David Oreskovic On The 5 Things That Can Be Done To Improve and Reform The Cryptocurrency Industry

Advocating for introduction of agile regulations and reforms in the industry. Ideally, there should be a rough version of a regulations framework which would adapt and update according to the state of the industry and not vice versa.

As part of my series about the “5 Things That Can Be Done To Improve and Reform The Cryptocurrency Industry” I had the pleasure of interviewing David Oreskovic.

David is a Business Development Manager at an IT company with a genuine interest in the digital economy and its effects on our future culture. His goal is to educate the community about blockchain and cryptocurrency and its benefits, but also flaws. He also consults blockchain projects about the use of technology in their business models in order to tackle the profitability problem, which is often a burden in this relatively new sector.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?

I’ve always been curious about what’s going on in the world, especially when it comes to the economy. I’ve had all these different interests and didn’t know what to make of them and how to channel them so I started reading a lot early on. That’s when my interest in cryptocurrency and digital economy in general was filtered as the most exciting one.

Since then I’ve experienced a lot, from leading my own startup, being part of the crypto community, writing, to becoming a business and crypto consultant. I learned a lot but the main lesson is to never stop learning and be ready for continuous and unexpected changes, especially when it comes to industries like IT and crypto.

Can you tell us the story of how you got first involved in blockchain and the cryptocurrency industry?

When I was in high school I read a lot about finances, technology and innovations and was always interested in what was going on in that sphere. That’s how I came across the term Bitcoin a couple of times so I decided to look into it in more detail. My main resources back then were sites like Reddit and Bitcoin Whitepaper. I read a lot, got familiar with terminology and the process but soon realized I had only scratched the surface of an entire growing ecosystem of the crypto world.

Soon after I started getting into the investment side of things which implied doing even more research and gaining more knowledge. Besides Bitcoin, I was introduced to smaller, supply chain, blockchain and green energy projects that had a high capital potential. This is when I realized and was amazed by the potential that blockchain technology has for different industries and what its implementation would mean for our future.

However, as with any new technology or other invention, the starting period is a hype period when everything goes and the term blockchain becomes a buzzword, used by everyone and everything. After that first bull run, I decided to stay in the industry because I believed that projects like Bitcoin or Ethereum are for the long run and here to change the game.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There are a couple of people who had a significant impact on me throughout this journey. One of them is Luka Klancir, my boss and the COO of Async Labs. He is one of the first members of the crypto community in Croatia and founder of one of the first crypto news platforms in SE Europe.

I reached out to him on LinkedIn a long time ago. My agenda was to simply gain as much information and perspective on the industry as possible and to network. Luka was very friendly and chill and we went out for a coffee right after. He sort of introduced me to the entire community and I never felt anyone ever looked down upon me or judged me for being just an enthusiastic kid.

Can you share a story of a time when things went south for you? What kept you going and helped you to overcome those times?

My first bear market back in 2018. Before that, I was doing really well, as most people were in the industry back then. I was a working student, hustled a lot and invested most of my incomes into crypto. The returns were more than satisfying for a 20 year old kid and I was feeling pretty good about myself. And then the bear market began and I lost most of my portfolio and realized I am not that smart and insightful when it comes to crypto as I thought I was.

But as stressful and demotivating the experience was, it was also very educational. I’ve learned how to invest my money better which enabled me to be more relaxed in the entire process which directly improves your decision making. Most importantly, I’ve learned the significance of patience when it comes to the crypto world and investing in general.

In your experience, what are the top strategies that blockchain companies should consider to have a stronger competitive edge?

Be flexible and agile. Blockchain companies need to be very flexible and adaptable due to continuous tech innovations and novelties. So the best thing to do is to choose your own niche, become an expert at it and own it while keeping an eye on market trends and what others are doing.

Be focused and have a clear and planned agenda. Precisely due to continuous changes and dynamic environment, you need to have a clear mind in order to be able to recognise quality and potential in market trends and projects. Remember that neither bull nor bear runs last forever. So instead of just focusing on rapid growth and making big bucks, remember to invest in quality, don’t forget about your financial plan and most of all, your customers.

These don’t go without one another and only by implementing both you’ll have a chance of actually achieving something. But beforehand, research and never stop informing yourself. For a fast growing industry like crypto, this is crucial.

What are the 3 things that most excite you about the blockchain industry in general? Why?

1. Transparency. As one of the main pillars of the crypto world, I think it is quite revolutionary to enable a transparent and open transaction that can be verified by anyone with internet connection. It gives each of us more control and freedom of our own funds, actions and future.
2. Possibility of absolute control and ownerships of your own funds. In contrast to traditional financial systems in which financial institutions act as intermediaries between us and our funds, crypto is designed to be decentralized, meaning we have access to our funds directly and can manage our transactions without the need for intermediaries. This provides us with more control and ownership of our assets that cannot be matched with traditional financial systems.
3. Positive impact blockchain can have on various industries. Other than just finances which is the most popular sphere influenced by blockchain and crypto, there are other industries and areas of life that can highly benefit from implementing blockchain.

For example, blockchain can help to securely store and share patient data across different healthcare providers. This can improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and increase efficiency in the healthcare system.

Furthermore, it can make real estate transactions more efficient, transparent, and secure by providing a decentralized ledger that records all property transactions. This can help to reduce fraud, increase transparency in property ownership, and simplify the transfer of property titles.

Blockchain can help to create a secure and decentralized identity management system, where users control their own identity data. This can help to reduce identity theft, improve privacy, and enable secure and efficient identity verification.

What are the 3 things that worry you about the blockchain industry? Why?

1. Great number of people who expect to get rich fast. These people often don’t understand nor believe in the technology and its possibilities. This alone might not be that much of an issue, however, these people give the technology and the whole crypto community a bad name.
2. Regulations can be quite excessive and robust. They are necessary but have a tendency to suffocate the fast and very dynamic environment when it comes to something as innovative as the blockchain industry. I fear they can significantly lower the level of innovation and number of potential quality and long term projects and generally suppress the whole industry.
3. Popularization of private blockchains or the ones with a very small number of validators such as Binance smartchain or Solana. In my opinion they can be very risky and questionable with a possibility of fully controlling the entire chain which is against the initial idea of the whole industry.

Ok, thank you for all of that. Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share “5 Things That Can Be Done To Improve and Reform The Cryptocurrency Industry”? If you can please share a story or example for each.

1. Advocating for introduction of agile regulations and reforms in the industry. Ideally, there should be a rough version of a regulations framework which would adapt and update according to the state of the industry and not vice versa.
2. Improving UI and UX experience across the entire industry. The goal should be to simplify user experience as much as possible in order to make it easier and more attractive for everyday usage.
3. Higher penalties for scammers. There are a couple of infamous scammers who have made millions but only paid a couple of hundred thousand dollars of penalties. Compared to the entirety of their earnings, penalties don’t seem sufficient.
4. Spreading to unbanked areas and users. For example, in Africa there are a lot of people who don’t have a bank account because, in some areas, there are no banks at all. With just internet access a lot of undeveloped countries and areas could gain more financial freedom which can ultimately lead to improvements of their everyday lives.
5. Ending tribalism. There a lot of fans and communities gathered around a single coin or a project. There is an atmosphere of competition of who’s gonna succeed sooner which in my opinion, is unnecessary and can even result in bad decision making. We should work together and focus more on best solutions for certain industries and areas and invest our passion and efforts in pushing the entire industry forwards.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“No eternal reward will forgive us now”, by Jim Morrison.

You need to strive to be satisfied in life and appreciate what you have. You should strive to make the most of it, for example invest in crypto to be financially stable in the future and perhaps earn some bigger bucks along the way but never let yourself depend on such things. If they fail, you fail and your life satisfaction is significantly reduced.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

LinkedIn is my social media of choice. :)

Thank you so much for this. This was very enlightening!