Shaurya Malwa
Co-leader of tokens and data team in Asia at CoinDesk
How would you assess the current state of crypto education?
If crypto education were a cryptocurrency, it would be one of those still in its ICO phase — lots of promise, some wild speculation, but not quite the utility everyone is hoping for.
We have got the enthusiasts who can explain blockchain at its very complex levels, but then they use words and a framing that the general populace cannot understand. I think the industry is partly to blame for this, as we develop new terms daily, but from a fundamental standpoint, the basics need to be focused upon even more! We have gotten newbie channels and accounts on YouTube and X, but they mostly end up being sponsored videos for projects that leave learners with more questions than answers.
The education curve is more like a rollercoaster, thrilling for some, utterly confusing for others, and occasionally making people wish they had stayed on the ground.
What role do you think mainstream and social media play in shaping public understanding of crypto?
Mainstream media treats crypto like that exotic pet everyone is curious about but nobody quite understands — one day, it is the future of finance; the next, it is the financial boogeyman, depending on where the market is and whether bullish (or bearish) stories are getting more views.
Social media is the Wild West of crypto education, or mis-education. For every well-researched thread on X or insightful TikTok, there is a flood of memes, predictions, and 'to the moon' posts that probably have more to do with lunar cycles than market analysis. Sure, they are both shaping understanding, but it could be more accurate.
Are there any specific challenges in communicating the complexities of blockchain and crypto to a broader audience?
Absolutely. First off, blockchain tech itself is like explaining a magic trick. You have got this invisible ledger, distributed across countless computers, more secure than a heavily guarded seed bunker in a remote part of the world. But try explaining that without sounding like you are pitching a fantasy novel.
Then there is the jargon — hash rates, nodes, consensus mechanisms, intents, rollups, zk-SNARKs — it is like speaking in tongues to the uninitiated. And let's not forget, the moment you say "decentralized," half the audience pictures a Wild West town with no sheriff, which is not entirely wrong but also not quite right.
The challenge is turning this digital alchemy into something as digestible as a pet rock website without losing the essence of what makes it revolutionary!
