CRYPTO MOM MAKES IT BIG

Crypto Weekly

How a Regular

Made it Big With Crypto

Brenda Gentry invested in crypto with only a $4,000 paycheck and now makes up to $85,000 per transaction. After the market crashed in March 2020, she began investing in crypto. She began working full-time on crypto in 2021 while raising her daughters. She makes most of her money by investing in early projects and consulting on crypto and NFT projects.

Brenda Gentry was a mortgage underwriter for 11 years at USAA. After quitting her traditional 9-5 job in 2020, she decided to pursue crypto investing full time. Together with her daughters Cynthia and Imani, she owns Gentry Media Productions, a crypto and NFT consulting firm that markets new crypto and NFT projects focused on gaming. Her Twitter handle is @CryptoMom. “It took me some time to transition from a traditional career into cryptocurrency.” Bitcoin was introduced to her in 2009, right when it was created, but she never considered it a serious investment.

She changed her perception after the 2020 crash. She realized investing in Ethereum and Bitcoin had nothing to lose after seeing how fast the market plunged and how it affected people's retirement accounts. The cryptocurrency hype had her curious, she said, and she wanted to see for herself what was happening. "I invested heavily in cryptocurrency last year when the market tanked," Gentry said. "It opened my eyes to the situation. Also, I thought I had to take matters into my own hands."

Meanwhile, both of Gentry's daughters were members of crypto communities and decentralized autonomous organizations governed by transparent and coded rules. Gentry has also begun to participate in some of these communities, mostly via Telegram groups. Her first experience with altcoins was when she witnessed a few young investors becoming millionaires. She wasn't alone. Due to these huge gains, even those who are not professional traders became interested in cryptocurrencies because of the pandemic. Some used small sums of cash and stimulus cash to dip their toes into speculating. Many others, such as Gentry, have pivoted their careers to take advantage of the booming interest in asset classes.

Her investment journey

In addition to seeing massive gains from her investments, Gentry also invested part of her paycheck herself into certain projects. However, she continued to invest while maintaining her day job at USAA.

As Gentry said, "I love comfort, and have a steady paycheck. It was very difficult for me to convince my brain, 'Alright, you can do this full-time' because after getting used to biweekly [paychecks], it's very hard to convince yourself that, okay, I'm just going to do crypto."

A high amount of risk was also associated with investing in early-stage projects - and she was aware of that. In her view, transparent teams and sound fundamentals are important for projects. Gentry credited her banking background with her success. "I have never been rugged," she said, "but we do

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a lot of due diligence." Her investments increased in the first quarter of 2021 as she became more comfortable with the sector. Purchasing a project called Bundles Finance (BUND) led to her first big success. During the period between December 2019 and December 2020, she bought the crypto at prices between $1.53 and $4, records of her transactions viewed by Insider show. By April of 2021, the stock climbed to over $41, a return of about 2,000%.

Her 9-5 job was no longer necessary as she found a steady monthly income. While she has the option of transferring her gains into USDT, a stablecoin backed by the US dollar, she would prefer to be paid in ETH. As a result, she can spend her crypto cards on anything from groceries, to gas, to a car, if she so chooses. She admits it took some time to get used to switching from fiat to ETH. However, she would rather hold the cryptocurrency and watch it double in value while the dollar's purchasing power loses value due to inflation.

"During the past seven years, Ethereum has gone from $300 to $2600 to $3,000 to $4,000! So why would I want to be paid in USDT?" Gentry asked. "You cannot say, I will take $35,000, but tomorrow it could be $45,000," she said. "Although it could also fall, I'm okay with its volatility as long as I know that it could also rise." Taking risks is Gentry's style, but she admits it may not be for everyone. The returns she's seen in crypto have surpassed those she's seen in her 401(k) over the past 11 years. In addition, she figured she would get the same returns from adding to her 401(k) for another 20 years.

In addition to managing crypto projects, she also takes bets on new ones. She usually transfers the earnings from both sources to Ethereum. According to records of her wallet viewed by Insider, she made about 19 ETH in October from one consulting project. This was equivalent to about $85,000 at the time of the transaction. She made about 10 ETH, which was about $43,000 at the time of the transaction, for another crypto project she was consulting for. In addition, she invests in altcoins to earn further gains.

Her gains are reinvested into crypto startups and charities, she told Insider. During a bear market, Gentry’s strategy is to remain inactive for months at a time. People with stable careers may wish to consider it as a side job for at least two to three years before making it their primary source of income. Still, she says don't be afraid to take risks and see what happens. "It's better than living paycheck to paycheck and staying in your comfort zone," she said. 

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Marketing Campaigns Launched by Crypto Companies to Capture Mainstream Consumers

Continued....

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The Martin Agency recently had some Coinbase ads made, according to CEO Brian Armstrong. Investment and interest in the crypto space are on the rise. Crypto companies like eToro and FTX are using celebrities and splashy advertisements to raise their brand awareness. However, they face challenges in standing out in a crowded field and educating a still-skeptical public.

Crypto exchanges aim to reach the mainstream with millions in marketing in the coming months, bringing a welcome trickle of new revenue to ad agencies still recovering from the crypto pandemic. Companies have generally opted for PR campaigns targeting investors and enthusiasts on platforms like Reddit and Twitter rather than traditional advertising. FTX made history by becoming the first crypto company to buy an advertisement during the Super Bowl.

More than double what cryptocurrency companies raised in 2020, cryptocurrency companies raised $8.6 billion in funding in the first half of 2021. According to Kantar, the advertising budgets for Coinbase and eToro, two of the top exchanges in the US, jumped 57% and 230%, respectively, to $16.3 million and $6.4 million last year. And several top exchanges, including Coinbase, eToro, Crypto.com, Blockfolio, and Gemini, have hired or started looking for ad agencies in recent months, knowledgeable sources said.

Coinbase recently hired The Martin Agency, which has been referred to as the Kleenex of crypto. FTX.US COO Sina Nader told Reuters that brands like his have a make-or-break moment as they compete with publicly-traded companies like Coinbase and financial giants such as MasterCard, JPMorgan Chase, and MassMutual. Nader said FTX processes more than $10 billion in trades every day, but 99% of people outside the crypto community haven't heard of it.

Sponsorships are boosting awareness for some companies. The FTX group spent $135 million to name the American Airlines Arena for the Miami Heat, becoming the NBA's first crypto sponsor. In a 20-year agreement with AEG, the Staples Center was renamed Crypto.com Arena. Trevor Lawrence, the top NFL draft pick in 2020, signed a sponsorship agreement with Blockfolio, which FTX acquired in 2020.

As teams and leagues have grown more familiar with crypto companies, Blockfolio's head of partnerships, Avinash Dabir, said the company will soon announce more global sports marketing deals. Crypto brands frequently feature celebrities. Among the prominent influencers that have sponsored currency exchanges and currencies are MrBeast, Charlie D'Amelio, and Logan Paul, while Neil Patrick Harris just became Coinflip's spokesperson.

Traditional advertising channels like broadcast TV are not yet familiar with crypto exchanges. Brad Michelson, eToro's head of digital marketing, said the company quickly moved on from Twitter gifs with viral bitcoins to display and podcast ads, PR, and platforms that don't usually run fintech advertisements, such as dating app Tinder. Virtue, which Vice owns, was recently hired to develop the company's next big campaign. It is difficult for exchanges to set themselves apart from their competitors and convince people to try their products. In addition, platforms like Facebook and YouTube restrict ads for certain crypto products. (For agencies, the risk is that these companies will spend big and then pull back quickly as their strategies change.)

An April survey conducted by Gemini found that 14% of Americans have invested in crypto, while another 13% plan to do so over the next year. The PR firm Edelman found that only 26% of respondents believed cryptocurrency would positively impact the world, according to a 2020 survey. According to Elizabeth Paul, a crypto company may be tempted to describe itself as an upstart taking on banking giants, but this will lead to commoditization. "The wild west awaits brands here ," she said. Having the entire financial world on the edge of a reorganization is not common in history. 