How Blockchain & Crypto Will Change Industries as We Know it | Megan Kaspar From Magnetic Capital

Ms. Kaspar is a Managing Director and co-founder of blockchain and crypto investment and incubation firm, Magnetic.  Since the start of her career in 2012, Ms Kaspar has been investing in and building blockchain companies.  She was an early investor in various digital assets and companies including: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot and EOS.  In 2017, Ms. Kaspar co-led $172M of early stage token investments in 46 different companies.  

Megan and her partners are students of history when it comes to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, with the ability to navigate cycles in the crypto market.

The Magnetic team began mining Bitcoin in 2010.  They were the second largest investors in the Ethereum crowdsale and co-founders of the first and most traded stablecoin, Tether.  Among several projects, Magnetic incubated the world’s first purpose built blockchain for digital items, WAX.  They have made several early stage investments in predominant blockchain companies such as Coinbase, Kraken, Bitfury, Wyre and Blockstream.  Magnetic Capital is the team’s crypto fund focused on both digital assets and equity in blockchain companies. 

1. What is blockchain? What is cryptocurrency?  How are they different?
2. There are 2 key properties of blockchain
   1. The first property you are all familiar with:  as investment / asset that can be bought and traded.  
   2. The other property of a blockchain is as a technology. It’s a tool that can be used to build valuable things you couldn’t build before. Things that can’t be done without a blockchain. This is the side of blockchain that is not well presented to the general public.

Let’s discuss blockchain as a tool since that doesn’t get enough attention

1. So when I say tool, what does this tool do?  
2. What industries are going to adopt it?

Some tangible examples to drive the point home:

1. Entertainment or Retail/Ecommerce)  –  NTFs
2. Healthcare – vaccine data 
3. Finance – raising capital
4. Wrap up topics:
   • How women are taking advantage of the blockchain revolution in finance. 
   • Why blockchain is great for women
     1. No gatekeepers to block you from raising capital
     2. Permissionless 
     3. Women developed projects: Tzeos, Bancor, etc.
   • Why I decided to start a fund
   • What I love most about being in blockchain

Check out this episode!