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The first time Robin Arzón attempted to set up a crypto wallet, her stomach was in her throat.
The entire process took more than two hours, and she was afraid the whole time that she might make a mistake. But Arzón has made a career off of blazing past fear to reach her goals. As the VP of Fitness Programming & Head Instructor at Peloton, Arzón tells her millions of followers on and off the bike to push beyond their doubts to realize their true potential.
Last week the crypto market certainly saw what can happen when people make epic mistakes. Yet those of us with a long-term mindset understand it’s still worth finding our seat at the Web3 table, despite the volatility. Facing conflict brings clarity, that moment when the cards are finally laid out on the table, when necessary truths have been exposed and illusions come crashing down. In these moments, there’s nothing but sobriety and forward movement. Is crypto at a similar turning point?
We can’t say for sure, but we can talk about what will get us through these turbulent and disappointing events: Unwavering commitment to our right to participate, a growth mindset andconfidence forged by fire.
In Arzón’s words: swagger.
This week, in her first-ever Twitter Space interview, Arzón shared with our Editor in Chief Caroline Fairchild how she first dipped her toes in the crypto waters, the vision she has for Swagger Society and why she is working to bring more women and underrepresented groups into the space.
Read The Interview On BFF Discover
FTX meltdown. The crypto exchange FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday after its competitor Binance uncovered an $8 billion cash shortage. Once-trusted CEO Samuel Bankman-Fried (SBF) is now out and John J. Ray III will step into his role. (Ray allegedly conducted registered insider trading, according to SEC claims.) Soon, reports announced a $600 million FTX hack — which many suspect was an inside job — and rumors claimed the former FTX CEO fled to Argentina. As of Sunday, SBF is said to be in the Bahamas, where he faces a criminal investigation.
Industry-wide ripple effects. Ecosystems across the crypto industry cry contagion in the wake of the FTX collapse. Crypto-linked stocks tumbled while crypto lender BlockFi and popular exchange Crypto.com paused withdrawals. Values for BTC and ETH dropped by at least 6%, according to CoinDesk.
OpenSea dumps royalties, artists rebel. After a week of backlash, the largest NFT marketplace announced it would continue enforcing creator royalties on existing collections — though the future of royalties across all NFT marketplaces still remains unclear.
For More: How Zero Royalties Hurts Diverse Creators
Feds announce second-largest bitcoin heist. The U.S. Department of Justice finally shared details of its second-largest seizure of cryptocurrency to date — albeit one year after the fact. Last Monday, Georgia resident James Zhong pleaded guilty to the theft of over $3 billion in BTC stolen from the now-defunct Silk Road marketplace. The feds seized the funds last November in a previously unannounced raid on Zhong’s home.
Polygon plans an upgrade. Unlike most Layer 2 scaling solutions which work alongside Ethereum, Polygon is a separate blockchain entirely. But co-founders Anurag Arjun and Mihailo Bjelic are attempting to make it a true Layer2.
Vitalik gets visionary. As a result of louder calls for regulation and the recent sanctions by the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), the Ethereum community updated its roadmap to address the possible threat of censorship. Related: The SEC just won a case that some say could establish that all crypto — including Ethereum — is a security.
MetaMask builds a bridge. The popular crypto wallet released a beta feature to let users move tokens from one blockchain network to another.
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Union Square Ventures General Partner Rebecca Kaden has invested in consumer technology for 10 years and today spends more and more time investing in Web3. “We have to be realistic,” she tells BFF, emphasizing the importance of balancing volatility with a solid investment thesis.
Read The Interview on BFF Discover
Unstoppable Domains Senior VP Sandy Carter shared with Digiday her thoughts on how companies should avoid the buzzword trap and focus instead on customer use cases.
AI Scientist and Affectiva Co-Founder Dr. Rana el Kaliouby spoke with CEO Magazine about defeating imposter syndrome, raising millions and crushing the founder’s journey.
This month, BFF holder Alix Gallardo of Technolatinas launched a special Web3 edition of the Spanish tech education event, #DescubreTech, which means Discover Tech. This month’s event will inspire and onboard Latinas to Web3 through 10 hours of Twitch and YouTube streaming and discuss everything from blockchain basics to complex topics. Interested? Register to join here.
Thanks for reading! We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to let us know what you think of this newsletter and what you’d like to see from it in the future by emailing hello@mybff.com.
This newsletter and all the information in it does not constitute financial advice. If you don’t want to invest money or time in Web3, you don’t have to. As always: Do your own research.
