On a cloud-darkened morning in March, a group of software developers fought their way through the crowds of tourists and puddled streets of Central London. In twos and threes, they filtered into an office on the edge of Soho, hidden in plain sight on a street of showy Tudor and neoclassical facades. They had arrived for their first day of crypto bootcamp.
But the curriculum was built around crypto-specific problems, too, such as designing a token, navigating a hostile regulatory environment, and experimenting with novel cryptographic techniques. Sometimes, crypto class felt like a window into a different world. Instead of scrolling on phones, secretly reviewing code logs was the chosen form of distraction.