Personal announcement

Photo by Mesut Kaya on Unsplash

After a long radio silence on this blog (mea culpa!), it’s time to share some personal news:

I have stepped down as Digital Assets Lead of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) and will be transitioning to a purely research-focused advisory role. This will allow me to take some proper (and much-needed) time off while staying involved in cutting-edge research.

A lot has happened since I first joined CCAF after graduating in 2016 to become part of a newly-established research unit covering the nascent crypto and blockchain ecosystem. Starting with empirical industry surveys, we gradually expanded the scope to various ecosystem areas and issues, always in an attempt to provide balanced insights and credible data as a public service free of charge. I hope that we have, at least to some extent, succeeded in that regard and that our reports, models, and datasets have proven useful to the ecosystem.

As #bitcoin became #crypto (becoming #blockchain becoming #DLT becoming #DigitalAssets etc.), the space got incredibly broad and diverse – and with that, ever more specialised and complex. Today, you need a small army of researchers only to keep abreast with new developments. About two years ago, we also began sketching out the initial blueprint for a multi-year public-private research initiative, which eventually became the Cambridge Digital Assets Programme (#CDAP) that launched earlier this year in collaboration with 16 leading institutions.

While of this has been incredibly exciting and thrilling, I now realise that it has also taken a toll on my personal health and wellbeing. Being constantly switched-on, taking little to no time off, and repeatedly pushing oneself beyond natural limits may work for some time but surely not forever. Of course, I was young and full of energy and ideas, but eventually over the years both physical and mental exhaustion crept in regardless. In hindsight, I find it interesting that it was not due to external pressure or obligations, but rather a sort of insatiable 'drive' or 'hunger' emanating from myself which made me ignore all the kind suggestions from friends and colleagues to slow down a bit. Well, I guess that's 'youthful exuberance' 🙂 

In any case, it became clear to me in early summer that a proper break was imminently needed to recharge the batteries. Sort of a 'pulling-the-plug-before-it's-too-late' thing. Perhaps the fact that I turned 30 in April and got married (again – thanks #covid19 🙃) in July further helped break free from the 'youthful exuberance'. 🙂

A while ago, I thus got together with CCAF leadership and my team to work on a solution and initiate an orderly transition. I am deeply grateful for the support and understanding showed to me by colleagues, partners, and other collaborators, which made the decision a hell of a lot easier. Furthermore, we managed to onboard several brilliant hires over the last 2 months who will take CDAP to a new level as the internal organisational structure has been revamped and new projects are being launched. 

I have full confidence in the team's ability to deliver outstanding output for the benefit of the broader ecosystem, and it will be my utmost pleasure to support them with ad-hoc research input & feedback. As the digital asset space is maturing and facing significant challenges, it is becoming ever more important to maintain an open and honest dialogue about risks and opportunities that involves all stakeholders – something that I believe CDAP is well positioned to facilitate. I for one look forward to following what's coming out of this collaboration!

Now, in personal terms, this means that I will be taking a one-year sabbatical to rest, relax, and reflect. Part of this will involve travelling the world with my lovely wife starting in January, which I am very much looking forward to. 🌎🧳 I will remain involved to a varying degree in CDAP research, and take extended periods of full disconnect from, and/or limited activity on, social media and the like. You can still reach me via all the usual channels, but please do expect some delay. 😎

Finally, please allow me to say how proud I am of what we have achieved to date as a small team with limited means navigating rigid institutional constraints. As with many things, it looks so much easier from the outside... 😉 I'd also like to thank everyone I had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with so far on this tremendous learning journey.

To many more fruitful exchanges! 🙂