Monty Munford Interview: Blockchain And Crypto In Times Of COVID-19

Monty Munford, tech journalist, blockchain expert and Co-Founder at BlockSpeak podcast series, is the new guest in this interview series for citiesabc.

As it is usual in the series, host Dinis Guarda and Monty Munford discuss major challenges nations, cities and people are facing today. Covid-19 and its impact on the economy and the crypto space and how it is a wake-up call for all of us to do it better in the future. In that regard, blockchain and cryptocurrencies might find in the post-Covid-19 world their best opportunity to stand up and become the drivers of change.

Here is the main topics both experts went through during the interview:

1. Profile and professional background.
2. Work on media
3. The COVID-19 pandemic. The great challenge of our time
4. COVID-19 and its impact on blockchain and crypto industry
5. Post coronavirus world. A look into the future of blockchain and crypto
6. BlockSpeak podcast. How to become an eminence in the blockchain space

Key Takeaways

About COVID-19 crisis. “I am not scared about this, what scares me is the future, what will happen next. This pandemic is our opportunity to do it better in the future. We need to use it to learn and to be more conscious about our environment. This is like a detention time. Humanity is in detention so we need to think about the things we have done wrong and learn from them.”

Opportunities for blockchain and crypto. This could be the time for blockchain and crypto to go to the next level. This pandemic is boosting and accelerating at a super high speed the use of technology and going all-out digital. It is the perfect opportunity to start truly collaborative blockchain and crypto projects and make them happen.”

About blockchain. “I believe in blockchain and I think blockchain is doing a lot of good for many people. In Africa, for example, there are apps that track money and transactions thanks to the proof of concept so it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Other examples are companies that are tracking where the lithium comes from, the mines where it is extracted all the way to the consumer so people can really trace the supply chain. This way we are introducing a new consumerism culture and help people make the right decisions when buying specific products.”

About BlockSpeak podcast. “What we wanted with this podcast is to help people understand what blockchain and cryptocurrencies really mean and all the potential that this technology has. We are only interviewing the right people for it.”

Monty Munford is a well known tech-journalist and blockchain enthusiast who started his career working for several years as a motorbike dispatch-rider in London, before retraining as a journalist at the London College of Printing in 1998.

From 2015-2019 Munford was a tech columnist for Forbes in New York and The Telegraph in London. He has also contributed to TechCrunch, Mashable, Fast Company, The Huffington Post, Wired. MIT Technology Review, The Independent, The Inquirer, The Guardian,] The Observer, Financial Times, and The Times of India. He has a Google News-verified tech blog, Mob76 Outlook.

He has interviewed Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, John McAfee, and Roger Ver. In August 2019, Munford reported that he had been defrauded of £25,000 in cryptocurrency, mainly Bitcoin and Ethereum, when his private keys were stolen from his Gmail account.

Munford has also written and self-published The Dust Bowls of Maturity.

In 2005 Munford joined mobile media games publisher and distributor Player X having previously worked for mobile game testing house Babel Media. Munford left Player X to devote his time to connecting UK and Indian mobile content providers working with Paramount and FC Liverpool, as well as to pursue acting in Bollywood. In 2011, he returned to the UK and set up his own consultancy Mob76. Mob76 works with companies to help them raise money, raise their profile, connect with the right network and eventually exit via acquisition.

Munford has acted in two Bollywood films: as a 1930s British officer for the Ashutosh Gowariker film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, and as a Russian gangster in the Rohan Sippy film Dum Maro Dum.

He recently started his podcast BlockSpeak where he carries out Weekly interviews with influential people in the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Space.