Has cryptocurrency failed, or have we?

I'm sure that there are a number of articles out there about how lead developer (Mike Hearn) of Bitcoin departed claiming that the 'cryptocurrency has failed'. This is the article I read, and of course the whole topic of Bitcoin as currency, or Blockchain as a technology is hugely interesting by itself. But it got me thinking. 

I think Mike Hearn's statement -if it is what he said - is incorrect. Not because I am even close to being an expert in Cryptocurrency, but because it's a great example of statements we all make every day while missing a rather humbling truth.

Cryptocurrency technology is just that, a 'technology'. Apparently originated by one human being, developed, extended and propagated by other human beings and while the idea had an attractive socialist, anti-establishment based theme that appealed to power in the hands of many, it was in the end subject to the same human failings as many other initiatives, the very common human trait of greed and our apparent struggle to come together simply for the sake of a common good. In essence to exchange 'Ego-system thinking for Eco-system thinking'

It seems to me that in Business and most other human endeavours, we are most often searching for 'the' magic bullet that will solve problem X, the few good ideas that will bring about $YM income, and this we then equate to success. Success being about continued growth, continued and increasing profits, until we as an individual or company are at the top of our game and the best. Like it or not, we are coming to realise that the template on which we have measured success e.g. exponential economic growth, is simply not sustainable, and we need a new measuring stick that uses a different set of values for success. 

One of the unique selling points of Cryptocurrency was that it had the added glow or allure of representing more than that, a money transaction solution that was not subject to the same limitations of normal money, i.e. the delivery mechanism not being controlled by centralised and old fashioned institutions, but distributed and in the hands of  'the people' via an encrypted trust network.

In this scenario 'the people' are somehow 'good' and 'the institutions' being nearly always 'corrupt, bad and selfishly motivated'. 

My feeling though is that this exact experiment (Cryptocurrency) has at least temporarily usefully revealed that what fails and continues to fail are our methods, approaches and motivations as a human race, not necessarily the tools we create?

Taking this out the illustrative Cryptocurrency context for a moment, is it not 'we' who need to change, who must bare the discomfort of understand more deeply where we are going wrong, to individually and collectively have the courage to admit that the status quo is not really ok, to try to find a perspective from which to view what we do that doesn't require us, or our personal gratification to be centre stage. Deep enough for us recognise the issues sufficiently for us to take action. As opposed to sticking our heads in the sand and hoping that the same old tired ways of working and doing things will make a difference this time. 

Although I know some might argue differently, it is not a strange and different breed of alien races that work in the key eco-systems of today e.g. Financial Services, Law, Government, Not for profit, Social Services, Fintechs, the Media, Bitcoin developers etc, these people are you and I, every day.

Companies are simply groups of mostly intelligent human beings working together, most of us doing the best we can. But we forget this very simple fact of our humanity.

We prefer to believe the exciting hype we create based on what we want to believe is true rather than independently AND collectively finding the courage to work out what actually is. Without realising it we identify ourselves with the company we work for, and in doing so we can forget or make less important our own thoughts, views, perspectives, feelings.

We can unconsciously live and work with the idea there is this nebulous set of values or way of being that we should be adhering to. Waiting or hoping that someone else will speak or stick up for us, our views, our thoughts. We somehow limit ourselves to the scope of a pre-defined role that we have come to assume means we should control (or are controlled in) how we behave - for example - don't question your superiors, put them on a pedestal while unquestioningly devaluing yourSelf. If we are honest with ourselves - it's what most of us do without giving it a second thought. 

What if instead of relating to our colleagues (that includes our bosses) in any pre-prescribed way we started responding to them as simply other people, with lives not dissimilar to our own, someone you meet in a cafe, someone who has no position in relation to you, someone you are simply sharing views with, someone you might like to be friends with, someone - because you have nothing to lose - you are happy to share your real thoughts, views, feelings and perspective with. How different would the work environment be if we could relate in this way?

How different would our work and home environments be if we stopped blaming the technology, other departments, our lack of position and simply said it's up to me?

There is no one organisation, person, country, government or general scapegoat to blame for Climate Change, poverty, inequity, my project or the Bitcoin currency failing, we are all responsible, and we are just as responsible for what we don't do.

Blaming inanimate things e.g.'cryptocurrency has failed' - is a way of us not taking responsibility for ourselves, for our actions or lack of, and tragically - not learning from these things 'together'. 

We are the only ones who can be responsible for daring to dream, for bringing our whole selves to our work and our lives, and for standing up for whatever that means to us,  we are responsible for contributing to a vision for how we want things to work better for all of us and for the whole.

We are also responsible for when we fail......If we can accept responsibility, then aren't we are exactly where we need to be to start simply 'being responsible'? 

If something fails: What did I not see? What was my contribution to that failure? What could I have done differently? Who can I talk to about it? What can I do about it now? How can I be more open, make up for hurting someone, work better, be more positive, listen better?....whatever it is....isn't it about 'engaging' or leaning in', so even if I don't know what the answer is, I'm leaning in to find out.