Beluga Spotlight: Jacquelyn Melinek, Token Relations CEO

About Jacquelyn

Jacquelyn Melinek is the Founder and CEO of Token Relations, and an award-nominated host of the Talking Tokens and Crypto in America podcasts. She previously was a Senior Crypto Reporter at TechCrunch, where she hosted and built a 'Top 50 Tech' podcast series.

Jacquelyn's articles are published in over 100 global news outlets and she's been a featured guest on CNBC Worldwide Exchange, CBS News Prime Time and Yahoo Finance Live for her crypto coverage and analysis.

Questions:

1. You had a great promising career as an upcoming financial journalist.  Why did you decide to go into crypto and join Blockworks?

I previously covered oil trading at Bloomberg then went to S&P Global Platts to cover energy markets more broadly. At the time, the industry was interesting, but I always felt that it was cyclical in nature. The same macroeconomic events were moving the market, only a few people were open to talking on record and price action was relatively predictable. 

It was covid era and I was living in Houston, Texas. But as a native New Yorker, I wanted to get back to the East Coast. I started looking for opportunities in NYC and got two job offers one at a major financial news outlet covering asset management and another was covering crypto at Blockworks. 

The team was smaller at the time, I was the third reporter hire (alongside two other stellar journalists), and I liked the startup energy. It was a shift from the major corporate news outlets I worked at and I wanted a new challenge. At the time, I was deeply intrigued by crypto: its budding innovations, craziness and more. I also thought the space was widely misunderstood; so being able to report on it in a way that educated skeptics and enthusiasts was an opportunity that excited me. 

2. You then went to work for TechCrunch covering crypto in 2022.  In Silicon Valley, TechCrunch is the leading publication for traditional tech.  What was it like working in the crypto department at TechCrunch where most of the attention is given to hot tech companies like Uber, AirBnB, OpenAI, etc?

TechCrunch reached out to me to help them build out their crypto coverage through articles, a newsletter and a podcast. When I joined, the publication wasn’t really known for crypto coverage as you mentioned and they wanted to change that as the attention toward the industry grew from VCs, FinTechs, operators and the like. The crypto department was about three reporters, then dwindled to just me as my colleagues departed to other businesses. For a while I was single handedly covering the whole crypto industry for TechCrunch, something I joke was seemingly impossible. Imagine telling one reporter it’s their job to cover all of AI or all of traditional finance? That was my reality - and as hard as it was, I still loved it.

The attention and traffic ebbed and flowed, similar to the way mainstream audiences pay attention to crypto. Although TechCrunch’s audience is skewed toward that Silicon Valley-type, people wanted to know what was going on in crypto in an easy-to-understand way. The startup scene was hot and VCs were pouring money into founders’ ideas by the hundreds of millions – to billions – of dollars.

Some of the best performing stories were around major funding rounds, institutional adoption, the SBF downfall and trial, as well as the NFT and memecoin craze. 

3. How is the crypto media different from the traditional tech media?

Crypto media appeals to the crypto audience. So a lot of crypto coverage at these publications fit something that interests this industry specifically. Whereas traditional tech media is broader and tied to bigger themes and not as linked to the nitty gritty operations in crypto. 

A lot of the crypto announcements, product updates, upgrades, integrations, etc. do not make it to traditional tech media or business media. It’s too niche, technical and the average reader won’t care about it most times. A lot of tech media is about making sense of innovation and how it can change the way people and society operates. 

4. Why leave TechCrunch to go on your own and launch Token Relations and your Crypto in America Podcast?  The trend has been to join VC firms for people leaving TechCrunch. 

The TC to VC pipeline is definitely real. I could see myself becoming an investor down the line, but I wanted to be an operator after covering so many startup’s stories, I wanted to experience it for myself and for a good reason. 

So when I left TechCrunch, I wanted to cover the industry more broadly in a way that wasn’t fully tapped into yet. A lot of people don’t know what’s going on inside major blockchain ecosystems, protocols or even the token projects they have invested in. They go to X, Discord, Telegram to learn about it, but it’s limited and fragmented. Token Relations create a way for new and existing community members to get continuous, helpful and actionable all-in-one updates on major ecosystems and token projects. We work with most of the major blockchains to help inform their community, tokenholders and traditional firms eyeing their businesses. It’s not PR or marketing, but a third bucket of third-party ecosystem relations that I believe filled a gap that my time as a reporter couldn’t. 

As for Crypto in America, that’s a separate business, but I cofounded out of a want to better inform communities as well. Instead of it being ecosystem-related, it is about making sense of what is happening in DC under the new administration, how the policy changes are impacting the industry, and telling the story of American founders. With that said, we’ve brought on major congressmen, policymakers, founders, VCs and more. Crypto in America is an independent media operation that is focused on being that connecting point between DC and the crypto community. 

5. Crypto has lots of podcasts.  Why is yours different?

So I have two podcasts: Talking Tokens that I host by myself and Crypto in America I cohost with Eleanor Terrett and Gerald Gallagher. 

There’s a lot of crypto podcasts out there. A lot of them are too technical in my opinion and don’t get to know the guests. I’ve been covering the industry through multiple market cycles, while following the biggest trends and narratives. My show, while at TechCrunch, was named a ‘Top 50 Tech’ podcast. My podcast was nominated for a Webby award, so I like to believe I know a thing or two about covering this industry – and in a way listeners enjoy. 

Talking Tokens is a subsidiary to Token Relations, but brings an independent perspective to the crypto space through interviews on the biggest trends, insights and up-and-coming companies or established leaders - to truly explain what is going on in web3. 

Crypto in America is unique as it was one of the first shows dedicated to covering this specific, niche area. Me and my cohosts joke that this show wouldn’t have existed under the past administration because no one would have wanted to come on then due to regulation by enforcement efforts – or it would have just been one big therapy session for guests. Now, it’s about sharing the American founder story, growth opportunities and what these jargon-y bills mean for the industry. It’s an educational show that appeals to big shots on the Hill to the average person wanting to learn more. 

6. Crypto is a $4 trillion industry and has over 600M users, but yet is always looking for the use case that extends beyond crypto trading.  What use cases are you excited about in the next year for the crypto industry?

I don’t think it’s the most flashy use case, but stablecoins integrations are important - especially in emerging markets and to upgrade the existing financial rails. 

I’m also hopeful that ZK technology and privacy-related blockchain tech will expand into mainstream applications so that people can verify and pick the information they share without actually sharing personal information. 

Lastly, I think tokenization is interesting but we don’t need to tokenize everything. That will water down the value of this sector and what it can actually enable.

7. Do you see traditional tech (AI) and crypto intersecting?

Yes, I believe AI needs to be more decentralized in order for it to be truly neutral. We shouldn’t have a small handful of firms controlling this and blockchain technology, among other aspects, can help with this. But when I talk to people building solely in AI, they don’t seem to have the same sentiment, so it’s going to be a big adoption curve to get on the same page. 

8. How do you ensure accuracy or vetting of a crypto story when companies,  founders and data can be very opaque?  

This question reminds me of when I ask founders what you look for in a new hire. Or when I ask VCs what they look for in a founder. A lot of it comes down to certain characteristics these operators have and a gut intuition. Obviously, VCs aren’t investing millions of dollars on just a gut feeling – and I’m not writing an article solely on a gut feeling either. It’s more so how unique and novel is their idea? Is this going to move the needle? Will people care about this? What’s the TAM? Is what they’re saying verifiable from an external third party or data source? These are the types of questions I consider. If I’m not confident in the answer to these questions, I will probably pass on it.

9. What crypto tokens (if any) do you hold in your wallet or have the most passion for?  

My biggest holding is in bitcoin and I have a number of other major cryptocurrencies and a few memecoins (that latter group I definitely should have sold a while ago.) Not financial advice, but I’m a big believer in just buying and holding. The day trading game is not for me, nor do I have time for it. I’m more passionate about sharing founders’ stories and educating the community so they can make more informed decisions. 

10. What are you most excited about in the crypto industry?

The budding mainstream interest from major institutional firms, government agencies and fintech providers. I’m hopeful that one day blockchain technology will power the majority of enterprise businesses, traditional financial rails, supply chains and other pockets that are beyond the web3 industry. I think growing outside of the crypto bubble is the best way to create more use cases, adoption and opportunities.

Liked this interview? Follow Jacquelyn on X to see more from her.