Expert Sessions: “Cryptocurrency 101” with Ben Sigman

When you work in app development, you get to cross paths with some truly brilliant thinkers with bold ideas about tech, society, and the future. Ben Sigman is one such mind. The CEO and founder of IT company We Solve Problems, Ben is, by his own admission, obsessed with cryptocurrencies. (How obsessed is he? Let’s put it like this: he’s currently working on an escape room that will teach children about decentralized blockchain technology.) Sigman seemed like a perfect candidate for our Expert Sessions, a new series we’re hosting at Dogtown Media’s offices where we invite the brightest local thought leaders to come out and speak about a tech topic that they’re really passionate about. For our first talk, we were thrilled to have Ben present a primer on cryptocurrencies.

Entitled “Cryptocurrency 101,” Ben’s talk was a casual, easy-to-understand introduction to the complex world of cryptocurrencies. Even some of the smartest FinTech app developers have a hard time comprehending exactly what cryptocurrencies are and how they work. That’s what makes a presentation like Ben’s so valuable. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies are supposed to be fast, cheap, secure, border-less, deflationary, decentralized, and democratic — but what good is all that if people can’t grasp how it works? Fortunately we have Ben to demystify cryptocurrencies so that the anti-elite future of money can be understood by all.

In addition to his overview of the definition and history of cryptocurrencies, Ben covers the basics of investing and trading, with plenty of helpful tools and resources for the amateur cryptocurrency obsessive. But he has plenty of insight and wisdom for the experts as well. Ben has been “riding the wave,” weathering the ups and downs of the cryptocurrency market for years now. His own initial investment in Bitcoin has thus far multiplied by more than 1000%, so he knows what he’s talking about. Seattle mobile app developers interested in breaking into the cryptocurrency world couldn’t ask for a better guide.

But app developers who want to invest should know that it takes courage, even when the cryptocurrency market is doing as well as it is today. “Whenever people ask me how much money should I put into this, I say, ‘How much do you want to lose?'” he says during the Q and A at the end of the talk. “Because that’s the freedom and attitude you have to have to be able to not have a heart attack while you’re doing this.”

Check out our inaugural Expert Session with the one-and-only Ben Sigman below: