0:08Syreeta BlakelyWelcome to another edition of Crypto with Kamal. I’m your host, Kamal Hubbard. I’m here at the Black Blockchain Summit in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., at the illustrious Howard University. And I’m here on behalf of ICP Hub North America. And I’m also here with A1 Digital’s Syreeta. Syreeta, why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself and what you’re doing and the book that you wrote?
0:35Kamal HubbardAll right. So I’m Syreeta Blakely and I’m coming in from Nashville, Tennessee, along with my partner Cleophis Harbison. And we’re with A1 Digital. So just a real quick background. I was an educator for 17 years. Okay. He’s been an entrepreneur for like all of his life.
0:54Syreeta BlakelyRight. Okay.
0:55Kamal HubbardAnd so we have been into crypto probably around 2017 lightly. Okay, all right. People had told us about it, but we were kind of like, uh, you know, um, and then probably around 2019 we start leaning in more, right? And then what happened in 2020? The world shut down.
1:15Syreeta BlakelyOh yeah, that’s right, right. Forgot about that for a second.
1:18Kamal HubbardYeah, yeah. So like, that’s what they try to do. They make you forget. And so we were like, you know what, let’s lean in even more. You know, we’re at home, we don’t have anything to do. So we just start really aggressively, um, investing, and then we start writing. And the writing came from -- the writing probably came about 6 to 9 months after we were in. We started making a lot of mistakes and we started losing a lot of money, but we also start like, through our errors, we were like, people need to know this. People need to know some basic foundation stuff about like crypto, right?
1:18Kamal HubbardSo We took my education background, his entrepreneurship, and then came our baby, The ABCs of Cryptocurrencies for Newbies. And guess what? If you flip it over, Uh-oh. The crypto compilation came right along with it, okay? So this is, this is so near and dear to our hearts because we wanted to write it in a way where pretty much anybody could pick this up. Um, because let’s keep it real, the reading level overall as a nation is not the highest, right? So we need it. Sometimes some of the literature can be on a very high level where people are like, what are you talking about? Right.
2:29Syreeta BlakelyYou know?
2:29Kamal HubbardRight. So it’s, it’s an easy read.
2:32Syreeta BlakelyRight.
2:32Kamal HubbardUm, and then we know people like pictures as well.
2:35Syreeta BlakelySo when you open it up, I saw the pictures.
2:37Kamal HubbardYeah. So people connect with pictures. So, um, it’s been very well received. And the good thing is when we, we do, we help people onboard. That’s our specialty. We, because we know, and you know, in crypto, it’s not always easy. getting into some of these cryptos, you know. Um, so we help onboard. And so that’s between this book and onboarding. Now let me tell you, before we even onboard people, we can tell the difference between the person that has read the book and the person that hasn’t.
3:08Syreeta BlakelyOkay.
3:08Kamal HubbardBecause there’s foundational words, um, in crypto that, um, you have to know, right, right, before you start transacting. And so it’s kind of -- it’s not kind of, it’s essential that you read this before you start.
3:22Syreeta BlakelyOkay.
3:22Kamal HubbardYeah.
3:23Syreeta BlakelyWell, I appreciate the fact that you’re trying to educate people and you are an educator, so I’m sure that your insight into educating --
3:34Kamal HubbardYeah.
3:35Syreeta BlakelyIt shows in the book for sure. But absolutely, going back to what this book is, it’s actually cool how you have one side and then another side. Yeah, that’s really genius. So what made you want to do that? have 2 books in one essentially, right?
3:51Kamal HubbardYeah, so we actually -- so we, we just finished up with Invest Fest. When we found -- in Atlanta -- when we found out that we were, um, selected as a vendor back in April, we actually -- this book was 2 books originally. Okay. And so we went back to the drawing board and was like, okay, there’s going to be over 25,000, 20,000 people there. We need to stand out, right? We need to come hard. You know what I’m saying? We were like, what we have is cool, but we need to up the game. So literally it was a lot of bouncing back and forth with ideas. And my partner was like, everybody loves Marvel.
4:29Syreeta BlakelyYeah.
4:30Kamal HubbardEverybody loves Marvel. Let’s take our kids and turn them into superhero characters. So he’s the one that does a lot of the thinking side of it because he’s up late and he’s coming up with all these ideas. He brings it to me and I’m the executor, right? So I had to go forth and was like, you know, and then all of a sudden, one of those late night situations, he’s like, he wakes, he, that next morning he’s like, this needs to be a flip-over book. I said, where did that come from? He was like, you know, at night I just, I think of stuff. So we got with our, um, Catalog King, who’s our printer, and we just told them my idea and they were like, we got you, we got you, we’re gonna make this, this a badass book. And it’s gonna flip and it’s gonna be colorful and it’s gonna be beautiful. And when we saw the finished product right before Invest Fest, we were like, this is it.
5:17Syreeta BlakelyNice.
5:18Kamal HubbardThis is it. This is it. And that way, because I mean, having 2 books was cool, but right, it’s just something about having that 2-in-1, you know? Yeah, it definitely -- yeah.
5:29Syreeta BlakelyIt’s -- well, it’s about being concise sometimes about what you do and how you do it, right? And especially as an educator, I think you know that you can Say something in 5 sentences. Listen, as opposed to 5 paragraphs, that’s better, right?
5:44Kamal HubbardSimplicity.
5:44Syreeta BlakelyBut simplicity, you know, there’s something else I want to ask you about -- elephant money. What are your thoughts about elephant money?
5:52Kamal HubbardOkay, so this is how these -- okay, so when people come to these conferences, and especially as exhibitors, vendors, you never know who you’re partnered with. You never know who’s noticing you. So when we were in Invest Fest, we met -- we didn’t even know what Elephant Money was. Like, we’ve been in crypto for so long, and we were like, how did we not know about it? So this guy comes to us like, you guys, like, your whole presentation, your book, you’re doing what I don’t want to do, right? And I’m doing what you don’t want to do, right? But I respect the fact that you all are already doing it. That’s what he always tells us. You guys are already doing it, right? I want to support what you’re doing right now while you’re on the road and you’re doing what you’re doing. Let’s partner and take a look at our charts, look at our ecosystem. Let’s wrap back around. Now, you know, follow-up sometimes can be very interesting.
6:43Syreeta BlakelySure, sure.
6:44Kamal HubbardSo, you know, once we got home and we started doing our homework, we followed up immediately. And he’s like, listen, there’s going to be the Black Blockchain. I need you all to -- I’m gonna I’m gonna support you all. We’re gonna make sure we give out these books for free at the Black Blockchain.
7:00Syreeta BlakelyThere you go.
7:01Kamal HubbardSo let’s wrap back around. There you go. Elephant Money, it is the first global decentralized community bank.
7:10Syreeta BlakelyThere you go.
7:11Kamal HubbardGo to elephant.money. I’m not gonna even go too deep. I need you all to do your homework. Listen, look at the charts. Look at the farming, look at the futures, look at everything that it has been set up to do.
7:29Syreeta BlakelyNFTs too.
7:30Kamal HubbardThe NFTs, yes. How am I missing the NFTs? Take a look for yourself. And what drew us more, more to, um, this as well -- and you may have experienced this with some people in crypto -- there are pump and dump coins, okay? There are people behind these coins that may not have good intentions. and their motives are not the best.
7:54Syreeta BlakelyAbsolutely.
7:54Kamal HubbardWe watched YouTube video after YouTube video and really kind of studied the owner, who will be here shortly. One thing he kept saying is, I want to make sure that food is on everybody’s table.
8:04Syreeta BlakelyOh yeah, yeah, most definitely.
8:06Kamal HubbardI want to make sure that I’m not the only -- I’m not in a mansion by myself, right?
8:10Syreeta BlakelyYeah.
8:10Kamal HubbardI want to make sure that this is not a pump and dump type situation. And he’s an MIT grad.
8:17Syreeta BlakelyYep.
8:17Kamal HubbardHe’s been coding since he was 10 years old. This is not some, I wake up in the morning and I want to create a coin, right? No, he is hands-on, right? And he’s making sure that it’s not some whale can come in and just, right, just drop that price down to the ground.
8:32Syreeta BlakelyYeah.
8:32Kamal HubbardSo when you’re looking at getting into, um, cryptos, of course we talk about like use case, we look at a lot of different factors, but you also have to look at the people behind the scenes. Don’t just go based off hype.
8:45Syreeta BlakelyAbsolutely.
8:45Kamal HubbardYou have to do your homework.
8:47Syreeta BlakelySo I also had an opportunity -- first off, you guys already know by now I love Elephant Money. But we’ve also had an opportunity to talk about the Internet Computer Protocol. I’m here with ICP Hub North America.
9:02Kamal HubbardRight.
9:02Syreeta BlakelyAnd, you know, I like what you guys are doing, obviously. And you guys talk very positively about ICP. So what are your thoughts on ICP? I mean, you know, there’s a lot to it. And you don’t need to know everything, but, you know, kind of share what you know with the folks at home.
9:18Kamal HubbardSo I wish that my partner was here. This is what I do know about ICP. I know this is going to sound very surface level.
9:25Syreeta BlakelyIt’s all right.
9:26Kamal HubbardHe just says it’s going to be the internet of the future.
9:31Syreeta BlakelyYeah.
9:32Kamal HubbardHe says, before we even met you, like for years he’s been talking about ICP. Like, yeah, he is. He’s almost like an ambassador without being an ambassador for ICP. Every time we get paid from something, we’re loading up on ICP. He was like, I bet you.
9:49Syreeta BlakelyAnd you --
9:49Kamal Hubbardhe was like, I won’t even bet. He said, it’s not even a, um, maybe, it’s when.
9:54Syreeta BlakelyRight. Well, I think the main thing too, what I’m getting -- for one, when I first came in contact with ICP, I said the same thing. Oh, this is going to be one of those, you know, blockchains that is going to be unto itself, right? It’s not the next Ethereum. It’s not an Ethereum killer. It’s going to be something different than Ethereum.
10:18Kamal HubbardYeah.
10:18Syreeta BlakelyRight. And that’s -- they’re creating a new Web3 infrastructure that just makes it easier for everybody who wants to onboard with their smart contracts, dApps, DeFi, all those things. And, um, you know, I just didn’t focus on it until somebody came to me and was like, hey, you know, you need to pay attention to ICP. And now I’m just doing more studies and more research. And what I like a lot about it is their grant programs. They want people to not just talk about the price of ICP, right? They want people to build on ICP. And like you said, that 10, 20 years in the future, right, there will be projects that will demonstrate the value. And it’s not just a speculative coin, right? It’s because --
11:05Kamal HubbardRight.
11:06Syreeta BlakelyI have an application and other people have applications and they’ve built on it and those use cases actually prove themselves over time.
11:13Kamal HubbardSo, you know, you just said a whole lot and I’m going to tell you that financial piece. So I think sometimes that gets overshadowed by the ecosystem. And so when you’re in crypto or any type of investment, I think people need to spend more time researching. And I know that -- Good. How are you doing? Good.
11:35Syreeta BlakelyYeah, good to see you.
11:36Kamal HubbardSo a lot of people want to jump in on stuff, but they don’t want to really do the homework.
11:42Syreeta BlakelyRight.
11:42Kamal HubbardSo when you get into crypto, if I tell you nothing else, you have to do your homework and you have to stay abreast of the changes, the layers, you know, maybe a layer 1, layer 2, you know, all these things change in the ecosystem all the time.
11:59Syreeta BlakelyRight.
11:59Kamal HubbardNew projects are constantly coming out on these cryptos, and it’s really up to you to do your homework. And I really appreciate you saying that because we do get caught up, like I said, on that price. But what’s really going on, right? And what’s that use case? And this is, this is the future, right? So you need to be looking, okay, not only what are they doing now, what are they doing 2 years from now, 3 years? And a lot, and a lot of times if you go to white papers, right, start diving into those white papers to really learn. And then a lot of times they’ll even have on their website, this is our 1-year plan, 2-year plan, 5-year plan. And then they’ll even check off. where they’re at on their planning, right? So do your homework, right? Do your homework.
12:40Syreeta BlakelyMost definitely, most definitely. Well, you know, Syreeta, what I also wanted to do today is make sure you got a copy of my book, DeFi for the Diaspora, and I get a copy of your 2 books.
12:53Kamal HubbardYes, look, boom boom, right, right, right.
12:56Syreeta BlakelyThere you go. So that being said, the trade has been made.
13:00Kamal HubbardAbsolutely.
13:01Syreeta BlakelyDon’t just make it a good day, make it a great day. Great day with crypto, Crypto with Kamal, and we’ll see you on the next one.
13:09Kamal HubbardThank you.
