How Distributed Ledgers Are Generating New Career Opportunities For Younger Generations

Distributed ledgers, or blockchains, are doing a lot to disrupt existing systems. Finance, the classical example, is being completely revolutionized through decentralized finance (DeFi). At the other end of the spectrum would be the disruption of digital art and creative enterprise through NFT sales, which experienced an explosive 38,000% CAGR from 2021 to 2022.

But distributed ledgers are not merely disrupting existing systems. They are creating entirely new paradigms for future generations to profit from. And it’s mainly newer generations who are on board with and actively working on these Web3 projects.

Vitalik Buterin, currently 28, launched Ethereum at just 21 (he co-founded Bitcoin Magazine at 18). Justin Sun, Tron founder and serial entrepreneur, is only 31. It’s an industry created by younger generations, mainly for young generations, who are comfortable with the fast-paced movements of Web3.

Blockchain Technology - New Paradigms For Graduates

The blockchain industry is gigantic and provides numerous employment opportunities. It also generates a lot of jobs via its spin-off industries like PR, marketing, smart contract auditing, crypto custody, whitepaper writing, and social sentiment analytics like Defy Trends, a coin analytics platform, to name just a few.

Legacy finance professionals, especially younger ones, are jumping from traditional banking institutions towards crypto startups that have a better potential for growth. A similar trend is seen in software development, where developers can work on their own Web3 projects with like-minded developers instead of slugging it out in a corporate environment (by many accounts, a demoralizing path).

With the rise of open-source tools, it’s actually easier than you would think to launch your own Web3 startup. Communication is easy on the typical free communication channels and project management tools like Telegram, Discord, Slack, Trello, Clickup, etc.

The blockchain space is more enticing, more exciting, and allows graduates and young adults increased freedom in comparison to large institutions with fixed roles. In a bank, you're often a cog in the machine. In a startup, you could be part marketer, part developer, part PR specialist, part writer, and also the co-founder. Roles are more fluid.

Of course, I’m not saying that it’s a Golden ticket to success. Your Web3 startup is probably going to fail, based on past statistical averages. But your second or third will be a lot more successful and you’ll make more money in a shorter time frame if you stick with it, compared to historical fixed roles with set increases per year.

Alternative Styles Of Work

Aside from employment opportunities, distributed ledgers offer new forms of work, which is really a new lifestyle. H3R03S, for example, was designed to give university students a means of earning an income during Covid-19 and its associated geo-restrictions. Students can earn up to $1,500 a week in the real-life play-to-earn platform doing jobs, either local or remote. It also comes with an immutable review system to build up your reputation. This allows students to set up their own avatar on the H3RO3S system and avoid centralized freelance agencies like UpWork which can be very harsh towards new freelancers.

In 2019, UpWork started to reject new freelance applications and charge money to bid on jobs - a classic example of a centralized entity profiting at the expense of underprivileged global citizens. The move hurt the freelancers who needed the most support and are least likely to be able to afford the bids, especially if located in third-world countries. This is exactly the behavior that distributed platforms can assist with as it prevents these measures through community governance and its decentralized nature. The legacy freelance model is also a race to the bottom if it prevents new freelancers from gaining experience.

New industries are also emerging. Considerable numbers of creatives have made money by turning their art into Non-Fungible Tokens. This includes a UK-born 12-year-old who made $1 Million in less than a year with his Weird Whales digital art NFT collection. This NFT and wider crypto industry provides an opportunity for growth that is simply not available in historical systems.

The Adoption of Historical Industries: From Old To New

Revenue can also be generated by new versions of older models - by putting existing systems on a blockchain. For example, instead of investing in real estate, you can invest in virtual real estate in the Metaverse.

Metamall provides investors with the opportunity to purchase real estate space in a Metaverse that replicates existing 3D functionality. Revenue can be generated through retail, staking, advertising, and leasing through the Metamall Metaverse. Owners can enhance their VR ‘property’ as they wish, using the native $MALL token for transactions while Spaces (‘Properties’) are transacted as NFTs on the underlying Solana blockchain. Younger generations are more liable to warm to this easier form of real estate investing, due to the technological components.

This is made far more appealing when you consider the immersive VR component, in a completely unsaturated niche, and the fact that there are no rent or utility bills. There are a lot of Metaverses scheduled to go live in 2022 and beyond. The quality of their VR technology will likely play a role in how successful they are.

Of course, it’s not just financial remuneration that is changing for younger generations. The way they interact, how they work, and how they spend their leisure is also changing. They will be conducting a lot of their activities in VR-enhanced metaverses. This includes attending musical concerts or events from the comfort of their homes, through a VR headset.

The End Of The World…As We Know It

Distributed Ledgers are a game-changer. Modern generations are growing up with cryptocurrencies and NFTs almost as a standard. Later generations will be growing up with VR-enhanced Metaverses as a standard.

Despite certain technical and ethical concerns with these advances (which are coming forward at a staggering pace, as anybody involved in this industry can attest), distributed ledgers are freeing up and empowering the global youth.

Never before has there been such an opportunity for financial growth and expansion with the help of a computer and an internet connection. After all, 12-year-olds are doing it, and it raises serious questions as to the legitimacy of the education system, which requires enormous time and money for an income that is nowhere near guaranteed.