Piotr Zielonka on CG backstage

Santander’s Piotr Zielonka on CoinGeek Backstage: Metaverse, blockchain tech setting the pace for the next decade

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Every few decades, new innovation comes along that is so revolutionary and changes the world for good. Blockchain technology is doing that today, and it’s setting the foundation for the future, believes Santander Bank Polska SA’s Piotr Zielonka.

Zielonka spoke to CoinGeek Backstage host Becky Liggero in Warsaw at Blockchain 4 Gaming, an event that brought together gamers, blockchain enthusiasts, technophiles, and even bankers like himself.

Zielonka is the senior equity research analyst at Santander Bank Polska, the third-largest bank in the Central European country. His focus is on the tech industry, with a special interest in gaming.

“We’re every excited for the trends that are emerging within the sector because a new emerging trend can define the future of a sector for the next several years,” he pointed out.

Change isn’t easy, he admitted. However, when an emerging trend or technology is revolutionary, there’s no holding it back, and it sometimes leads to the collapse of existing behemoths that fail to adapt quickly enough.

Zielonka remembers a few decades ago when some of the biggest companies in certain sectors were tiny startups with big ambitions. In gaming, for instance, he recalls when CD Projekt Red was starting out. Now, the Polish company is a giant in the gaming world with some of the biggest games, including The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077.

“[Today] we have new trends like metaverse, like blockchain, like Web3. These are new trends that are emerging and starting to transform not just the gaming sector but the technology sector in general,” he said.

Zielonka warned any company that stays stagnant under the misguided belief that its influence will last forever. This kind of mentality will “probably be the end of this company as there’s always something new on the horizon.”

Poland has become one of the biggest gaming markets, both for the consumers as well as the developers. The country has over 400 game development studios that churn out some of the best-performing games. According to Piotr, it boils down to the hardworking nature of the Poles.

“We are a country that is still trying to define who we are and what we want to achieve,” he noted.

Watch: The BSV Global Blockchain Convention presentation, Scaling Games on Layer One: Why It Matters

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