By Wachsman on The Capital — In early February 2020, decentralized finance hit a major milestone. On the 7th, the amount of money stored in decentralized finance smart contracts hit a billion dollars for the first time. Decentralized finance’s detractors had long argued that on-blockchain trading would be too slow, too clumsy, and too difficult to…

1. How did you become interested in blockchain? I first became interested in blockchain in 2017 when I met a man in Amsterdam who told me about Bitcoin. It was at the Van Gogh Museum on Halloween (also the birthday of Bitcoin) and I sort of took all this randomness…

This month’s book selection was Ronan Farrow’s 2019 bestseller Catch and Kill. The book is a memoir of Farrow’s experiences uncovering and reporting on several of the allegations of sexual abuse and harassment that sparked the #MeToo movement. Though most of the book focuses on the quest to bring producer…

By Wachsman on The Capital — “Garbage in, garbage out” is a standard programming and analysis maxim: If you’re working with bad data, your results, no matter how carefully reasoned, are likely to prove false. The best architect in the world can’t build a sturdy house with rotten wood and misfired bricks. In a typical business…

Public relations is, in large part, the art of making care. A public relations firm succeeds or fails on how well it understands what interests, intrigues, and inspires journalists and the broader public. If our pitches bore or our stories stultify, our clients won’t receive coverage. Because public relations professionals…

Public relations moves quickly: New clients expect instant results, emergencies arise on a daily basis when they don’t come hourly, and the twenty-four-hour global news cycle mandates lightning-fast responses from communications professionals. These pressures are endemic for every sector of PR: No industry has remained unchanged by the acceleration of…

Matt is Wachsman’s Consultant, Editorial. His responsibilities include writing and editing articles, blogs, bios, press releases, and thought leadership. 1. How did you become interested in blockchain? In my previous life as a book scout, I read the manuscript of The Truth Machine by Michael Casey and Paul Vigna. …

By Wachsman on The Capital — At times, it can seem that online marketers know more about you than your family and friends do. We’ve all heard stories of big data shocking consumers with the knowledge it collects and the insights it accrues. Back in 2012, Target made the news for figuring out a woman’s pregnancy…

By Wachsman on Altcoin Academy — The holidays are upon us. If you’ve been wise and planned ahead, you’re likely already ready to go: Presents are wrapped, packages in the mail, house or apartment decorated, greeting cards out the door, and party invitations all RSVPed to. …