With cryptography, they see historical parallels to how the personal computer and the internet were once ridiculed, only to upend the status quo and create a new generation of billionaires. Investors have also flocked. They’ve invested more than $ 28 billion in global crypto and blockchain startups this year, four times the total in 2020, according to PitchBook, a company that tracks private investment. Over $ 3 billion has been invested in NFT companies alone. “There’s a giant sucking sound coming from crypto,” said Sridhar Ramaswamy, chief executive of search engine startup Neeva and a former Google executive, which rivals crypto companies for talent. “It looks a bit like the 1990s and the birth of the Internet. It’s so early, so chaotic and so full of opportunity.”

[…] The growing ranks of true believers say crypto can change the world by creating a more decentralized internet that is not controlled by a handful of companies. While such possibilities have been around since Bitcoin emerged in 2009, crypto products such as NFTs only appeared this year. This has accelerated the exodus of big tech companies to the crypto world. This month, Brian Roberts, chief financial officer of Lyft, left the rideshare company to join OpenSea, a popular crypto startup. , he said in an email. “We’re in day one in terms of NFT and their impact. “

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