Despite the duress on cryptocurrency markets, there remains an exceptional optimism among developers entering the field.
Since the beginning of the year, a sharp decline in bitcoin prices and other cryptocurrencies has plagued the market, with analysts predicting that it’s only going to get worse. But these developments haven’t seemed to dissuade developers from making significant investments in crypto.
A recent study has found that 61 percent of respondents who were open to receiving crypto as a form of payment said it would probably be for supplemental income, and 20 percent said it would likely be their sole source of income.
A vast majority of the companies that are using crypto – 78 percent – are small businesses, while 30 percent of them have fewer than 100 employees. And as it turns out, venture capitalists are aware of this.
In an interview with CNBC, Spencer Bogart, cryptocurrency analyst at investment firm Blockchain Capital, said that he’s seen a significant amount of funding going toward small startups and new blockchain projects with several hundred thousand to just over a million dollars in funding.
One of the most notable examples was a startup called Kleros, which is using the blockchain to facilitate arbitration. The startup has raised $2.9 million over the past year and employs 14 people.
“The hype around blockchain and cryptocurrencies will come back,” Bogart said in reference to popular expectations for bitcoin prices to hit high. “But in the short to medium term, I think we’re going to see a lot of this investment go toward infrastructure-level projects for public blockchains.”
And Bogart isn’t the only one that has noted this shift.
