Laura Shin’s Journey Into Crypto


It’s impossible to talk about the crypto industry without Laura Shin’s name rising to the surface. Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, Shin was the first mainstream journalist to cover Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies full-time.

She currently hosts a crypto/blockchain podcast and video series, Unchained, receiving over 15 million downloads and views. She has spoken about cryptocurrency at TEDx San Francisco and been interviewed for documentaries such as Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains, and the Future of the Internet, which debuted in 2020.

With 190K followers on Twitter, she is THE journalistic authority in every facet of the crypto space. She has seen the rise of the industry and been at the frontlines to report on it. Her new book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze, will be released on Tuesday, February 22nd. The book is about Ethereum and the 2017 initial coin offering craze.

With a new book hitting store shelves next week, it’s important to explore her background to understand why her writing and reporting matters. We look to Shin for insight into the crypto space. Why?

A native of Ohio, Shin attended college at Stanford in Palo Alto, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors. Her degree from Stanford was in contemporary literature. Shin continued her studies, and in 2008, she received a Master of Arts from the Colombian School of Journalism.

Laura Shin went to work for a few giants in journalism – Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. However, she wound up quitting all three. She attributes this to growing up without rules and wanting to be her own boss.

Shin went on to join Forbes and began covering personal finance and career. She was appointed editor-in-chief in 2017. She was the first mainstream reporter to cover crypto assets full-time. She has been involved in the crypto space, reporting on its meteoric rise longer than any other journalist.

In her TED talk in 2018, she described Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) before there was a name for them and said they are the future. “Disruption is coming,” she said pointedly. “Leaderless user-owned peer-to-peer networks” will be the future, and they will shift how many of us work. That, right there, is a DAO.

Laura Shin is clear that she does not give investment advice, and anyone that may reach out to you to do so using her name should not be trusted.

“I will never ask you for payment in return for coverage. Scammers are impersonating me, asking for crypto for coverage. THAT IS NOT ME. Please notify me if you receive messages like these.”

– Laura Shin via LinkedIn

Integrity is at the core of who Laura Shin is, which is another reason she is so trusted. She respects the crypto space and wants to report on it accurately.

Shin describes herself as the worker, the owner, and the shareholder in the small corporation of Laura Shin. This is how work is evolving right now. In her TED talk, she says she has seen the future and brought back information.

The wisdom she illuminated the stage with in 2018 is now rapidly playing out in front of us.

About Kit

Kit Campoy is a former retail professional turned freelance writer. She writes about Leadership, Retail, and Web3. Contact Kit for your content needs.


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