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For the latest edition of our Hello Future Investor series, we were joined by Liba Vosahlikova — former COO of Rockaway Blockchain Fund, ex-McKinsey, ex-Goldman Sachs, and Harvard Business School alum — for a packed 45-minute session on everything crypto. Liba has been investing in blockchain since 2018 and has lived through multiple market cycles, making her the perfect guide to help our community cut through the noise.
Here's what we took away.
Crypto 101: What It Actually Is
At its core, blockchain is a financial layer on the Internet. Just as email allowed us to send information instantly and virtually for free, blockchain enables us to move money the same way — across borders, in seconds, at minimal cost.
The origin story matters: Bitcoin's white paper arrived right after the 2008 financial crisis, born out of a desire to build a financial system that doesn't depend on centralized institutions prone to human error. The result is a transparent, trustless, peer-to-peer system powered by math rather than middlemen.
And contrary to popular belief, crypto is not anonymous — it's actually one of the most transparent financial systems in existence. Every transaction is recorded on-chain and publicly verifiable.
Not All Crypto Is Created Equal
Liba made a critical distinction that every investor should understand. The crypto universe spans a massive spectrum:
On one end, you have infrastructure projects like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana — heavily engineered cryptographic systems that generate real revenue through transaction fees. On the other end, you have meme coins — tokens you can spin up in minutes on platforms like pump.fun that are pure speculation (the Trump meme coin, for example, is down roughly 90% from its high).
In between sit NFTs, DeFi protocols, prediction markets, and much more. Knowing where something falls on this spectrum is essential before putting any money in.
The Four-Year Cycle
Crypto markets move in remarkably consistent four-year cycles, each driven by a distinct narrative:
- Cycle 1: Ethereum launches, initial excitement builds
- Cycle 2: ICO boom (initial coin offerings)
- Cycle 3: DeFi Summer and the NFT explosion
- Cycle 4 (now): Bitcoin ETF approval, meme coin mania, and improving regulations
These cycles coincide with Bitcoin halvings — every four years, the amount of new Bitcoin that can be mined is cut in half, reinforcing scarcity (Bitcoin's total supply is capped at 21 million).
The recent market crash? Mostly a cascade of leveraged trader liquidations. A macro trigger (tariff threats) spooked the market, which forced over-leveraged positions to sell, creating a domino effect. The key takeaway: the bottom of each new cycle has historically been higher than the peak of the previous one. Volatility is the price of admission, but the long-term trajectory has been upward.
What's Being Built Underneath the Hype
Here's the counterintuitive upside of crypto's boom-and-bust cycles: each wave of euphoria brings fresh capital into the ecosystem, which funds new projects, which drive real technical improvements. The mania fades, but the infrastructure stays. Liba walked us through what that looks like in practice.
The technology has gotten dramatically better
The numbers tell the story. Ethereum transaction costs dropped from over $22 in 2022 to under 1 cent today — a shift that massively expands the range of viable use cases (micropayments, for instance, are now feasible in a way they simply weren't before). At the same time, blockchain throughput has scaled to the point where networks are now processing more transactions than Nasdaq or Stripe at their peak volumes. Credit card networks still handle more, but the gap is closing fast.
On the energy front, a persistent criticism of crypto is being addressed. Ethereum switched to a different validation mechanism that eliminated its heavy energy requirements entirely. Bitcoin still relies on mining, but miners are increasingly powered by renewables. It's not a perfect picture, but it's no longer the environmental concern it once was.
Regulation is finally catching up
This is a big deal for builders and investors alike. Europe led the way with MiCA, one of the most comprehensive crypto regulatory frameworks in the world, fully implemented in December 2024. Singapore, Japan, and the UAE already have clear frameworks in place.
The US is where things get interesting. There's genuine bipartisan momentum — drafts for crypto regulation existed even before Trump took office, but the current administration has been vocal about making it a priority. The core issue: if you're building a crypto project in the US today, it's still unclear whether you fall under the CFTC (commodities regulator) or the SEC (securities regulator). That ambiguity has real consequences. Liba pointed to Polymarket founder Shane Kaplan, whose apartment was raided by the FBI just a year before the New York Stock Exchange acquired a major stake in Polymarket for $2 billion. That kind of regulatory whiplash illustrates both the risk and the opportunity — clarity, when it comes, will be a massive catalyst.
Institutions are on board
Perhaps the most telling signal: JPMorgan and Vanguard, two of the most vocal crypto skeptics in traditional finance, have both capitulated. They're now actively launching crypto products and figuring out how to integrate blockchain into their operations. The broader institutional shift is clear — as regulatory clarity improves, more banks and asset managers are offering crypto products to clients. Liba's view is that eventually, you won't even know your bank is running on blockchain in the back end. It'll just work — faster, cheaper, and more transparently than today.
The Killer Use Case: Stablecoins
If email was the killer app of the Internet, stablecoins are the killer app of crypto. A stablecoin is simply a US dollar (or other fiat currency) represented on-chain — it moves like crypto but holds its value like cash.
The numbers are striking: stablecoin transaction volume is approaching Visa-level figures, with over $1 trillion processed in a single recent month. The real-world impact is immediate — sending $200 from the US to Nigeria through traditional banking can cost $90 in fees. With stablecoins, it costs almost nothing and arrives in seconds.
This is particularly transformative in developing countries where people are unbanked or face runaway inflation. Buying stablecoins becomes a way to hold dollars and preserve purchasing power.
Real-World Use Cases Worth Watching
Beyond stablecoins, Liba highlighted several categories where real building is happening:
Real-World Assets (RWAs) on chain — Stocks, bonds, gold, real estate, and private credit are starting to be tokenized. This makes them tradeable 24/7 (instead of during narrow market hours) and transferable globally. Still early at $30 billion, but the trajectory is steep.
Prediction Markets — Polymarket lets you bet on real-world outcomes (elections, geopolitics, markets). It's become a powerful real-time signal of what the market actually thinks, and the New York Stock Exchange recently purchased a major stake for $2 billion.
Decentralized Physical Infrastructure (DePIN) — Companies like Helium are building a decentralized telecom network that rivals traditional carriers, powered by individuals who install small hardware nodes and earn tokens. Hivemapper uses a similar model for mapping, having already covered 22 billion kilometers.
AI + Crypto — AI agents can't open bank accounts, but they can hold crypto wallets. As autonomous agents begin performing tasks that require payments, crypto infrastructure becomes the natural financial rail.
Debunking the Myths
Liba tackled the most common misconceptions head-on:
"Crypto is anonymous" — It's actually the opposite. On-chain transactions are fully transparent and traceable.
"Crypto is pure speculation" — Speculation exists (especially in meme coins), but so do legitimate infrastructure projects with real revenue and growing adoption.
"Crypto has no real use cases" — Stablecoins alone process trillions in volume. Prediction markets, DePIN, and tokenized assets are all live and growing.
"Crypto is a bubble that will go to zero" — After 15+ years, institutional adoption (including former skeptics JPMorgan and Vanguard), and comprehensive regulation in multiple jurisdictions, the existential risk argument has largely faded.
Resources to Keep Learning
Liba shared her recommended podcasts and resources for going deeper — reach out to the community if you'd like the full list.
The Hello Future Investor series runs monthly, bringing expert voices to the LUMUS community of women angel investors. Up next: Investing in Culture Tech. See our Event Page for more details
Have ideas for future topics or speakers? You know where to find us.
This is not an investment advice. This article was written for educational purposes only.
