Crypto in the Media with Frank Chaparro, Editor-at-Large at The Block

This week’s guest is Frank Chaparro. Frank is an industry leader covering the intersection of financial markets and cryptocurrency as Editor-at-Large at The Block. Since joining the publication in 2018 as its first reporter, he has played a key role in building The Block into a leader in financial journalism and research. He leads special projects, including The Block's flagship podcast, The Scoop. Prior to The Block, Frank held roles at Business Insider, NPR, and Nasdaq.

Not only am I a huge fan of Frank, I also find the topic of crypto in the media to be CRITICALLY important. The crypto markets operate 24/7, 365, with countless new projects, and developments underway on every corner of the globe…. There is an information overload at all times… How do you filter the noise? How do you determine what news is breaking vs what’s not? There’s no better guest to unpack this with than Frank. We cover how crypto sentiment in the media has changed over time, leading narratives within the space, how to navigate the dynamic crypto space and its fleeting headlines to get to the info that truly matters, and more.

I’d be remiss if I did not mention that we recorded this upcoming episode last week, which was prior to the news about Binance’s non-binding offer to purchase FTX during the midst of a liquidity crunch. If you’d ask any crypto vet, they’ll tell you that this is without a doubt a top 5 major event to ever occur within the industry and is a LOT to unpack. I’ll do an episode to cover this in the near future, but it makes a perfect case for today's episode. Things can take a turn for the worse or the better in a manner of seconds in the crypto space, and this scenario highlights why covering crypto news can be so difficult. With that, please enjoy my conversation with Frank.

For more information about The Block, please visit: https://www.theblock.co/podcasts 

You can Follow Frank Chaparro on Twitter @fintechfrank: https://twitter.com/fintechfrank 

Show notes:

[0:07] Introduction

[3:11] Frank's Crypto journey, how he got to where he is today

[6:50] Sentiment change since Frank started covering crypto (around 2017)

[13:00] Common themes amongst crypto blow ups

[16:48] Next narrative for Crypto

[22:05] Regulation (i.e., SBF vs Voorhees)

[27:09] Crypto in the midterm election cycle; contributions from various crypto-focused institutions

[33:08] On-chain data

[35:17] Navigating all the crypto info/news - deciphering what’s important, what’s not, etc..

[42:07] Where to send folks to get trusted crypto news information (other than The Block)

[51:57] How does crypto fail and succeed?

All opinions expressed by your hosts and the podcasts guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of the hosts or any of their affiliates. This podcast is for commercial and informational purposes only, is not investment advice, and should not be relied upon for any investment decisions. We are not recommending any securities or cryptocurrencies, nor is this an offer or sale of a security or cryptocurrency.