282. Laura Shin with Steve Scher: The Making of the Cryptocurrency Craze

Town Hall Seattle Civics Series

Cryptocurrency has been making steady waves — no doubt because of its almost too-good-to-pass-up promise of fortune that isn’t consistently regulated or controlled by any single authority. And while Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone through booms and busts, they aren’t going anywhere: at the time of this writing, the value of all crypto assets is estimated at $3 trillion.

In her new book, The Cryptonians, journalist Laura Shin described how cryptocurrency experienced a downturn until a brilliant new idea changed its fortunes once again: Ethereum. Shin explored this new form of cryptocurrency network, which has enabled users to launch their own new coins — and launch a new kind of crypto fever. She also revealed a more human side to crypto, introducing readers to the personal quests of the idealists, technologists, and opportunists fighting to bring cryptocurrency to the masses.

Laura Shin is a crypto journalist and hosts the crypto podcast Unchained. Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, she was the first mainstream journalist to cover crypto full-time and is author of the forthcoming book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze.

Steve Scher is a podcaster and interviewer and has been a teacher at the University of Washington since 2009. He worked in Seattle public radio for almost 30 years and is Senior Correspondent for Town Hall Seattle’s In The Moment podcast.

Buy the Book: The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze (Hardcover) from Third Place Books

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