Sometimes, when europeans think about Malaysia they immediately go “Jungle” or “Sandokan” but that’s not actually right.
I was in Kuala Lumpur as a tourist a couple of years ago, and before that I was only able to look at this city through the eyes of Instagram. When you live any city as a tourist, the feeling you get is different and you usually spend the time in a sort of dream-like state. But this time, I was able to live Kuala Lumpur more like an actual person living there and working there and I have to say I was surprised by how beautiful this city is. A mix between all the Asian rigor and the European free-feeling (or chaos if you prefer it), with amazing and super forward looking architecture but still with that small town feeling that makes you feel at home and like everything is utterly familiar.

But what surprised me even more was out amazing community in Kuala Lumpur, which I was able to meet for the first time during our Enter Blockchain event on September 25th.

It was the first time also for this series of event! We chose this amazing city and this amazing community to introduce this new event series focused on delivering educational content to everyone. It doesn’t matter if you are a Blockchain developer, a geek or just a crypto fan, what we want to convey with these event is the passion that there is behind this world, to empower people and to let you all be informed about this industry.

The wonderful panel was composed by founders, developers, and entrepreneurs from around the world, sharing their experience in the Blockchain industry.

As a rookie of the blockchain industry, I am still learning the basic ropes of it but on during this event we were able to hear a lot of interesting points on how this world works.

One of the first misconception is that, like any “traditional” project, we think that blockchain is something that is actually restricted to certain countries. But it’s actually not like this; Blockchain is global, Blockchain is international. There are endless possibilities and there are no confines to blockchain so the experience we can have in Malaysia or the Philippines might be different from ours but it’s something that will enrich us and that will help us develop a different point of view.

One of our panelist, Alenna Dawn, shared her view during this session.

“Blockchain is not just coding. Blockchain is adaptable to yourself, blockchain can be personalised to each and everyone of us and it’s all about how you want to enter this world and how you want to learn about it”

What I’ve learned in my brief time in this space, is that this is all true. You don’t need to be a coder to talk and work with blockchain. You don’t need to have an computer engineering degree to be in the blockchain world. You can tailor your experience according to your needs and your skills, you can learn about blockchain even if you don’t understand anything about computer or financing, it’s really all about how you want to learn it. You can reach out to communities, to network and reach out to experts and learn about blockchain from the actual people that create it and have been working with it since the beginning.

Not only you don’t need to have a computer engineering degree to be part of blockchain, but this industry can also be applied to various fields, just like Kyri Andreou said:

“Blockchain can help people that don’t have a state, that don’t have an identity or financial services. These are all things we take for granted but for certain people, like the Rohingya, having all of this is something special. There a some problems with the current financial system and blockchain technology can help with building a new architecture for it, re-inventing it to get a more fair distribution and a more accountable one to help disadvantaged people”

Another very important point raising from the audience and the panel was about startups and how should they move in this space.

First of all: get your team in place. Just like Kirsten Roy-Reid said:

“Whenever you have a project, whether it is an ICO or something else, you need to surround with people that are good in different aspects. Surround yourself with a team that will work with you and that will help you bring your vision to shape. Blockchain is not just coders and developers, blockchain is also business people, communities, marketing and much more”

More advices on this subject came also from Max Lautenschläger:

“Having a just a good idea is not longer enough in blockchain today. You need to build your project, give it a solid ground to stand on. Put everything you have in it, all your passion and your hard work and create a team that helps you validate your vision.”

We have seen so many project be born and die after a few in the last year and this is not just a matter of the current situation of the blockchain market. Just like in the “real world” startups have their struggles but here’s what Dr Marcus Voo has to say:

“As a startup you need to have a more practical approach, people do need to think about the bureaucratic aspect but they need to have a more easy and practical approach when working in blockchain industry”

I’m still new but what I am learning from these events and from the people in the industry is that Blockchain’s potential is endless, you just need to find the right fit for yourself, the right topic and the right team to work with.

This is how you Enter Blockchain.