Brenda “Cryptomom” Gentry is a DeFi enthusiast, NFT advisor, former Banker, founder of gentry Media Productions, and CEO of Bundlesbets.com. During the interview, she gives an in-depth description of Blockchain and Web3 along with Cryptocurrency investment tips.
Rashad Thirlkill
People that listen to my podcast would know who is being here today on Millionaire By Morning. We have Miss Crypto Mom.
Cryptomom
Yay!
Rashad Thirlkill
Yay! And a little background about her.
She has 15 years of experience in traditional banking. Her investing techniques and expertise in the DeFi and NFT space has made her a sought-out advisor for many projects. Her knowledge of the digital media sphere includes managing Gentry Media Productions and is now the new owner of Bundlebets.com, a crypto sports betting platform. That’s just a tad bit about her background or her story.
Brenda Gentry, aka Crypto Mom began working as a mortgage underwriter at USA Eight with over twelve years of experience and an annual salary of $70,000 in 2019. By 2020, Brenda starts researching cryptocurrency and investing small amounts of money during the 2020 lockdown.
By 2021, Brenda receives her first substantial returns from the money invested in 2020, with her crypto portfolio surpassing over $400,000. Later in the year, she launched Gentry Media Productions crypto with her daughter Cynthia and Imani.
By 2022, she is currently on a mission to introduce more women and minorities into Web3 by educating and helping them achieve financial freedom via DeFi and NFTs.
Cryptomom
Correct.
Rashad Thirlkill
She has been featured in major publications such as The Sun, CNBC Make It, Business Insider, Black Enterprise, and NBC News, just to name a few. Ms. Crypto Mom, welcome to the Millionaire By Morning podcast!
Cryptomom
Thank you so much for inviting me, Rashad. I wanted to join you last year. I think you sent me a message last year, right?
Rashad Thirlkill
Yeah, it’s been a while.
Cryptomom
I know, and I just got too busy with life and stuff. But thank you. Thank you for inviting me.
Rashad Thirlkill
No problem. That’s what happened. I think now is a good time to do the interview because we’ve been able to see crypto talked about in the media. Crypto is being talked about a lot. Crypto go up and come back down.
Cryptomom
Yes, the timing is right.
Rashad Thirlkill
The timing is perfect. So, what I want to do is get a little bit into the reason that you’re saying this will allow for an even playing field for minorities and people of color. Why is that?
Cryptomom
Now the reason I say that is I’ve been in banking and I’ve been in the field of finance for so long that I do realize it’s not a level playing field. Especially if you go to the bank and see that the under banks are not able to get the same amount. Your credit rating will set you behind in a lot of ways.
Not even that, there are people living in this country and obviously can’t even access any kind of fund when they really need it. In the 80s, when the take boom started, again minorities were left behind.
In the mid-90s, we didn’t know too much about who the big tech Bros were, and we came to find out later it was the Tesla founder. It was obviously Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates and just the guy who have access to the resources to learn about technology. So, with a new technology that’s been presented to us, we should definitely be the first ones taking advantage.
But what I get and hear a lot is people are so skeptical about the volatility, and they are not paying attention to ten years ahead. Like, they’re just focusing on now, which is not a good way to gauge any investment.
Rashad Thirlkill
Definitely. I actually watched Ice Cube. Well, first, let me say this because I follow you on Twitter. You have a lot of Twitter followers. You give a lot of advice on Twitter.
Cryptomom
Yeah, and you give advice too.
Rashad Thirlkill
Yeah, definitely. The difference is that you have crypto. That is a marathon; it’s not a sprint. I actually have you on the Millionaire by Morning. So, for people thinking crypto is going to get you rich overnight, this is not what this conversation is about.
Cryptomom
Oh, my God. They’re going to ask somebody.
Rashad Thirlkill
Right. So, what is your advice for people that want to stay in it long-term and be able to hold what they currently have or invested in when the market is so volatile?
Cryptomom
Okay, so one thing I’ve noticed about a lot of us, and I say us by people of color especially. We get so excited when the market is up. It doesn’t matter market. When I say market, I mean, even stock market and crypto as well. That’s when you have people reaching out to you. What should I buy? How should I buy? When should I buy? You know what I’m saying?
A lot of people are so concerned when it’s at the top that they forget that people don’t buy it at the top. People buy it at the bottom. And when it’s at the bottom, my phone is silent. Like, I get zero calls. I get DMs about contracts I have with my partnership. But regular jobs are not calling when they should be calling or they’re not finding out.
Everybody, right now, I go sometimes with the names alone or anywhere I go. Most people know me as Crypto Mom. They’re like, oh, crypto is so dead. It’s dead. Forget about it.
You know this is the same thing people were saying in 2015. You know what I’m saying? At the same time, I’m looking at my 401(k) portfolio. I was looking at my 401(k) portfolio. My crypto holdings have surpassed my 401(k) portfolio. And even looking at my husband’s 401(k) portfolio for the last 20 years, it doesn’t add up.
Like, okay, you’ve been working for this company for so long, you should at least show a certain amount of six figures, which you have six figures, but it shouldn’t be on a certain. It can be that statement for ten years, you know what I’m saying?
But if I invest a certain amount in my crypto holdings, it’s not going to take me more than ten years to see a good return. That’s what a lot of people are forgetting that we are not trying to get rich quick. That’s a very bad narrative that people have put out there because some people that are saying they are multi-millionaires from crypto, these people invested in 2012, 2013.
The billionaires like obviously we have CZ, he owns the Crypto Exchange, the two billionaires that I know that are in the top 30. And then we have the owner of Ethereum Vitali. They invested in 2015. So, we’re coming in in 2020 and expecting to make multi-millions overnight. We got to be realistic with life, like dude, it’s not going to happen that quick. But at least it’s going to happen faster than my traditional job.
Rashad Thirlkill
Faster than a 401(k) or faster. So, would you say crypto is in addition to 401(k) or a part of the portfolio? Or should people really just kind of go all in because of the return?
Cryptomom
I do diversify and the reason for that is I live my husband’s portfolio the way it is now. My portfolio is most crypto, like 95% is now mostly crypto. Why? Because I have a safe haven and I know that my portfolio wouldn’t do a 2X in two years.
There’s no way your 150,000 is going to be 300,000 in two years. But if I move some of that to different assets, then I know it’s going to be 2X by the end of it. Look at Ethereum, where it is right now. At 1,793, right?
Ethereum has been down there since last month, right below 2000. So, are you telling me in the next two years Ethereum is not going to pull up to our 401(k)? You know what I’m saying?
To me, they’re talking about Blue Chip. They don’t want to mess with the Altcoin. Ethereum’s a bag that I can hold for two to three years and I’ll get a 2X for sure on that. Even if it’s just if it says that 15, 16, 1,700 for three or four months, I’m okay with that. Six months. I’m okay with that. Because by the time it wakes up, like when it did last year, it got to 4300 before the end of the year.
So, that’s how I gauge my investments. I know that even when I had my money in the bank, even if you put 50K in the bank and let it sit for six months, I’m going to get a penny on top of it. But with an asset class like Ethereum or even Solana, I know when the market is back up, it’s going to give me a 2X or even a 3X.
Rashad Thirlkill
Oh, yeah, that’s a lot better.
Cryptomom
Yeah. And then you’re not sending people to tokens. They don’t know because people are very skeptical. A lot of people reach out to me and like, oh, good, unless the money in my bank is insured by FDIC, cool. It’s insured by FDIC, but it’s being loaned out to other people while you’re not using it.
You know, like, when the 2020 pandemic thing happened, I worked for the bank, and I couldn’t even access $10,000 if we all went to the bank at the same time. A bank run happens and we all go access money, all our accounts will be frozen to where you can only take out a certain amount. It’s because what they’re doing is your money is being loaned out to somebody else.
I’d rather have my money and invest it the way I want.
Rashad Thirlkill
Yeah, you’re right about that. Do you operate as an advisor? You’re an investor and an advisor, am I correct?
Cryptomom
Yeah. So what I do as of last year, a lot of people that were reaching out to me are looking for their projects to be launched in Web3. And when I mean Web3, it’s obviously the new advanced Internet.
When Web2.0 was read and write, Web3 is you are able to you can make it your own. You can change it, you can build it however you want. So, a lot of people who are coming into Web3 and their projects are asking for how can I navigate this new space? And that’s what I’m focusing on, at least Gentry Media, we already have about four contracts going right now with three big startups in the space.
Rashad Thirlkill
Okay. So, if you could explain to someone on the surface level the difference between Web2.0 and Web3, how would you explain that?
Cryptomom
The way I like to explain it to noobs or people who are just new to the space. Web1.0 was read-only. You know, when we started, when the Internet first came about, you couldn’t make any changes to it. You just read what was on the Internet.
Web2.0 is read and write. You can like go to Wikipedia and I mean, you read, but you can put your information on Wikipedia and you can update or your peeps can update or your publisher can update some stuff.
But Web2.0 is also not owned by everybody. Web2.0 was owned by technology institutions, I would say the big tech giants, Yahoo, Google, Twitter, all those are Web2.0.
Web3 is owned by everybody. You can own a part of Web3. Like, if you start today, Rashad, you go to Rashad.io, you own that. It’s yours, and you can change it. You can do whatever you want with it. It belongs to you. Nobody is going to say, hey, you got to pay me because this is part of the decentralized. We all own it. We all own Web3 and it’s read, write, and we own it.
Rashad Thirlkill
Okay. All right. So, that takes me to my next question.
I woke up this morning, Ice Cube, one of my favorite rappers. He was on FoxBusiness.
Cryptomom
I like him too.
Rashad Thirlkill
So, yeah, he’s taken his big three basketball League, and now he’s offering NFTs in which fans can be a part-owner of his basketball League through NFT.
Cryptomom
He’s a genius. I love that.
Rashad Thirlkill
This is a good example of putting it into reality where people can understand. So, how is that possible for him to be able to do that? How would that work, if you can explain?
Cryptomom
Yeah. The way they’re doing this and I’m going to give an example before I talk about him, I’m going to give an example.
Mark Cuban, for example. When I spoke to him in March, he wanted to find out how NFTs can be incorporated. I mean, now they’re doing Dogecoin for tickets, but they wanted to incorporate NFTs so that when you hog their NFT, you can access this NFT.
You can access the Stadium with this NFP. But there are other products too. It would give other utility like you would probably be front row. You know, it gives more utility to the NFT. So with Icu Cube, what he’s doing, and I’m sure a lot of people will start doing that, is that sometimes the teams have a lot of overhead. Right?
Because a lot of the teams have a lot of overhead, if I start an NFP and I say this is for the players or for the team, a lot of people that are going to, you know, the funds will obviously run to buy this NFT. And when they’re buying it for $300 or $400, then they’re told of whatever the utility behind this is.
I’m sure if he’s saying that they can be involved or part-owners, he’s going to price it to where it makes sense for him and for you. So, it could be tiers. You could have Tier1 – $200. You just probably hold NFT and can go watch it again. Tier2 is about $1,000, or one to where you have decision-making in the team. Tier3 is like now you really have access to the players.
So, what he’s doing is something revolutionary in terms of what NFTs can do because people, especially fans, we live in a time where fans are celebrated. You need fans. And for the fans to be able to vote on your decision? Oh, man, they’ll buy those NFts up, they’ll eat them up big time.
Rashad Thirlkill
Oh, man. So we’re moving into we’re living in a time to where we’re moving into a totally different space.
Cryptomom
Yeah, totally different space. Anyway, I think my daughter, she was listening, she dig deeper into the explanation of Web1.0 and Web2.0. Okay. So, I’ll go back to that. She reminded me the internet was dialup when it started. It’s a few decades old and the process has evolved.
So, when we enjoyed Web1.0 again, like I said, it was read-only, meaning that the information was one way. Whoever created the website and the users, we consumed it.
With Web2.0, what we actually have today is read, write, exchange. Right?
So, you get user-generated content like social networks and products you use become part of online activity. Web2.0 still has a lot of internet. There’s still a lot of gatekeepers with Web2.0.
So, Web3, even though now it’s tied closely to crypto is the decentralization that people like. The execution part is like it’s trustless, it’s permissionless. Like anybody can use Web3. So, that’s what showed me to elaborate more on that.
Rashad Thirlkill
Thank you. Thank you, daughter.
If everyone is able to I just came up with this question. But if everyone is able to have a say in Web3, especially the way that everything is and the world is and how do you keep it from becoming the Wild Wild West if everyone is kind of just free to do what they please?
Cryptomom
That is actually a good question. So, I look at the internet where patrons can’t block creators from generating income. Where Twitter can’t put voices for speaking out and Cuba or China, they can’t block their populations from accessing the websites.
If you go to Dubai, you’re limited to what you can and cannot do on the internet. So, I look at it like that and I don’t think because I know we’re early with Web3 and it is actually the Wild Wild West, we can see NFTs that are coming up that are not even worth looking at and people are buying. But I’m sure regulation is coming. And even though regulation is coming, I don’t think they can really tramp it to where you’re not able to. Your voice is not heard.
Like every place where you go, even gold mine. If you go find a gold mine, you’re going to find some things there that you have to deal with. So, I think that part is something that we probably have to just probably get used to. But I don’t think it would ever be the Wild Wild West like some other countries don’t even allow the people or media to put certain things on there.
So, I think it’s a win for us. Now, I think I know it’s a win for people and especially countries that are trying to like China and Cuba, where you block their populations from accessing websites and applications and payments can be made without trusting your money to anybody. Like paper.
Like I can send my money to my parents in England directly without having a third-party involved. That’s what I look at when I’m talking about Web3. That’s the joy of Web3 to me. I’m looking for the things that are beneficial to me and my family.
Rashad Thirlkill
Right!
So, yeah, it’s like, okay, I can worry about me. This one is going to get us where we want to go.
Cryptomom
Yeah. Because this middleman thing has been around for too long. You know. Everybody wants to eat in the middle before it gets to where it needs to go. But I cut out the middleman, and I want to go straight to the source.
Rashad Thirlkill
That’s awesome because I noticed that you stay positive through it all. Even with your advice on Twitter and everything, you can just tell that you’re really positive and you really believe in everything that you provide. Everything that you say, you totally believe in it.
I think that’s awesome because a lot of people are easily swayed or wavered when the market got volatile. I’ve seen so many people who had changed their whole profile.
Cryptomom
I know. And you know what, let me tell you, Rashad, and I’m probably speaking before you finish, but this was a really bad crash. I don’t know if you follow the USC Luna crash?
Rashad Thirlkill
Yeah.
Cryptomom
A lot of people lost money. So, this was enough for people to pack up and say, I’m done. I have people that I know. One guy did an article with me. He was on The New York Times, and he had about a million invested in Luna.
So, people have lost a lot of money. I understand and feel for them. But the writing was on the wall. People were warned. People were told last year that this was going to happen with this particular stable coin so that it drags Bitcoin down. That’s us to blame. It’s us as a community. I take ownership for letting my community know. And I’m thankful that my community did not get impacted.
When I say community, I’m talking about the people that are involved in my followers or the people that are on our Telegram or the people that are the NFT projects that have helped. We let them know ahead of time.
But, yeah, a lot of people are in here for the wrong reasons and a lot of them are changing their profile pictures.
Rashad Thirlkill
Yeah. I noticed.
Cryptomom
It’s not a border anymore, right? Yeah.
Rashad Thirlkill
I watched it in real-time. Oh, man.
So, yeah. With you saying that, one of my questions is what is the importance, like, on a scale of 1-10 of being a part of a community, like a crypto community, like the one that you have on your Telegram?
Cryptomom
I feel the community is so important because some of the invaluable information that you don’t hear anywhere, you hear it with these people.
Remember, crypto is 24/7. It was not just the US that you’re dealing with. You’re dealing with Asia. You’re dealing with Europe, Australia, and Africa. So, when you’re sleeping, stuff is still happening. When we go to bed in the US, guess what? Australia is waking up. China is waking up. I mean, Asia is waking up. So, we want to stay informed.
Like, okay, so what happened when I went to bed? I can find it all on Twitter. But Twitter moves too quick. It moves really fast and it’s easy for you to actually miss information. So, when you have a good chat of like, our community. I have BundlesBets community. And we do have a price discussion.
Now that price discussion talks about all tokens of prices. Bitcoin, Ethereum where they see us. Are we in a bear market? Are we going to be here for the next six months? How are people feeling? They talk about goals and stuff like that.
So, it’s everything and it’s good knowledge. A lot of people in crypto, believe it or not. I think to me, I think they’re geniuses. I’m like, you guys are so smart. How did you even think that? They’re really smart people in this space.
So, I feel like community. If I got into crypto and I didn’t have community around me, I wouldn’t have stayed there. I would have moved to a different field.
Rashad Thirlkill
Right.
Yeah. It’s so much other stuff to do online. Or you could make money if you’re in the right threads, if you’re in the right community, in the right rooms.
So, really quick, I’m going to ask you definitions just for anybody just starting from the ground up who’s never even heard of these terms.
What is DeFi?
Cryptomom
DeFi is my joy. I love DeFi. DeFi is decentralized finance. It’s the opposite of what we have now, which is traditional finance. Now, I come from a background of traditional finance, which makes me laugh if I even more, because I know that the dollar has been around since the early 1900s or even the late 1800s, almost over 100 years. And it’s time for a different asset to just be.
A new asset class is important right now. Mainly, especially look at inflation. With inflation the way it is, everybody is wondering why is it that my $100 with which I could go to Walmart or Target and buy so many things? It’s only giving me five things or ten things.
But if we have digital assets and the value keeps going up, then that would give me more for my buck.
But anyway, not to compare digital assets. I have just been around banking too long to know that the system is too old and it needs to be replaced. Even if it doesn’t get replaced, we need at least a digital dollar. We need another asset class that complements the dollar.
So DeFi stands for decentralized finance. It gives you better rates, better APYs, and you’re able to not have a middleman like big institutions. We have a middleman in traditional finance. But decentralized finance, it’s just you are your bank. You are the bank.
Rashad Thirlkill
That’s awesome.
What is an NFT?
Cryptomom
An NFT is a nonfungible token. And the reason I will define it for noobs, like, really, I’ll just go to the easiest way that I know is any digital asset that’s stored on a blockchain.
Now, when I say asset, a lot of people are seeing only ads like JPEGs. Right. It’s more than that.
Like, you just said what Ice Cube is doing with his team. They have NFTs that are also for tickets, music, and real estate.
A lot of people that I’ve been talking to in the last two months, are you going to be getting into NFTs for real estate? So, you know how you go to buy a house and you get a title and behind the scenes, because I’ve been a realtor and I’ve been in title business before, you got to go through so many records back, whatever.
We want to see who the owner was. We want to see this. That’s all going to in the future be replaced by NFTs. So once you hold that NFT, it’s on the blockchain. Everything is on the blockchain. Everything is recorded on the blockchain for the next century, 300-400 years.
So, you don’t have to have it. Like, you got to go to title and print out this. No, it’s all on the blockchain. And that’s the joy of digital assets. It’s in recorded form. And it also gives you for the people that own ads. And I’ve been selling their ads, and they only get paid once. NFTs give you residual income. So, you can be dead and gone, but the money, every time it changes hands, that NFP, you still get some residual income from them.
Rashad Thirlkill
Okay. I think I got it. Basically, what you and I are going to do is cut this into two different interviews. Right. So this one will be for newbies and the what is or whatnot. Then we’re going to get into BundlesBets on the next one and your Telegram and the discord and everything, the tools that you need to get started and move forward.
Cryptomom
Of course. Yeah, I love that. Yes, sir.
Rashad Thirlkill
So, this is part one of part two. And I want to thank you very much for coming on. I know you’re a very busy person, and I look forward to the next time. I’ll be in touch on Twitter.
Cryptomom
Yes, sir. Definitely.
Rashad Thirlkill
Thank you for checking out the interview today with Brenda Gentry crypto. We look to enlighten you. If you would like to support the show, we don’t believe in accepting handouts. So, we have made available merchandise that we will provide you for your support of the show. That’s right.
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