Imagining The Metaverse S1 Ep8: More Money, More Problems

The following is a summary of Imagining the Metaverse Season 1 Episode 8: More Money, More Problems. To watch the full conversation, please follow the links below.

At this point, everyone has heard the term "Bitcoin" and "cryptocurrency," yet a lot of people still don't understand what they actually mean or what they do. In this episode of Imagining the Metaverse, hosts Nicki Sanders and Scott Paul discuss a few common currencies in crypto and explain common questions that people have about crypto.

Coins, Coins, and More Coins

According to Forbes, "There are approximately 21,910 cryptocurrencies, with a total market capitalization of $850 billion. That's quite a crowd considering Bitcoin launched in 2009." For comparison, there are 180 currencies in the world's 197 countries. That's a lot of crypto, and for Scott Paul, exchanging cryptocurrency into tangible cash proved to be a nightmare as he had to work with roughly 30 different cryptocurrencies at a time.

Coins or Tokens?

With the rise of Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs), many people have begun asking the question, what is the difference between a coin and a token? According to Nicki Sanders, a coin usually refers to the native currency on a network—so Ether on Ethereum—while tokens are usually digital assets that are built on top of those chains (For example, HoneyBear on Binance Smart Chain). If that definition isn't clear enough, Scott Paul explains it in a different way: The US Dollar could be described as a coin while a Chuck E. Cheese token would be a token that you can buy with the US Dollar.

To learn more about crypto wallets and crypto financial transactions from Nicki and Scott, please watch or listen to the full conversation below.