Denver City Wire

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, cryptocurrency markets reached their peak. What was once a creative harnessing of technology had ballooned to an industry featuring spokespeople like Matt Damon and Tom Brady. In 2022, that market crashed. Now, FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is working through bankruptcy proceedings and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is under criminal investigation.

It's a volatile time in the world of finance and doubly so for cryptocurrency. But what does the future hold?

In this episode, Matt talks with Joshua Ross, a professor at the University of Denver, and Peter Vigna, a veteran journalist who pioneered coverage of cryptocurrencies at The Wall Street Journal. Together, they discuss the history of cryptocurrencies, what caused the recent cryptocurrency crash, what Sam Bankman-Fried did wrong, potential future applications of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and much more.

Show Notes

Joshua Ross is the director of Entrepreneurship@DU and a teaching assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver. Joshua has taught undergraduate courses on entrepreneurship, business and technology at the Daniels College of Business since 2009. His teaching and professional interests focus on entrepreneurship, early stage business development, 4th Industrial Revolution technology, cybersecurity, strategy and information technology. Joshua is a proven technology entrepreneur with 20 years’ experience in software development, security and IT services.

After spending three years working for a healthcare startup during and after graduate school (at the Daniels College of Business), Joshua founded up2speed computer solutions, a technology services company. After eight years growing up2speed, Joshua had a successful sale in 2011. Joshua provides technology consulting to medium and large companies focusing on technology strategy and efficiency. Joshua specializes in helping companies understand their technology assets, create a technology roadmap, and mitigate cybersecurity risks and exposure.

Paul Vigna is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in print, online, radio, podcasting, and video. He pioneered coverage of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies at The Wall Street Journal, where he spent 25 years.

Along with Michael J. Casey, he co-authored two books on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology: "The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money Are Challenging the Global Economic Order” (2015) and "The Truth Machine: The Blockchain and the Future of Everything" (2018). Vigna was featured in the documentaries "Banking on Bitcoin" (2016) and "Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It" (2015). He’s also authored “Guts: The Anatomy of the Walking Dead,” diving deep into the hit television show.

Original source can be found here.