Why Is Remote Work Becoming the Crypto Standard?
By: Liam J. Kelly
Tags: Gig Economy, Travel, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Remote Working

Photo by Anton Shuvalov on Unsplash.

Working remotely has been steadily growing in popularity as newer generations enter the workforce. It has spurred terms like “digital nomad” and brings to mind a cozy millennial working in a hammock next to the beach. And while this shift is occurring across all sectors, the crypto community appears to be welcoming this lifestyle with open arms.

So, what exactly is the connection between a novel technology and working from anywhere in the world? First, let’s dig into the statistics.

Remote Work Is Happening Whether you Like it or not

The Nomad Academy offers an intensive on-site workshop that teaches folks how to leave their “conventional careers” behind and join the remote workforce. It combines travel, education, and cultivates skills with which graduates can use to “live life on their own terms.” Since they launched their “Nomad MBA” in 2017, the Academy boasts over 9,000 applicants from over 42 different countries. Of the 180 alumni, 32 started companies that are still operating all over the world.

More important than these statistics, however, is the story that Nomad Academy is selling. Its program combines values of stark independence, anti-corporation, big ideas, a decentralized network, and unparalleled mobility. As far as finding a market fit, Nomad Academy has struck a serious chord with the Zeitgeist of modernity.

People are looking for options.

Earlier generations could count on a constant flow of stable work throughout their careers. This meant that it wasn’t uncommon to work at one company for all of one’s life. And all along the way, one could cross clear milestone after clear milestone via possessions like a beautiful home, car, retirement plan, and all the trimmings of dependability. For a number of reasons, this lifestyle now appears out of reach, however.

In the first, student loan debt has immediately crippled incoming labor, which means people may buy a house later in life (if at all). Forbes reported in February 2019 that 44.7 million American borrowers owed a combined total of $1.56 trillion. Those under 30 make up 16.8 million, with those over 60 making up 3.2 million. Many politicians are even building their campaigns around solving the “student debt crisis” in the US.

Jobs have gone global, too. The Internet has made it possible to build a company in Chicago, outsource a portion of the development to New Delhi, manufacture the product in Harbin, and distribute the product all over Western Europe. As a result, our conception of what a company is and can be is also changing. Consider the difference between how firms have formed in 2019 compared to those from 1989. These days, not only is it not necessary to house all employees in a single location, it no longer makes economic sense.

There are several forces at work here. Different values, such as flexibility, change, and independence, are coming to the fore. For better or worse, these values are being aggravated by economic conditions such as student debt, a fickle job market, and an increasing need for further accreditation and continued learning. Finally, the rise of interconnection via new technologies is offering whole new business models.

One can think of this as breaking down the theory of the firm from one end. On the other end, incoming labor no longer sees traditional stability as enticing as it once was. Not only that, but the house and picket fence meme no longer appears reachable. The culmination of these changes is already revealing itself in broad strokes.

Upwork, a freelancing platform, concluded in 2017 that, “the majority of the U.S. workforce will soon freelance. At its current growth rate, we will reach this milestone by 2027.” It should also be noted that 63 percent of individuals pursuing a freelancing career did so by choice rather than necessity.

Just Add a Global Digital Currency

Looking past these changes and into how the future of work will pan out is still a bit foggy. Still, one can identify certain tendencies. In the first, the talent pool has opened up significantly. Hiring managers aren’t just looking all over the world for competent employees, but they’re also looking across generations.

Heads of families, retirees looking for supplemental income, ambitious college graduates, and everyone in between is likely to find themselves all working together. Each demographic will have different expectations and workstyles too. Some will prefer coming into an office to complete their tasks. Others, perhaps those with young children, may need to spend more time at home while working. Another group may want to scratch their itch for travel without sacrificing their careers. More importantly, each type of employee could be spread across three or four continents.

Of course, every CEO has their own management style and will create a company culture accordingly. But the above example is becoming more and more common. Adding a globally-recognized digital currency like Bitcoin will only accelerate this too. A payment protocol unfettered by a jigsaw of state regulations relieves the burden that the Internet’s gig economy ushered in.

Portals like PayPal, Western Union, and so on are undoubtedly useful, but transaction fees can become unpleasant. Writ large across a multi-generational, -national workforce and quickly alternatives like Bitcoin become essential. It also opens up the opportunity for unbanked populations to participate in shifting work trends. Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank, added the following:

“Let me start with financial inclusion, where digital currency offers great promise, through its ability to reach people and businesses in remote and marginalized regions. We know that banks are not exactly rushing to serve poor and rural populations.”

Like the Internet before, cryptocurrencies empower historically neglected populations by offering them a currency accepted all over the world. This exposes them to potential job openings that may not have been possible in the past. This exposure can lead to the pursuit of further education or retraining to remain competitive now that they have entered this global market. Following this logic to its conclusion, the market becomes more competitive as more educated participants join from all over the world.

This thesis has not been lost on companies like ConsenSys, for instance. The company has made positive inroads around Africa to promote the use of blockchain technology. There are vast swaths of people unable to get a stable footing because their country lacks the fundamental infrastructure which would provide a bank account, passport, and other critical documents. Not only that, but many African currencies are even more unstable than the world’s most popular cryptocurrencies.

By implementing incoming technologies like blockchain and the Internet, Africa can “leapfrog antiquated systems, the same way it skipped over cumbersome, expensive landlines and moved straight to mobile phones,” according to a representative of ConsenSys.

Beyond the Basics: Smart Contracts and DAOs

The inevitably of remote work and the rise of cryptocurrencies is only the beginning. More than 11 years after Satoshi Nakamoto announced the launch of Bitcoin to the world, the space has grown by leaps and bounds.

Companies are now using smart contracts to improve many features of their work, each with positive results. At the same time, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are outlining how a diverse, anonymous community could run a business rather than a CEO and a few board members.

In the future, it may not even matter where a coworker comes from or if you ever meet them in real life as privacy-enhancing technologies take center stage. Even Facebook, perhaps the largest eye in the commercial-surveillance panopticon, has announced a range of new privacy features. These technologies are all moving in the same direction as the forces that engendered remote work.

The freedom offered by remote work and the Internet has convinced many of a newer, brighter work-life balance. Services already exist to help this trend along, but distributed ledgers and cryptographic technologies take this to the next level. It empowers individuals and gives them the tools to command as much power as a firm, but as one person on a laptop on a beach in Bali.

Indeed, the future of blockchain technologies is the future of work itself.