We heard from so many of you after our Crypto 101 episode (episode #303, to be precise) which was the ultimate crypto explainer for all things digital currency and blockchain… you had so many questions, and truthfully, there was a lot we couldn’t answer with our 45 minutes together. That’s why we decided to do another show to fill in those gaps, and answer some of your important crypto questions.
Just in the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of ups and downs in the sector… And that’s putting it mildly. Bitcoin, for example, had a six-month high of nearly $60,000, and now it’s at $20,000. Other cryptocurrencies have also encountered serious losses in the last few weeks — Ether fell as much as 11%, while Solana dropped 14% and Avalanche dipped 18%. And then there’s Luna, which is the coin everyone has been talking about this week, which went from a high of $119 in April to being worth nothing — yes, zero — today. We know this is a scary time for crypto investors. Our regular listeners know that my advice has generally been to invest only what you can afford to lose into crypto.. But today, in 2022, after seeing such volatility, is it something we should be investing in? Does what we’ve seen lately change our opinions that it’s an asset class that’s here to stay? And is there a way to know if you’re buying the next Bitcoin at a low, and you stand to earn millions, or you’ve just put your money into the next Luna?
This week we’re not only going to tackle all of your most pressing crypto questions, we’re also going to talk about the future of this asset class and the technology behind it, and we’re going to talk about where we go from here.
Shirin Bucknam, co-founder of Crypto Witch Club — an inclusive, equitable space for all to learn about everything blockchain tech + Web3, joins us to discuss it all. She launched the Crypto Witch Club in September 2021 as a platform for educating women — and everyone — about this space.
Listen in as Jean and Shirin discuss the enormous — even devastating for investors who weren’t diversified — losses that the crypto market has experienced in the last few weeks. We discuss the future of crypto, and whether it’s something we should still be considering as part of our portfolios. We also discuss the environmental impact of crypto: Is there a way to invest in sustainable, ethical cryptocurrencies? How do we even go about finding them? (We just recently tackled NFTs on episode #318, and our guest, Kelly Groehler, CEO of Alice Riot, delved into the environmental impact of crypto… It’s estimated that Bitcoin alone is responsible for about 114 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.) Shirin shares her thoughts on how to be mindful of your environmental footprint while investing in crypto.
We also address how you begin navigating this space when you’re just dipping your toes into the waters of investing, how you find a coin, currency or project to get involved with, how cryptocurrency can be sustainable, and how women can get involved in web3 + blockchain if they are interested in working in the field. (And of course Jean also asks about the failure of the “Lonely Ape Dating Club,” which was a dating app that was actually unable to launch due to the overwhelming outnumbering of males to females who wanted to join the platform… the founders just pulled the plug on it entirely, and of course it became a meme about crypto bro culture.) So, with this space as male-dominated as we’ve heard it is, and is there hope for women? Shirin weighs in on the future for women in crypto.
In Mailbag, we tackle questions on single people getting an executor for their estate, and SEP IRAs. And in Thrive, what to do in times of market volatility
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