Yes.
I work in software, have actively invested for about 6 months. Been following for a few years, didn't really feel comfortable until ~8 months ago, paper traded for a few months.
It's not going anywhere. Bitcoin, itself, is inefficient but the market has determined it a new store of value. There won't be any serious technology built on "Bitcoin" itself.
The future is the thought process when the creator created Bitcoin itself. Crowdsourcing decentralization in every aspect. And that's where technology is headed, as well as being a logical next step in our technological advancement.
It's becoming a soft of arms race, with different tokens representing different use cases, developed in different areas of the world. It's quite fascinating.
Just for the record, since investing, I have net more profit in 6 months than I have in 18 months as a software engineer, and that number is increasing as my investments grow. I plan to take a hiatus from my "professional" life for 6-12 months and trade full-time. After that, I'll see where my interests take me.
Since this has gone mainstream to the extent it has, it has undoubtedly created an investment bubble. The technology isn't going anywhere, but you have 50 year old housemoms investing now. That's usually a sign.
I predicted a $1 trillion market cap in cryptocurrencies in late July when the market was around $100 billion total, I was laughed at by some of the higher ups in the space. Now it's accelerating beyond even my expectations. I expect 2-3$ trillion in 2018, and will be planning an exit as it creeps higher.
The money was attractive to me, obviously, but the main reason I got interested in this space was because of the technology. There are so many interesting projects that I've spent entire nights reading about them. It's a little disappointing that all this new money coming only cares about one thing, "gains", and maybe 1 out of 20 can tell you anything about the actual tech or competition in those spaces.
Oh well.
