This week we bring you some more news from Ireland as well as upcoming local events where you will be welcome to come and learn about Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies.
What is happening on the Irish Blockchain scene?
Dublin is on the global tech map due to the wealth of tech talent and global names in the city. The big news in recent weeks was the announcement by ConsenSys of up to 60 jobs for at their Dublin Innovation Studio.
According to Lory Kehoe there are 30 times more developers working on applications for the Ethereum Blockchain compared to the nearest competitor. Ethereum is certainly building up an impressive base and pool of talent. I am becoming more of a fan each day particularly because of its decentralised focus and gathering momentum of this Blockchain.
NUIG carried out research on Blockchain adoption among Enterprises in Ireland based on a small sample from a cross section of Industry and sectors. Of the 20 companies interviewed, eight had adopted blockchain and 12 had not, or did not intend to adopt blockchain in the next two years.
The significance of this study was that the authors, who have already introduced Blockchain into the curriculum at NIUG, would welcome further government action to promote blockchain in Ireland. Studies by well respected academics also get mainstreem press and increase the public knowledge and acceptance of Blockchain.
The key findings from the study demonstrate that blockchain is not confined to financial technology and financial sectors, and welcomes further government action and strategic policy to promote blockchain more broadly to encourage universal engagement, such as the roll-out of a national, government-backed blockchain initiative like other developed countries.
A very interesting and inspiring interview with the boss of ConsenSys in Ireland from the Dublin Tech Summit.
This 5 week course by Coder Forge begins on Tuesday in the Crypto Cafe in Dublin. Learn to create Distributed Applications (DApp's) on the blockchain.
This weekly meetup group is in the Crypto Cafe on Wednesday. For more information check out their meetup page.
New to Crypto?
This article by Deloitte gives a great overview of the possibilities, and some of the industries that will be affected by it.
https://www2.deloitte.com/ie/en/pages/financial-services/articles/blockchain.html
For information about upcoming ICO's 
https://steemit.com/@lukebrn
For an intro to Bitcoin, the book Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopoulos is a great place to start.
As always please add comments to this post with any upcoming events or developments that you think may be of interest to readers.
Thank you for reading this. I write on Steemit about Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Travel.
