You would have to be a hermit not to know that Chiang Mai is a well-known destination for thousands of people in the tech world. For years, Chiang Mai sat at the top of the Digital Nomad destination list, offering an affordable, convenient, charming and seductive environment for those looking to break it big in the tech industry. Today, while many digital nomads have left following the pandemic, Chiang Mai is still home to a large number of digital expats, some working on civilization-changing projects, while others hustling for the next baht.
This week editor Pim Kemasingki talks to Stefan King, author and guru of all things crypto. Stefan has, for many years, held weekly meetings each Thursday whereby anyone interested in NFTs, Cryptocurrencies, startups, blockchain technology or anything adjacent, can come and mingle, or learn.
Having given introductory talks about the subject to hundreds of tech novices over the years, Stefan is without doubt the man to go to when wanting to understand the technology. He knows how to explain even the most complex technical issues to the Luddite – editor Pim Kemasingki being a case in point. He has also published the book “Blockchain Startups: Bitcoin and Ethereum as the Frontier of Finance” (Amazon).
So, if you want to know who these people are you see sitting on their laptops across town in various cafes, find out what they are doing, and understand how it all works, we highly recommend watching this interview as it gives an excellent overview and insight into this very exciting sub culture of Chiang Mai.
“These crypto-currencies right now they are not easy because we are still trying to figure out how it should be used, where it should be used, by whom, or what it should like on your phone or screen, so of course it takes some time,” explains Stefan.
“It’s how entrepreneurship works in general, because if you are a bit earlier than other people then either you understand it better or you are willing to risk more, then you get rewarded for that.”
“People say they are intimidated, but by what? It is not inherently impossible or too difficultl. Be open minded enough not to immediately reject it.”
