Over the years, we’ve met a lot of interesting folks to talk crypto. For our latest People of Bitcoin conversation, we’re sitting down with Andy and Daniel from the popular cryptocurrency podcast, The Coin Boys.
Hi guys! Thanks for allowing yourselves to switch roles from interviewers to interviewees and sit in the hot seat today!
To kick this off we’d like to know what brought you to podcasting? Was crypto the gateway or were you working in the space before? Basically, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Andy: I had two gaming podcasts, one for a game called Destiny, I loved the game so much. My friend and I couldn’t stop talking and texting about it, plus I loved listening to podcasts, so it seemed like a natural progression. I just said, “Let’s do a podcast!” After 4 years it evolved into a more general gaming podcast, which still comes into play with what we’re doing for Coin Boys.
Daniel: During the time Andy was doing his podcast I was doing a podcast with his roommate, NIck. Ours was a comedy podcast—just basically riffing off the headlines of the day. I miss those days because it was a challenge to make the news funny. Today it is just too difficult to beat the headlines coming out of the White House. Truth is stranger than fiction!
We have been taking bitcoin at CheapAir.com for flights and many hotels since 2013, but we recently started attending some crypto conferences. It’s been eye opening to learn about the different kinds of crypto folk. I assume that you guys get to meet some pretty colorful personalities/influencers doing what you do. Do you have any war stories/ tales from the podcasting trenches?
Daniel: Luckily during our interviews we’ve had pretty down to earth and very interesting conversations with all our guests, but those are the guests we bring on the show. At conferences there can be some pretty wacky characters. Some people take the anonymity of crypto very seriously to the point where they wear masks at conferences.
There are some people out there with huge ideas who won’t leave you alone until you hear ALL about it. Like one guy I met really wanted to paint an entire blockchain. I listened to the whole thing and it honestly felt like that scene in Billy Madison where after Billy answered the question, the host said we were all dumber after listening to it.
Andy: Yeah, and then there was that one time at WCC where there was a guy wearing a giant Litecoin costume, and I was dancing with him for a picture. Later we found out that Charlie Lee was actually in the suit. I took another picture with him later when he wasn’t wearing it and he said “but I already took a picture with you!” I still took the picture with him outside the costume though.
A lot of folks’ intro to crypto back in the day was bitcoin but that seems to be changing. Can you share a little bit about when the first time you heard about crypto and what brought you into this world?
Andy: In addition to gaming, I love everything Internet. Daniel can tell you how excited I was to get to interview the legendary John McAfee, for example. The first time I heard about Bitcoin was actually on Reddit. I was an early user, and I saw an ad for a subreddit called r/bitcoin. The ad was ridiculous. It was simply an awful wizard, drawn in Microsoft paint, that said “magic internet money.” I guess it caught my attention though. I researched it, and then bought my first bitcoin a few months after.
Daniel: I’m an awful poker player, but I still love to play. About 10 years ago, the government shut down most possibilities for Americans to play online. Playing online isn’t illegal, but what they did was prevented any banks from transferring money from your account to any gambling sites. In about 2013-2014 a friend of mine told me that one site was accepting Bitcoin. So that was interesting. I learned the minimum amount I needed to buy, bought some and send it over so I could gamble. I lost it all 2 hours later.
I was later brought back into cryptocurrency because I had another friend who just so happened to be a lead developer on a major coin out right now. He pointed me to a bunch of forums. I took a few months learning the basics of technical analysis so I could figure out what to do with them. Since then, it has been a crazy whirlwind that I love being a part of.
The past few months have been a bit of a rough ride for bitcoin. What do you tell skeptics about these market fluctuations? Since you’re not limited to talking about bitcoin on your podcast, we’re curious to hear what currencies you guys are excited about (or what currencies your guests are excited about). Basically, where should investors be watching?
Our motto on The Coin Boys is we never talk price. For a few reasons, but the main reason is we are in this for the tech. If the project is good, the price will follow. Stay safe out there though. If you need to sell, sell it. Or better yet if you can, use it! Buy a ticket for a flight to a place that will allow you to escape the bear market.
We do feel that folks should be looking at anything with proven utility. Our podcast has a gaming-centric tone with the emergence of blockchain projects being integrated with esports and video games. So we particularly like gaming tokens and coins. Gamers understand micro transactions better than any other group on the planet. They’ve been dying to get this technology for a long time now. So it will be fun to see that grow.
Another thing important to us is that we need to take back the Internet. Since this is Internet money we should also look at sites that are decentralizing social media, and any Internet service allowing you to completely control your personal information. Too many companies use your information and profit from it. You should be given a choice on what you share and whether or not you can make money from it.
Let’s talk shop. What are some challenges you face in the podcasting universe?
We initially started the podcast to educate people on different coins, but we really relied on our own personal research. We discovered that there is a lot of really bad and pretty much false information floating around. So a big challenge was just making sure we had good intel and we weren’t lying to our audience.
Also, both of us come from the entertainment industry, but video is very different from audio, so we also had to learn that a bit. We both had different styles of recording, and both of us were trying to find out what worked best through the trial and error of our old podcasts. In all that confusion, there were actually several occasions when we had to start the interview over simply because we forgot to hit record.
What do you love about podcasting? Who’s been your favorite guest or topic to discuss?
Andy: I love podcasting because I love listening to podcasts. I think that anyone can make a podcast, and that’s a beautiful thing. When you realize you actually have an audience, even if it’s just 2 or 3 people, you feel pretty good. You feel like you’re helping, or at the very least entertaining them.
Daniel: Podcasting is a lot less of a pressure situation than doing a video broadcast. We do both care about quality though, mainly because we have friends in the industry that will absolutely judge us. Podcasting allows us to bring a high quality product with a lot less effort. Basically, I like podcasting because I’m lazy, but love to talk.
What’s coming next? Is there anything you guys have heard about that (in your opinion) is being overlooked by the cryptocommunity?
We’re really excited for automated cars. We all know self -driving cars are coming, but when you attach blockchain tech to it there are many interesting things that will happen. Imagine a car that can go to the store for you while you are at work, pay for your items, and bring them back before you head home. Or a car that can give rides to others while you work. It is the literal definition of passive income, with zero effort.
What do you like to do outside of crypto? Do you have day jobs? Hobbies/pets/etc.? Tell us a little bit about how you decompress.
Daniel: I love movies, writing, and watching cartoons. I have a daughter now, so I have a very good excuse I never had before to watch as many cartoons as I want, and nobody can say anything about it. My daughter is 1 so there is zero rest/decompression time. Sometimes she is literally standing on top of my head just because she thinks it’s hilarious.
Andy: I’m a huge gaming enthusiast, so I play a lot of games in my off time. This includes board games. I also love going to the movies as much as possible. As a kid I used to read a lot of comics as well, but it has dwindled down to just a few comics lately. The fact that there are so many comic book movies coming out constantly makes me really excited for the coming su
mmer.
Thanks guys. This has been fun. Everyone, we highly encourage you to check out the entertaining and always informative Coin Boys, a Cryptocurrency Podcast from the fertile minds of Andy and Daniel.
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