6 Questions for Adelle Nazarian on crypto, journalism and the future of Bitcoin
Adelle Nazarian is the top staffer at the American Blockchain PAC, where she serves as its CEO. But she has a long story to tell about her life prior to her time in the crypto industry — from her Persian roots to her career in journalism.
Nazarian, who worked as a freelance journalist after serving in positions with mainstream outlets that included Fox News and CNN, said her work contributed to her disillusionment with the media. “Working in journalism was really eye-opening for me because I witnessed how divisive and activist-oriented it’s become,” she said in an interview with Cointelegraph.
She said her desire to work in a role that contributed to people’s betterment was one of the driving factors that led her to the American Blockchain PAC in 2021, saying, “I saw Bitcoin as being one way of providing an opportunity to people everywhere in the world to pull themselves up in life.”
1) Your family fled from Iran before the Iranian Revolution, but you’ve never visited. Do you speak Farsi? Tell us more about your background.
My parents were both born in Tehran, Iran and emigrated to the United States when they were young. My father was 15 and my mother was 12. I was raised speaking Farsi and English. (I also speak Mandarin Chinese and French.) It is one of my dreams to visit Iran someday in the future. I’d love to visit so many parts of the country and especially to visit Isfahan, which is where my maternal grandparents were born and raised. I am proud to come from such a rich, diverse and beautiful cultural background.
My mom is a homemaker and also had a caviar business for several years and my father is an entrepreneur.
2) You used to work in journalism — at Fox News, CNN and elsewhere. Why’d you make the transition into crypto?
Working in journalism was really eye-opening for me because I witnessed how divisive and activist-oriented it’s become. Reporting a story isn’t about the facts anymore for some journalists — it’s about injecting their own ideas.
I really enjoyed doing investigative journalism, but I consider myself to be an entrepreneur and philanthropist at heart. I felt that, really, the blockchain space was a way to be able to have a platform to utilize my experience and work with diverse people — from leaders of countries to everyday people — and see how everyone’s experience is truly predicated on one underlying theme that connects them all.
That theme is the desire and ability to create a better life for themselves and those around them. It’s such a factor that determines your lot in life. I saw Bitcoin as being one way of providing an opportunity to people everywhere in the world to pull themselves up in life. It also provides governments with the opportunity to reduce their reliance on war as a way to increase wealth.
3) Tell us about the American Blockchain PAC.
The American Blockchain PAC was founded as a way to provide a space for everyone interested in seeing a sound regulatory framework to define what crypto is and what Bitcoin is, and in clearly defining and understanding them and how they’re classified in the United States.
Related: Crypto industry seeks to educate, influence US lawmakers as it faces increasing regulation
We boost candidates running for office who support blockchain technology. But I think a lot of political action committees try to only basically pick and support candidates who will win — and we don’t just do that. We’re also trying to educate and inform people about crypto and the adoption of digital assets, and enable them to push back against legislation that could harm them at the end of the day.
4) What’s your favorite crypto?
Bitcoin — because it’s different from other cryptocurrencies. I believe everyone is grateful that the SEC made it very clear that Bitcoin is not a security. I think that Ethereum began with good intentions but may have steered away from its original vision. That said, I think there is a bright future for it and an opportunity for it to evolve. Bitcoin is a pioneer in the digital assets space. It started the revolution we are living through today.
Unfortunately, I think a lot of meme coins and altcoins have put a bad taste in people’s mouths when it comes to digital assets, and I think it strengthens the argument for Bitcoin greatly.
5) Does it matter if we ever figure out who Satoshi really is or was? Why, or why not?
There are two quotes I like: “No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot,” by Mark Twain and “The truth is a strange thing. You can try to suppress it but it will always find its way to the surface.”
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So of course there are people who are faking and pretending to be Satoshi. The “FakeToshi” hashtag is an indicator of that fact. But at the end of the day, the real Satoshi Nakamoto is alive, and he is not a Japanese man. I recently read Ivy McLemore’s book, Finding Satoshi, and it was intriguing.
Anyone who has actually done their due diligence and studied Bitcoin understands there must be some reason for Bitcoin’s origins. Satoshi did not want these so-called “trusted” third parties and banks running away with consumer cash, which is a persistent issue — just look at what occurred with FTX. It’s ironic that what he’s stood against from Day 1 — “trusted” third parties like FTX — have actually become the main tools for buying and selling Bitcoin. This is not in line with his original vision.
As for whether it matters who Satoshi is, only the real Satoshi will pave the way for the next generation of Bitcoin and dozens of new and emerging industries that will benefit from the underlying blockchain technology. Satoshi created Bitcoin to be decentralized and peer-to-peer. He never sought to do any of this based on his own personal greed or agenda. He did this for the world. Technically, we are all Satoshi.
It’s the vision that matters, because even the most incredible technology — without vision — is a dormant tool. Bitcoin was created to elevate humanity in a truly unprecedented way in our collective history.
6) What do you do in your free time?
I’m a big foodie. I enjoy different cuisines. I can make recipes from all over the world. Being Persian, one of my favorites is khoresht gheymeh— it’s a tomato-based stew made with beef, lentils and spices, served traditionally with rice and tahdig — a crispy golden crust over fluffy rice. I also enjoy working out, reading, and traveling. I love to travel.
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Politics
Specialist teams and online investigators deployed across England and Wales to tackle ‘national emergency’ of violence against women and girls
Specialist investigation teams for rape and sexual offences are to be created across England and Wales as the home secretary declares violence against women and girls a “national emergency”.
Shabana Mahmood said the dedicated units will be in place across every force by 2029 as part of Labour’s violence against women and girls (VAWG) strategy due to be launched later this week.
The use of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs), which had been trialled in several areas, will also be rolled out across England and Wales. They are designed to target abusers by imposing curfews, electronic tags and exclusion zones.
The orders cover all forms of domestic abuse, including economic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, stalking and ‘honour’-based abuse. Breaching the terms can carry a prison term of up to five years.
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Govt ‘thinking again’ on abuse strategy
Nearly £2m will also be spent funding a network of officers to target offenders operating within the online space.
Teams will use covert and intelligence techniques to tackle violence against women and girls via apps and websites.
A similar undercover network funded by the Home Office to examine child sexual abuse has arrested over 1,700 perpetrators.
Abuse is ‘national emergency’
Ms Mahmood said in a statement: “This government has declared violence against women and girls a national emergency.
“For too long, these crimes have been considered a fact of life. That’s not good enough. We will halve it in a decade.
“Today, we announce a range of measures to bear down on abusers, stopping them in their tracks. Rapists, sex offenders and abusers will have nowhere to hide.”
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Angiolini Inquiry: Recommendations are ‘not difficult’
The target to halve violence against women and girls in a decade is a Labour manifesto pledge.
The government said the measures build on existing policy, including facial recognition technology to identify offenders, improving protections for stalking victims, making strangulation a criminal offence and establishing domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms.
Read more from Sky News:
Demands for violence and abuse reforms
Women still feel unsafe on streets
Minister ‘clarifies’ violence strategy
Labour has ‘failed women’
But the Conservatives said Labour had “failed women” and “broken its promises” by delaying the publication of the violence against women and girls strategy.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said that Labour “shrinks from uncomfortable truths, voting against tougher sentences and presiding over falling sex-offender convictions. At every turn, Labour has failed women”.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will be on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning from 8.30am.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a crypto wallet and custody guide investor bulletin on Friday, outlining best practices and common risks of different forms of crypto storage for the investing public.
The SEC’s bulletin lists the benefits and risks of different methods of crypto custody, including self-custody versus allowing a third-party to hold digital assets on behalf of the investor.
If investors choose third-party custody, they should understand the custodian’s policies, including whether it “rehypothecates” the assets held in custody by lending them out or if the service provider is commingling client assets in a single pool instead of holding the crypto in segregated customer accounts.
Crypto wallet types were also outlined in the SEC guide, which broke down the pros and cons of hot wallets, which are connected to the internet, and offline storage in cold wallets.
Hot wallets carry the risk of hacking and other cybersecurity threats, according to the SEC, while cold wallets carry the risk of permanent loss if the offline storage fails, a storage device is stolen, or the private keys are compromised.
The SEC’s crypto custody guide highlights the sweeping regulatory change at the agency, which was hostile to digital assets and the crypto industry under former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s leadership.
Related: SEC sends warning letters to ETF issuers targeting untamed leverage
The crypto community celebrates the SEC guide as a transformational change in the agency
“The same agency that spent years trying to kill the industry is now teaching people how to use it,” Truth For the Commoner (TFTC) said in response to the SEC’s crypto custody guide.
The SEC is providing “huge value” to crypto investors by educating prospective crypto holders about custody and best practices, according to Jake Claver, the CEO of Digital Ascension Group, a company that provides services to family offices.
SEC regulators published the guide one day after SEC Chair Paul Atkins said that the legacy financial system is moving onchain.
On Thursday, the SEC gave the green light to the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a clearing and settlement company, to begin tokenizing financial assets, including equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and government debt securities.
Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom
Greens leader Zack Polanski has rejected claims his party would push for open borders on immigration, telling Sky News it is “not a pragmatic” solution for a world in “turmoil”.
Mr Polanski distanced himself from his party’s “long-range vision” for open borders, saying it was not in his party’s manifesto and was an “attack line used by opponents” to question his credibility.
It came as Mr Polanski, who has overseen a spike in support in the polls to double figures, refused to apologise over controversial comments he made about care workers on BBC Question Time that were criticised across the political spectrum.
Mr Polanski was speaking to Sky News earlier this week while in Calais, where he joined volunteers and charities to witness how French police handle the arrival of migrants in the town that is used as a departure point for those wanting to make the journey to the UK.
He told Sky News he had made the journey to the French town – once home to the “Jungle” refugee camp before it was demolished in 2016 – to tackle “misinformation” about migration and to make the case for a “compassionate, fair and managed response” to the small boats crisis.
He said that “no manifesto ever said anything about open borders” and that the Greens had never stood at a general election advocating for them.
“Clearly when the world is in political turmoil and we have deep inequality, that is not a situation we can move to right now,” he said.
“That would also involve massive international agreements and cooperation. That clearly is not a pragmatic conversation to have right now. And very often the government try to push that attack line to make us look not pragmatic.”
The party’s manifesto last year did not mention open borders, but it did call for an end to the “hostile environment”, more safe and legal routes and for the Home Office to be abolished and replaced with a department of migration.
Asked why the policy of minimal restrictions on migration had been attributed to his party, Mr Polanski said open borders was part of a “long-range vision of what society could look like if there was a Green government and if we’d had a long time to fix some of the systemic problems”.
‘We should recognise the contribution migrants make’
Mr Polanski, who was elected Green Party leader in September and has been compared to Nigel Farage over his populist economic policies, said his position was one of a “fair and managed” migration system – although he did not specify whether that included a cap on numbers.
He acknowledged that there needed to be a “separate conversation” about economic migration but that he did not believe any person who boarded a small boat was in a “good situation”.
While Mr Polanski stressed that he believed asylum seekers should be able to work in Britain and pay taxes, he also said he believed in the need to train British workers in sectors such as care, where one in five are foreign nationals.
Asked what his proposals for a fair and managed migration system looked like, and whether he supported a cap on numbers, Mr Polanski said: “We have 100,000 vacancies in the National Health Service. One in five care workers in the care sector are foreign nationals.
Zack Polanski speaks to Sky News from a warehouse in Calais where charities and organisations provide migrants with essentials.
“Now, of course, that is both British workers and we should be training British workers, but we should recognise the contribution that migrants and people who come over here make.”
I’m not going to apologise’
Mr Polanski also responded to the criticism he attracted over his comments about care workers on Question Time last week, where he told the audience: “I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly want to wipe someone’s bum” – before adding: “I’m very grateful for the people who do this work.”
His comments have been criticised by a number of Labour MPs, including Wes Streeting, the health secretary, who said: “Social care isn’t just ‘wiping someone’s bum’. It is a hard, rewarding, skilled professional job.
“This is immigration as exploitation.”
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The Greens leader who wants to be the Farage of the left
Will Farage racism allegations deter voters?
Asked whether he could understand why some care workers might feel he had talked down to them, the Greens leader replied: “I care deeply about care workers. When I made those comments, it’s important to give a full context. I said ‘I’m very grateful to people who do this important work’ and absolutely repeat that it’s vital work.”
“Of course, it is not part of the whole job, and I never pretended it was part of the whole job.”
Mr Polanski said he “totally” rejected the suggestion that he had denigrated the role of care workers in the eyes of the public and said his remarks were made in the context of a “hostile Question Time” where he had “three right-wing panellists shouting at me”.
Pressed on whether he wanted to apologise, he replied: “I’m not going to apologise for being really clear that I’m really grateful to the people who do this really vital work. And yes, we should be paying them properly, too.”
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