Cryptomania: How Cryptocurrency Can Save—or Destabilize—a Country

Whether you’re a trader,  techie, or average joe, you’ve probably heard the words “crypto” or “bitcoin” swirling around the web. In the past year, digital coins – once viewed as the exclusive domain of tech millionaires – have shot to global prominence as the preferred currency of Russian oligarchs, Ukrainian resistance fighters, Salvadoran politicians, and everyone in between.   Despite the explosion of “cryptomania,” most people still know little about how the digital currency actually works. This week, we take a deep dive into the global world of cryptocurrency.   We start in Kazakhstan, where crypto miners are converting frigid winters into digital cash – and straining the country’s energy grid. Then, Ray Suarez sits down with Ukrainian crypto champion Michael Chobanian and skeptic Molly White to discuss the ways crypto may help or hurt a country in crisis.   Guests:  Denis Rusinovich, co-founder of Maveric Group AG Joanna Lillis, author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan Jonathan Levin, co-founder and CSO of Chainalysis Inc.  Michael Chobanian, founder of KUNA exchange and president of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine Molly White, software engineer and author of “Web3 is Going Just Great”   Host:   Ray Suarez This program was produced with additional reporting from Levi Bridges. You can check out more of Levi's work here.   If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.