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Over the past year, I've spent close to a thousand hours reading content & listening to podcasts about crypto.
Here are some things I've learned.
For starters, everyone lives in an echo chamber and has blind spots. BUT, three things are also true:
With that said, here are my favorite people to follow in crypto along with their strengths and shortcomings.
In other words, do you want a well-rounded perspective on crypto? Follow these people on Twitter. I follow all of them regularly.
NOTE: ranking these creators would be like comparing apples to oranges... so I'm not doing that. This list is in no particular order.
Background: former Product Manager at Facebook & military veteran, got into crypto through Ethereum mining but is now highly focused on bitcoin & his show "The Best Business Show." He's also a seasoned & highly successful investor in early-stage companies through his hedge fund Pomp Investments.
Great for: content on bitcoin & interviews with some of the most cutting edge, innovative entrepreneurs / next big businesses (including businesses outside of crypto!). Big personality.
Biases & blind spots: definitely a bit biased toward bitcoin, he is absolutely not in the weeds of what's happening in decentralized finance; in part because he’s focused on his content businesses. He also can be a bit of a marketer at times & tends to try to stay above controversy (for better or worse).
Where to follow: signup for his daily letter to investors here ($50/year), follow his free Pomp Podcast here for some great interviews, and checkout his Twitter here.
Background: long-term leader in the Ethereum community, remained bullish throughout all of the bear market. Prior to crypto, Sassano states that he struggled with understanding his purpose in life. Now, he's absolutely dedicated to seeing this digital revolution completed.
Great for: all things & news happening in Ethereum, honest thoughts (even if biased), and a mission-focused approach to decentralized finance. Specifically states that, at this point, he's not primarily motivated by higher returns but by seeing a better financial system come to pass.
Biases & blind spots: completely biased toward ETH but still has a lot of valuable perspective. He doesn't think everything else is worthless (except for maybe, Cardano, and he's probably right). He just likes ETH more from principled perspective, probably also really likes ETH. He does not have experience in large tech companies & likely won't know the details of some of the more recent L1s (think Terra, Solana) because he doesn't find them as compelling due to their lack of decentralization.
Where to follow: check him out on Twitter @sassal0x and signup for his free daily newsletter called The Daily Gwei.
Background: Bankless is one of the older & most respected crypto podcasts in existence, launched during the bear market. Famous guests have included Shark Tank's Mark Cuban, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce.
Great for: high-level perspectives on all things in crypto, fantastic guests, weekly news roll-ups, anything related to Ethereum, and a perspective shaped by true belief in seeing finance decentralized.
Biases & blindspots: very similar to Sassano. Bankless sometimes glosses over Ethereum’s weaknesses. They are very high-level and not technical. For example, their lack of knowledge regarding maximum extractable value (MEV) in this podcast was startling. Also not not hyper-aware of some of the newer L1s (like Terra & Solana).
Where to follow: on Twitter, follow Ryan Sean Adams & David Hoffman. You can also checkout their site and follow the Bankless podcast here.
Background: Delphi Digital is one of the premier crypto research & investment firms, some of their investments are absolutely crushing it. Besides releasing crypto research & investing, Delphi Digital also incubates a lot of crypto projects. Individuals Tom Shaugnessy & José Marie Macedo are the two most notable voices at the firm.
Great for: inside scoop on many smaller crypto projects, very detailed interviews, and perspective from an organization/individuals that are all-in when it comes to crypto + very close to the actual founders and projects. Team also contains many members who are computer programmers themselves.
Biases & blind spots: seems like most of the organization is very crypto native & generally young. But, definitely one of the more circumspect sources of content that truly understands crypto.
Where to follow: checkout Delphi Digital co-founders Tom Shaughnessy & Head of Delphi Labs Jose Marie Macedo on Twitter + follow the Delphi Podcast here.
Background: Selkis is one of the longest tenured voices in the crypto industry, came to notoriety when he broke the Mt. Gox scandal back in 2014, and is currently a founder at industry-leading research/content firm Messari.
Great for: experienced, no BS takes on the industry as well as regulation. He's extremely well-connected & may be a canary in the coal mine across the space. Opinions are great for sifting through who/what projects have substance vs not. Messari publishes institutional-grade crypto research & data about top projects.
Biases & blind spots: Selkis runs a massive & rapidly growing business, so can't expect him to be in weeds as much as, for example, Jose Macedo at Delphi Digital. Messari likewise doesn't focus on smaller projects very much. Also - Selkis is a justified hothead when it comes to demanding better from political elites.
Where to follow: following Selkis (@twobitidiot) on Twitter is a must; he's a fiend & frequent poster. You can also sign up for the free Messari daily newsletter here. Besides that, Messari releases great content; but unfortunately most of their truly incredible content is behind a $300/month paywall. You can get a lower grade membership for $40/month but it's probably not worth it.
Background: along with Delphi Digital & Messari, Galaxy Digital is one of the premier crypto research firms. Galaxy is actually a publicly traded company (GLXY) and currently has outstanding venture funding of more than $4 billion. Mike Novogratz is an ex-hedge fund manager who is now deep into crypto & acts as founder/CEO of Galaxy Investment Group.
Great for: similar to Delphi Digital, Galaxy Digital releases great info on new crypto projects as experienced investors in the space. As a public company investing in early stage crypto businesses, Galaxy Digital & Novogratz offer a unique perspective that straddles innovation as well as the establishment.
Biases & blindspots: probably going to lean more toward institutions than Delphi, Novogratz & Galaxy are slightly more a part of the establishment than the founders at Delphi Digital or Messari. Novogratz is definitely left-leaning & listens to the masses on some political issues without fully justifying his positions.
Where to follow: Mike Novogratz (@novogratz) is quite active on Twitter, you can also subscribe to a myriad of resources on their site.
Background: Loves anything interesting & can be great source of interviews with ppl who are truly innovating. He's a fantastic interviewer. Not betting the farm on crypto, however (unlike ppl at Delphi). He's stated that crypto is 20% or less of his portfolio; which is a bit rare for someone in this space. Seems very well-connected because he's quite likable.
Great for: fantastic interviews with crypto founders & projects, alpha on early stage crypto projects that are hitting solid adoption, and also for trustworthy judgment / networking. Rose is rather circumspet.
Where to follow: checkout Kevin Rose on Twitter and definitely subscribe to his Modern Finance podcast here.
Background: currently hosts a daily podcast published by CoinDesk called, international journalist prior to crypto (red alert! LOL. No, I do like him... but yes, like most journalists, he's out to shape the world and I don't agree with all his worldviews).
Great for: macro info & philosophical/historical perspective on this digital revolution, analysis on gov't regulations and how power is shifting in economies due to crypto. Speaks in clear, plain English & is very good at articulating complex narratives.
Biases & blindspots: strongly biased toward decentralizing things & bitcoin; sounds like a journalist. Speaks with a slightly conceited tone as if he's always the most rationale, moral... but his morality isn't based on something solid/timeless like Scripture. He's very much not in the weeds of defi.
Where to follow: find him on Twitter (@nlw) and subscribe to his daily podcast The Breakdown with NLW published by CoinDesk.
Background: Camila grew up in Chile & is the founder of one of the more tenured DeFi podcasts called The Defiant Podcast (along with Bankless). Due to her background in South America (she also spent time in Argentina), decentralized finance is highly personal for her because she's seen the wreckage of poor central planning firsthand.
Great for: some awesome interviews, perspective on crypto that spans a bear market, and takes on how defi can help people around the world. Interviews some really special guests.
Biases & blindspots: very partial to Ethereum due to her principled approach; does not have highly technical background.
Where to follow: check out all the Defiant Podcast resources & follow her on Twitter (@CamiRusso).
Background: longest tenured CEO of a publicly traded company (Microstrategy), oversaw Microstrategy's stock price completely crash in the dotcom bubble. Possibly the most famous bitcoin "gigachad" (eg, "extremely bullish person") in the world. He guided his company to buying more than $3 billion of bitcoin during the past year.
Great for: perspective on bitcoin as a business executive, breaking down the problem of inflation (what he calls "the treasury problem"), and is amazing at outlining what makes bitcoin unique / a great investment.
Biases & blindspots: he basically writes off all other crypto as "security tokens," believes that they are essentially all securities & that regulation will come for them. Doesn't seem to understand how decentralized finance (outside of just bitcoin) is taking the world by storm or grasp how regulations can/will change.
Where to follow: Saylor makes his rounds in other people's podcasts but also is very active on his Twitter profile (@saylor) also publishes amazing educational resources about bitcoin on his site https://hope.com.
Background: Willy Woo is the most experienced, public analyst of bitcoin's on-chain metrics. This means that he looks at all of bitcoin's public data for constant insights regarding the state of the market. He's been doing this for multiple years & is an absolute expert.
Great for: bitcoin on-chain metrics, seasoned perspective on bitcoin as well as the state of the market. On medium term price projections, his accuracy nears 80%. Frankly, it's very rare for him to discuss nearly anything else.
Biases & blindspots: he definitely believes that bitcoin's consistent growth rate & network effects will continue until bitcoin is the dominant reserve asset. He believes that half the world will own bitcoin within the next decade, maintains that he is simply saying all this from looking at the data. Doesn't talk about much else.
Where to follow: Willy Woo is a must-follow on Twitter (@woonomic) & you can also subscribe to his paid newsletter for (very valuable) insights regarding market seasons here. More than 700,00 investors subscribe to his paid newsletter; which means that his analysis of future price could potentially even affect the market.
Background: essentially a younger version of Willy Woo, he's friends with Willy Woo & they frequently communicate with each other. He was working as a store associate at Target a little over a year ago (not kidding), but is now quickly gaining notoriety for his complete immersion in bitcoin on-chain metrics.
Great for: current perspective on the market, bitcoin on-chain data analysis, thoughts on institutional adoption of bitcoin (given that he currently works at a firm that interfaces with institutions). Like Willy Woo, doesn't do much else.
Biases & blindspots: doesn't discuss much besides bitcoin, appears to not be following much crypto stuff outside of bitcoin, and is generally quite young. He does not have bear market experience yet.
Where to follow: Will is quite active on Twitter (@WClementeIII), writes a Blockware Intelligence newsletter, and also does a bitcoin on-chain data analysis with Pomp that's published nearly every Saturday via The Pomp Podcast.
Background: started multiple technology companies, currently the Dallas Mavericks owner, investor, and star on SharkTank.
Great for: perspective on crypto as a serial entrepreneur & technical individual. Understands computers & keeps himself current on culture. Hard worker.
Biases & blind spots: does not have strong background in economics, once stated that he's not sure about whether or not modern monetary theory (eg, governments printing tons of money) is really bad policy or not...so, clearly isn't an Austrian economist. Along these lines, he's rather friendly to government interference/regulations (massive donor to democratic candidates, seemed to invite regulation in stablecoin space, and rather favorable toward COVID lockdowns).
Where to follow: check out Cuban on Twitter (@mcuban), tends to be very engaging with his Twitter followers & other individuals on the site.
Background: one of the richest men in the world as a co-founder of Square & now Twitter. Currently believes that working on furthering the cause of bitcoin is the greatest thing that he can do with his life. He's received hate from both sides of the political aisle (the right blasted his company for censorship of Hunter Biden story, the left recently blasted
Great for: perspective on crypto & bitcoin as one of the world's most successful tech company founders, information regarding how bitcoin might next be adopted by large institutions. He's also in one of the best positions to fully understand the impact of global monetary inflation via his company Square.
Biases & blind spots: hyperfocused on bitcoin and is thus ignoring innovation that happens elsewhere, is in a strange position in that he's fighting for decentralization whilst running a company (Twitter) that is highly centralized & arbritarily censoring people. Seems like a paradox.
Background: runs perhaps the most-watched show for cryptoasset profiles, releases multiple videos per week via his YouTube channel wherein he either profiles a crypto project or educates his audience on a crypto project.
Great for: general facts about crypto projects, tokenomic information about projects, and high level introductions to possible investments. Good at breaking down some complex crypto topics in a way normal people can understand.
Biases & blind spots: he doesn't appear to have any sort of computer programming background, also struggles to dive deep into the details of projects (he's clearly about intro videos). As we've noted elsewhere, his evaluations of projects are definitely suspect. Most recently, he released a video on Cardano that was inexplicably bullish & seemed to overlook all the clear shortcomings. Guy's evaluation of Cardano made so little sense that it legitimately made me wonder if projects pay him to create these profiles.
Background: highly technical computer programmer & founder of top blockchain Solana. He is one of the few premier blockchain founders that regularly hosts his own podcast, the Solana Podcast. His work in creating a proof-of-history blockchain is truly seminal in the crypto space.
Great for: perspectives on crypto (and Solana, especially) coming from a highly technical, no BS individual. Anatoly possesses a clear desire to make incredibly innovative stuff; just loves cool things & is also surprisingly humble for a founder. Shows genuine appreciation for projects that are not his (for example, his congratulations to Axie Infinity founder Jiho was rather sincere).
Biases & blind spots: he truly seems to be one of the most circumspect individuals in crypto but clearly has his hands full with Solana. So, don't expect him to know all the details of small crypto projects.
Background: Lyn Alden is a professional investor who, after retiring early from a more traditional finance job, now manages her personal portfolio full-time. Well, not quite. She runs her own spends a great deal of time writing some of the best pieces on macroeconomic investing & bitcoin you will find
Great for: macroeconomic insights and trends, fundamental education regarding the value of bitcoin.
Biases & blind spots: she's definitely more of a traditional investor and, if you're in crypto, she's probably more conservative on the risk curve. It's also unclear if she really understands the value of crypto that's not bitcoin or ether.
Background: used to work at Goldman Sachs and is a macro investor guy, runs one of the most professional, well-polished investor content sites called Real Vision (great source for LOTS of amazing content about crypto & general investing, amazing community).
Great for: macro perspective on the industry & investing, amazing interviews with very influential people, and he also is a great blend of understanding traditional finance while also immersing himself in crypto currently. His takes on network effects are always awesome.
Blindspots & biases: he's not in the weeds at all (example: shockingly had not heard of Uniswap delisting more than 100 tokens until months later, during interview with Michael Saylor). Also favorable toward regulation & sympathetic to modern monetary theory (like Saylor), is part of current establishment in many ways.
Where to follow: Raoul Pal is quite active on Twitter here and you can get some amazing interviews through the Real Vision & Real Vision Crypto podcasts. If you like those podcasts, then you should absolutely consider a Real Vision membership (though a bit pricey, roughly $240/year but typically free for first year).
