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Speaker 1: Let's see how I'm strong and getty. Joe, welcome to it.

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Speaker 1: Glad you are here. We've been talking about cryptocurrency, both

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Speaker 1: seriously and joking about it. Sean, are you a multimillionaire yet?

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Speaker 1: I can't remember? Not yet. Time. You're very hip to

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Speaker 1: the uh, the tech thing, the cryptocurrency, the n f

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Speaker 1: T S, the rest of it. I'm thinking of dipping

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Speaker 1: my toe in and we'll do it advisedly. Ham's Shabon

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Speaker 1: of the Washington Post writes about various things tech related

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Speaker 1: and economics and that sort of thing, and joins us. Now, Hams,

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Speaker 1: how are you. I'm well, thanks so much for having me. Oh,

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Speaker 1: it's my pleasure. Thanks. You know, it's interesting. I know

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Speaker 1: journalists don't write their own headlines, generally speaking. Um, the

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Speaker 1: headline for your piece today is as cryptocurrency goes wild,

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Speaker 1: fear grows about who might get hurt. Um, which I'm

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Speaker 1: sure is true. But doesn't everybody kind of understand that

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Speaker 1: it's a wild and volatile market at this point. I

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Speaker 1: think I think a lot of investors are going in

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Speaker 1: with their with their eyes open, and they're they're knowledgeable

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Speaker 1: about the risks and how volatile cryptocurrencies can be, and

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Speaker 1: maybe that's exactly what drew them in. But I think

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Speaker 1: there's concerns from regulators and market observers that perhaps maybe

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Speaker 1: there is a subset of traders and perhaps young people

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Speaker 1: who just don't understand just how volatile it is, and

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Speaker 1: maybe they think that, you know, there should be more

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Speaker 1: education or increased scrutiny on this market to prevent the

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Speaker 1: worst kinds of abuses and the worst kinds of losses

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Speaker 1: for people. Okay, let's not get too hip for the room.

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Speaker 1: I guess let's just do thirty seconds on what our cryptocurrencies. Sure,

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Speaker 1: the simplest explanation is it's a digital money, and different

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Speaker 1: coins do different things, but the basic technology is it's

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Speaker 1: a way to record transactions and to store value and

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Speaker 1: exchange information online. And whoever issues this currency assures people

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Speaker 1: and it's it's enforced through blockchain. If you know what

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Speaker 1: that is that they're not going to continually produce more

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Speaker 1: and more and more. There's a fixed amount or a

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Speaker 1: very slowly growing amount, so people know that there aren't

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Speaker 1: going to go from ten thousand bitcoins to fifty million overnight.

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Speaker 1: That's true for some some token, some tokens work by

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Speaker 1: issuing a set amount on a certain time period, and

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Speaker 1: there's a there's a finite supply, and that's part of

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Speaker 1: the draw other coins there there's just an infinite amount

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Speaker 1: and they'll just keep pumping them out. But but for bitcoin,

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Speaker 1: that's certainly true. So we were talking about how volatile

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Speaker 1: the market is. How volatile is it? So if you've

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Speaker 1: been following the stock market, you know that you know

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Speaker 1: some days that just traders can suffer brutal losses, and

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Speaker 1: that even more true with crypto, where the prices can

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Speaker 1: really go up and down on a wild roller coaster

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Speaker 1: ryde But but part of the appeal for traders is

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Speaker 1: that there is this risk. But that also means that

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Speaker 1: you can gain so much even in a period of time,

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Speaker 1: and we're talking about doublin tripling even like ten x,

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Speaker 1: depending on when you invested. Well, you mentioned that doge

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Speaker 1: coin is up ten tho percent this year. That's right,

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Speaker 1: it's it's one of the one of the most astounding

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Speaker 1: storylines in the crypto community. And yes, it used to

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Speaker 1: be just fractions of a penny um just earlier this year,

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Speaker 1: but it's it's gone on this amazing breathtaking run this year.

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Speaker 1: And yes, if you were, if you were savvy enough

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Speaker 1: or lucky enough to invest earlier, you you're sitting on

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Speaker 1: enormous winnings. Um. And that's assuming you you had the

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Speaker 1: nerve not to sell as well. How many got currencies

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Speaker 1: are there? So? One website, uh, that that tracks cryptocurrencies

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Speaker 1: has it at nearly ten thousand and yeah it's it's

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Speaker 1: and if you if you go back in time, UM,

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Speaker 1: there's been staggering growth um from just even a few

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Speaker 1: years ago. And and and it's almost on a daily

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Speaker 1: weekly basis, where new coins are coming out to try

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Speaker 1: to jump on the excitement within the community. Listen, I'm

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Speaker 1: not sure if you can answer this question ethically. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you'll find a way. But what are the what

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Speaker 1: are the ones worth paying attention to? Are there? Like

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Speaker 1: the heavy hitters? I mean, if there are nearly ten

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Speaker 1: thousand cryptocurrencies, I'm gonna ignore most of them. Who are

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Speaker 1: the heavy hitters? Yeah? So, so one one basic strategy

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Speaker 1: that investors engage in is just looking at the coins

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Speaker 1: that are most about. So. Um one website called coin

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Speaker 1: market that tracks the market caps of different currencies. Um,

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Speaker 1: they'll just have like a top ten list that you

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Speaker 1: can see and that traders will go to those and um,

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Speaker 1: just similar to stocks, if they want a a diverse

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Speaker 1: prof portfolio, they'll invest a little bit among those top ten.

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Speaker 1: But that's one way to for for traders who want

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Speaker 1: to introduce themselves to different coins. They can just look

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Speaker 1: at you know, which are the which are the biggest

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Speaker 1: among that list. You know, totally flitted out of my mind.

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Speaker 1: Uh producer positive Sean, if you want to cook up

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Speaker 1: a question, let me ask one more and then if

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Speaker 1: you have a question for hims and we'll do it.

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Speaker 1: Uh So, one of the attractions I know of bitcoin,

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Speaker 1: which was the first one I was familiar with and

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Speaker 1: a lot of people were, was that transactions could take

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Speaker 1: place outside the watchful eye of the government. And and

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Speaker 1: everybody's mind always goes to drugs and illegal firearms or whatever.

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Speaker 1: But just as a you know, a liberty loving guy,

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Speaker 1: I kind of like the idea of the government doesn't

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Speaker 1: have to know everything I'm doing. How likely or how

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Speaker 1: how quickly is that eroding? How quickly is the government

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Speaker 1: getting more and more oversight? What's happening on that level?

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Speaker 1: So yeah, as you as you point out cryptocurrencies. Anonymity

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Speaker 1: is part of the appeal and and from a from

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Speaker 1: a tech and social and political standpoint, that's what draws

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Speaker 1: in a lot of a lot of fans and a

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Speaker 1: lot of endorsers. But yes, from from a legal and

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Speaker 1: government perspective, that poses a challenge to regulators and to

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Speaker 1: law enforcement agencies who don't want that kind of technology

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Speaker 1: to be used by criminals to kind of hide from

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Speaker 1: the eyes of the law. So that's that's one thing

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Speaker 1: that is an unresolved tension in the world of crypto.

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Speaker 1: How can you have this currency that promises anonymity but

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Speaker 1: at the same time ensure that law enforcement in the

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Speaker 1: government can can keep tabs on on bad actors and

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Speaker 1: and help prevent crime. So yeah, that's a huge tension,

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Speaker 1: and there's there is no answer right now. Chabon at

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Speaker 1: the Washington Post is on the line positive Sean with

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Speaker 1: a question just kind of a big picture cryptocurrency slash

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Speaker 1: n f T kind of blocked adjacent stuff. It seems

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Speaker 1: like because we're in this crazy wild West growth period

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Speaker 1: of it um. From my amateur view, there seems to

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Speaker 1: be kind of a bit of a pump and dump

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Speaker 1: problem in general with n f T s where if

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Speaker 1: you or cryptos as well, where you're an influencer with

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Speaker 1: some sort of reach online, all of a sudden, I'm

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Speaker 1: meant to coin and I buy it and then sell

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Speaker 1: it to my fans quote unquote and then get out

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Speaker 1: of it. And that's precisely my plan is there is

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Speaker 1: there a way out of that outside of government regulation?

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Speaker 1: It can can the crypto community kind of police itself

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Speaker 1: in that way? From do you have any thoughts on that? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think I think various communities that that center around

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Speaker 1: different tokens, I think they already do that type of

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Speaker 1: self policing. And and there there are criticisms towards that

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Speaker 1: types of behavior because it kind of detracts from the

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Speaker 1: legitimacy and it adds these arguments that this is like

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Speaker 1: a SAS school for crime and the nefarious activity. But

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Speaker 1: so yeah, there is a self regulating aspect to it.

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Speaker 1: But that is something that the government officials are are

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Speaker 1: taking a look at and observers are taking a look at,

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Speaker 1: because it is it is dangerous that, you know, individuals

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Speaker 1: or influencers can move the chrice massively just by you know,

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Speaker 1: endorsing or or putting scorn on various coins. Now, at

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Speaker 1: one point in the article you quote somebody from St.

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Speaker 1: Mary's University who says that these if the crypto becomes

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Speaker 1: even bigger and weaves its way more into you know,

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Speaker 1: the the mainstream economy, it could cause it could pose

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Speaker 1: systemic risk. What were they talking about. I've got the

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Speaker 1: feeling that if I'm not in it, it's not gonna

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Speaker 1: affect me. It doesn't matter. So she she was, Professor

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Speaker 1: Walsh is is the person we're talking about. She was

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Speaker 1: getting into this, Uh, this idea that as more and

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Speaker 1: more financial institutions offer their clients crypto based products, that

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Speaker 1: it becomes a bigger part of the overall economy, and

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Speaker 1: that if one day or week or one period it

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Speaker 1: takes a dive, that it will take other parts of

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Speaker 1: the economy or other markets with it, and that can

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Speaker 1: pose a risk to to the overall economy. So it's

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Speaker 1: a yeah, as it grows grows more popular within the

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Speaker 1: world of finance, it poses a bigger risk. Hamsa Chavon

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Speaker 1: of the Washington Post really enjoying the conversation. A solid piece,

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Speaker 1: and let's stay in touch on this topic. We'll do.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. Oh, it's our pleasure.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, pleasant young man, enjoyed that. I'm I've made

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Speaker 1: the decision. I'm gonna I'm gonna take a little share

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Speaker 1: of the nest egg and the and throw it into

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Speaker 1: a handful of cryptocurrencies. I haven't haven't talked to the

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Speaker 1: wife about it yet, but teach me a while to

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Speaker 1: work up my courage. I am I'm available to discuss

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Speaker 1: should you should you want you? Before jumping in, sweetheart,

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Speaker 1: I would like you to talk to positive Sean. He

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Speaker 1: has a good idea. The first thing you need to

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Speaker 1: know is block chains. I'm gonna say, honey, I would

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Speaker 1: like to you to speak to my attorney, which is

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Speaker 1: generally a poor thing to say to your wife. I

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Speaker 1: am giving you power of attorney to convince my wife

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Speaker 1: that this is a good idea. My my simplest advice

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Speaker 1: at this point is to set up weekly or bi

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Speaker 1: weekly purchases of the coins you want and kind of

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Speaker 1: dollar cost average your way in there, similar to how

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Speaker 1: your four oh one k does out of your page.

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Speaker 1: Blah blah blah, No way going big both feet by

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Speaker 1: ten dollars worth, have half a million tomorrow cash out.

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Speaker 1: That is my p