Guillaume : That’s some solid advice; in a similar vein, many platforms are scaling back hiring due to recent volatility in the market. What advice can you give someone thinking of taking the leap and working in the industry?
Yang : So there’s this misconception that, for the most part, people working in cryptocurrency are developers, or “shadowy super coders,” but in fact, the industry is just like any other. You have people working in HR, PR and communication, content generation and marketing, social media and community management, and many other areas. My first suggestion would be to get clued up on the basics of the industry, how Bitcoin works, and what’s happening in the markets, and then dust off your keyboard and get actively applying.
Most companies have a list of job openings available on their website or the countless online job boards out there. The industry has matured to such an extent that it’s a pretty stable job environment. Of course, in some aspects, it’s just much faster-paced as things can rapidly change overnight.
Guillaume : On the subject of the market rapidly changing, what’s your take on the current state of the market? Are you bullish or bearish for the remainder of the year?
Yang : I’m not one to make predictions or dole out financial advice, but I definitely think we’ve entered a bear market. How long that will last remains uncertain, but I am bullish in the long run. If you look at the last decade, there’s been several winters, but Bitcoin has remained resilient and there’s no reason to think this time is any different.
Bitcoin has gone from “speculative internet money” to a serious asset in the span of the decade, and as you mentioned earlier, we’re now seeing countries adopting it as legal tender, public companies adding it to their books, so there’s still a lot of room for growth in terms of adoption and that may or may not be reflected in the price. The 2007 Global Financial Crisis in part inspired Satoshi to develop Bitcoin, so it will be interesting to see how the markets will react to the current impending recession and whether or not they can weather the storm.
Guillaume : Interesting, thank you Yang. Moving on to the final question, what are your thoughts about the Bitcoin community urging investors to get their Bitcoin off of exchanges? The famous saying goes, ‘not your keys, not your Bitcoin.’
Yang : Of course, there are benefits to having your Bitcoin stored on an exchange . For millions of users across the globe, exchanges are their first point-of-contact with assets such as Bitcoin and they may not be fully aware of the steps needed to take self-custody of their assets. But exchanges were designed to do just that, exchange one asset for another, such as fiat for Bitcoin or vice versa.
If users have the knowledge and expertise to take self-custody and plan on HODLing then it makes sense to take it off exchanges, but they need to ensure they can do it without losing their assets. There are a ton of hardware and software wallets available to choose from, and in most cases, self-custody makes the most sense and gives users the satisfaction of knowing their assets are safe. When they feel like selling, or buying more, that’s where we’re once again happy to be of service.
Guillaume : Thank you for taking time to answer my questions, I’ll be keeping an eye on what Gate.io has in store for its users.
This is a guest post by Dion Guillaume. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine .