Meltem Demirors on why society isn’t ready for a crypto-fueled revolution • TechCrunch
Meltem Demirors has not only worked in crypto for seven years – she has shaped the field. Demirors, head of strategy at listed European digital asset manager CoinShares, got her start in the space when she attended MIT for business school and was immersed in the world of fintech startups, back when Bitcoin was the only major cryptocurrency in mainstream discourse. Soon after, she met Barry Silbert and Ryan Selkis, the founders of crypto investment company Digital Currency Group, and became involved as one of the company’s earliest employees.
The rest is history, as Demirors told us in Tuesday’s episode Chain reaction. But while Demirors first got into this field because of Bitcoin, and still “loves” the cryptocurrency, she is over the conflict in the crypto community, a tension that is particularly heated between Bitcoin followers, known as “Bitcoin maxis,” and staunch supporters of other blockchains. You can listen to the full interview with Demirors below.
“I think it has become very polarizing. People in the industry self-identify as Bitcoin maximalists, people self-identify as crypto maximalists, it’s all these labels that we kind of use. But the truth is probably much more nuanced, Demirors said.
As with many other early adopters of crypto, Demiror’s passion for the underlying technology stemmed in some ways from the ideology that shaped Bitcoin’s beginnings, a largely skeptical political viewpoint that is critical of governments and institutions and seeks to use crypto as a means. to regain economic power for everyday individuals.
“Everyone I interact with [in Bitcoin] is intellectually really engaged. There was a political element that I found interesting because I never really thought of myself as a political person, Demirors said. Being exposed to that element made Demirors think about the role of money in society and our political system, which helped her make the leap from her previous corporate finance jobs to the role at Digital Currency Group after high school.
Demirors admits that the ideological fervor behind crypto has changed as the asset class has gained popularity.
“We have recognized that for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to achieve adoption, we need to work with institutions,” Demirors said. “I also think there is growing recognition that the regulatory environment necessitates certain types of behavior, as we saw in Tornado Cash recently. And so I think where we are now is that it doesn’t necessarily feel like revolution; it feels more like evolution.”
She added that while she believes experimentation at the fringes of cryptocurrency still feels very revolutionary from a capability perspective, systemic change will require much more than just new technology.
“It involves politics, it involves institutions and it involves education and many other complex cultural and societal factors. I think we still haven’t reached the big tipping point. And I think it will probably take some time to materialize, Demirors said.
