How crypto made Portugal a promised land for entrepreneurs

The following is a guest post from Carlos Prada, CEO and Founder of Masterblox.

The crypto industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years. It took less than four years for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology to go from a niche industry to a global powerhouse that could move markets and shape regulation.

It is safe to say that the opportunities that arose from this growth changed the world, but this change is most evident in places where economic growth stagnated.

This is the case of Portugal, whose reputation as a sunny tourist haven was slowly overshadowed by low wages and declining living standards.

Despite being an EU member state and having great natural resources, Portugal was long seen as Europe’s underdog. The country struggled to keep young people within its borders as better wages and more welcoming regulations for businesses pushed them to migrate to neighboring countries.

When I grew up in a small town outside Lisbon, I experienced this myself. Job opportunities were scarce, and young people struggled to find reasons to stay in a country that valued them so little. In the mid-2000s, agriculture was one of the few industries that gave a sense of stability. It became the preferred career for many young people.

Innovation and entrepreneurship were hard to find and even harder to implement in Portugal. Those whose ambitions survived these conditions were then faced with various bureaucratic issues that further stifled progress.

The Portuguese are cursed with caution. Our grandparents lived through hardship and found themselves struggling rather than liberated in the post-dictatorship era.

The insecurity and instability they lived through kept them in a survival mode that they passed on to their children, making it the default mode of living in the country. This led to a lack of ambition among the general population. Despite having big dreams, many fear overspending, reaching too high and stepping out of their comfort zone.

And while this was slowly changing for the better, it took blockchain to kick these changes into high gear.

It is safe to say that blockchain technology has completely changed the technology and business landscape in Portugal. The creation of cryptocurrencies became the black swan event that shook the country to its core and created a better future for the youth.

Over a decade after the first Bitcoin block was minted, blockchain technology helped fight unemployment in the country and instill a sense of aspiration in young people. The opportunities it opened up helped Portuguese entrepreneurs realize that they could create a parallel global economy free of government interference.

Driven by the endless possibilities that blockchain technology opened up, I founded Masterblox, an incubator company that aims to help crypto startups scale. With no external funding and a small but dedicated team, we were able to use cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology to positively impact the world.

In its early days, the crypto industry was dominated by tech-savvy traders and developers. Such a homogenous community made it difficult for others to enter and expand their business. However, the crypto industry in 2023 is filled with various experts, ranging from bankers and analysts from traditional finance to lawyers, psychologists and marketers. Having a wide range of experts working in the industry creates strong support for new companies looking to tap into the blockchain space.

At Masterblox, we leveraged this diverse talent to help our clients scale and grow their crypto startups. We quickly grew to a team of 20 and achieved the professional success that would be difficult to achieve in a traditional corporate environment.

All crypto and blockchain companies in Portugal, including Masterblox, now have access to the global market. We can all succeed based solely on our talent and effort, unencumbered by the limitations of our local market.

This mindset makes it easier to weather bear markets. At Masterblox, we know that there will always be new opportunities for Web3 professionals because we create the opportunities ourselves.

While Portugal is one of the best examples of potential cryptocurrencies and blockchain, their effects are being felt in many other countries. It is a miracle to see the possibilities and potential blockchain technology is creating. People can now challenge traditional systems and address inequality from almost every corner of the world.