Media & Narrative | Boston Blockchain Week 2026

Okay. Awesome. Well, welcome everybody. Um we're going to go ahead and start this panel with some introductions. So,

Sure. So, I'm Ben Crypto. I'm a content creator. I've been doing YouTube and Twitter for 4 years full-time for about 1 year. Um I cover a lot of Robinhood chain stuff, stuff on Solana as well, a lot of low caps, projects with good fundamentals that I think can increase in value.

So, that's my area of expertise. You can give me a follow if you're interested in that.

Yeah, um Zach Humphrey's been in crypto for 6 years now. Um content creating as well. Um grew a good audience over 200,000 subscribers on YouTube uh and 140,000 on X and uh just continuing to plug away every single day. It's the hardest time to show up um is the last 11 months since 10/10 uh cuz retail usually um goes away, but we can't. We got to still be there on the front lines and you know, if you've been in the market long enough, you know like those those were the diamonds.

Uh that's where the diamonds in the rough are found. Um staying in it every single day. So, happy to get into it today.

Awesome. And I'm Lauren Wicks. I'm the co-founder of Cubic Media. Uh we're going to touch on some pretty awesome topics today. So, let's get started.

So, question one, uh what do creators and companies get wrong when trying to communicate with the average person?

Sure. So, I'll take that one. I think people just explain stuff in too flowery language. Um it could be your interest in a topic etc. Um so, maybe it's interesting to you, but you have to learn how to explain it in a very sort of succinct, direct way.

Um and most of your followers are going to be sort of retail people who have only been in the space for a couple months, a year, 2 years max. A lot of people just discovered crypto. So, they're just going to your channel to learn about it. So, you have to really just sort of pick the topics they're interested in and uh explain it just in a very sort of condensed way that they're going to understand and it's going to interest them a lot.

Yeah, I think um Ben hit it there. I would also add to like one of the things I try to do is is really try to make it simple because there's just a lot of verbage in crypto, especially if somebody's coming new to the space like on YouTube or acts like, you know, a perfect example would be like, you know, how can you explain Zcash, you know, find something that's like, oh, a private Bitcoin, right? And then have them then go do their own due diligence. Sure, there's time for like deep dives, but when you're finding people like that are just getting into the space, you know, what is Bitcoin? Oh, it's digital gold.

All right, now go do some research, right? At least get them something that like sparks their curiosity to go do it. But if you hit them with all this like crazy information and did you know we got off the gold standard back in the you know the the the the Bitcoin no no no no no like they're just going to be like, whoa, you lost me, right? Give them something that they can uh take and then and you know, do their own due diligence on and research.

Nice. I think we can kind of unpack that a little bit more. The second question I had here was do creators need to capture people with entertainment first and then educate them later?

Yes, that's a good question right there. So a lot of times it's what you're interested in isn't really going to be what the audience is interested in. So you got to pick topics that again, ideally both, you know, it can capture your interest, but mostly you got to have an audience. And then yeah, [clears throat] I mean a lot of times people are just in it basically to make money. So if you can show that, you know, your followers are being successful with their trades, if you can show that you're a good trader, if you can show that you're picking good projects, you know, started a very low market cap and then rise, etc.

, then they're going to need to be incentivized a little bit. They need you have you need to have a track record of credibility as well. So it's the hardest thing to start is basically just picking the topics that both you are interested in and there's an audience cuz a lot of topics you're interested in there's just not going to be an audience for that. So then you're kind of just wasting your time in my opinion.

Yeah, I would kind of go a little bit different but but similar. What I try to do is kind of walk both sides of the fence. I try to hit on things that are popular, give my spin on it, give my opinion on it. Here's my take. Uh but also bring fresh things, new ideas.

Even though the video might get 500 views today, if that thing becomes way bigger, now you're the you're the person. Like you're the expert on this topic. I've kind of like backed myself into that a few different times, and it's really awesome, right? Cuz if you get into that algorithm, whatever algorithm it is, YouTube, X, all of a sudden, you know, a perfect example is Venice, uh VVV, uh which is an altcoin that just set an all-time high. Think of it as a decentralized uh chat GPT.

Um I was talking about that one kind of early. Nobody cared. But of course now when the price goes up, you know, months and months later, "Oh yeah, I remember you were talking about that, right?" So, you could find like little niches uh that way as well, but um to Ben's point, you definitely want to hit on the things that are that are hot. Uh and and have a different take, right?

Uh have something unique. Um I think that's another important part of it.

I think to piggyback on that, like social media platforms now really harp on SEO. It's no longer, you know, just doing like hashtag niche topic, hashtag niche topic. I mean, you can still do that, but really like the algorithm will push your content further. Like what Zach said, if you're posting on something that maybe doesn't matter so much at the moment, but then maybe it does become like a huge deal, maybe even like 3, 4, 5 years from now. The fact that you had all that all those keywords like SEO written in those captions, uh that platform will more than likely push out whatever that content was that you posted.

All right. So, getting views on your content is one thing, but building a community that trusts you and continues coming back is a different thing. Um so, what turns a passive viewer into an active community member?

See, yeah, a lot of times it just comes down engagement. There's so many big content creators who really just don't even engage with their community. They don't respond to comments, they don't acknowledge comments. It's basically just put out the material and don't actually interact with people. You got to interact.

You have to, you know, give some viewers some shout-outs during your videos, etc. Notice the regular people there keep coming back. Giveaways always help. They might be kind of cheesy, but they do they definitely help to get people more vocal, too, I found. Um and then yeah, just obviously, you know, good content, etc.

Then that's obviously going to keep people coming back. I think the best thing, yeah, if you can find a new ecosystem and then you're one of the first people covering it, like, you know, Robinhood chain that launched about 2 and 1/2 months ago on July 1st. So then if you can you know, like I started covering that in the very early days. If you could predict that a chain or an ecosystem or, you know, sector is going to really take off and you're one of the early people there, then that's just a great way to sort of, you know, grow your grow your brand and then you can establish credibility cuz people see, "Okay, he was in there from the beginning. He believed in it and then now it's become big."

So, that's the way to keep your audience hooked.

Yeah, for sure. I I agree with a lot of that, too, Ben. And I also think, um you know, YouTube and X are my main two platforms and those are like big platforms for uh crypto and finance information. You know, a lot of people go on TikTok and and Reels. There's a market for that, but um if your attention span is, you know, uh dwindling, you really like that, which they all are for us, but you know what I mean.

If you actually want like a deeper dive, I think X and YouTube are the places where people go. But they're very different because YouTube is a one-to-many relationship, right? They have a relationship with me, but I don't have a relationship with them. So, it's like, you know, listen to me, I'm I'm preaching up here. Whereas like X has a really cool feature with X Spaces where you get this feedback loop, right?

So, I started this like 3 years ago. We get about 35, 40,000 monthly listeners now. Uh it's a show that we do 2 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Um Crypto Breakfast Club, quick plug there if you guys want to check us out, but it's really cool because I've learned who my really active audience members are cuz we're talking to each other, right? They're not just watching my video and leaving a comment.

Like that's what we kind of call like cold media versus hot media where you have that feedback loop. So, I think you need both. You know, to to really build good trust and you get to identify like who's really your loyal people like in your community.

I agree. Um, let's see. So, some hot topics right now. So, we have privacy and AI combined with crypto. Those are three major or sorry, two major conversations happening right now.

Which topic has the strongest potential to reach people outside the existing crypto audience and how would you make it relevant to them?

Yeah, it's tough to say which one. I'm kind of a fan of all I mean, privacy's always going to have roots in crypto cuz Bitcoin got started kind of as a payment vehicle, but mostly as a privacy vehicle. So, it's just always going to have a use case. It's uh, people and then in the bear market we saw some of the uh, the uh, privacy coins perform much better than the other coins like Monero, um, Zcash. So, I think the next bear market people are going to be rotating out of say some of the top coins and if they don't want to put in stable coins, then they're going to go back to those uh, privacy coins.

And then obviously people are always going to want to be able to be cash out um, using privacy coins for better or worse just, you know, for the inherent purposes right there. So, it's just always going to have a demand. AI, it's um, you know, I'm I'm a fan of AI. I like to kind of typically get to sectors a little bit earlier. AI 2023 would have been the best place, obviously.

Um, and then obviously there's AI stocks which are kind of in competition with crypto. Um, so, you know, there's going to be an open AI IPO is coming out. The Anthropic, that's in the fall. So, some people are fans of those. Some people are kind of worried they're going to be extraction plays.

People are going to sell the crypto to get into those IPOs or buy the stock right when it comes out. So, AI is hit or miss. Um, I I AI a lot from strictly a financial standpoint. It's just a little bit in competition with crypto. And then as for just yeah, crypto as a whole I think was that the third one?

Yeah, I'm I'm obviously, you know, crypto that's my man. So I'm most bullish on that of any financial market sector.

Yeah, I think I think there are a lot of different ways now to hit retail and hit people like who are outside of crypto especially compared to like 2020 which was like my first like market cycle where there was a lot of fluff in the altcoin space like pretty much everything was vaporware in some form or fashion. There wasn't much, right? Where whereas now you fast forward and you look at tokenization, you look at well, first off, I mean Bitcoin went from Cypherpunk retail asset class to institutional in those six years, right? So that happened. So it also brought people in, you know, through the TradFi, you know, um TradFi system and and now, you know, you listen to Larry Fink talk, I mean, as soon as he got his wish on the, you know, Bitcoin ETF, the narrative completely shifted to tokenization, right?

$11 trillion need to be, you know, coming on chain. So I think that naturally brings TradFi people in, it brings normies in, people outside of the crypto rails. But I also think you actually have protocols generating revenue and I think there are just investors outside of crypto that look at that and say, "Okay, I can actually understand this." I won't name any names, but there's a lot of crypto projects we know from 2020 it was just an idea that never came to fruition. You look at what Hyperliquid's doing whether you like it or not, they're solving a problem and it's a really good business model.

They they have 15 people. It's you can arguably say it's the most successful business we've ever seen come up in crypto, right? So I think people are taking notice of that that there's actually things being built, businesses being run, money being made, right? Rather than just this pie in the sky idea that, you know, didn't come to fruition or people got duped, right? On on their investment.

So, uh yeah, those are some of my thoughts.

So, I kind of want to shift the conversation a little bit over to the AI side of things. AI is a hot topic. Anytime I post about AI on social media, the comments are always a war zone. Um but, AI has made it easier than ever to produce content, as we know, but it has also created more noise. Um does that make human authenticity more valuable?

And then, how can creators use AI without losing their voice or their audience's trust?

See, that's a good question. I I think it's pretty easy to use AI without kind of just overusing it and kind of losing your voice. Um yeah, for me, uh you know, for image creation, I've been using it a lot. I'm big into the meme coin community, so I can create just kind of funky, unusual images for tweets, that sort of stuff, and also for video thumbnails. It's It's become huge.

Um so, I started 4 years ago, and then you couldn't really do any AI image creation for thumbnails, so I had to get in Bangladesh. I would have to email him the night before, cuz there was a 12-hour time difference, and then crypto moves so fast. I didn't, you know, by the time he sent the thumbnail over 12 hours later, I wanted to cover a different topic. And then, if I had changes, I'd email him, he might take an hour to come back, etc., etc.

Not to mention, it cost money. So, now I just do all my video thumbnails using Grok and then other AI services. The crypto just moves so fast. Now, you know, when I know I want to do a video right then, then it just takes me 15 minutes, get the thumbnail done. So, that's been a huge saver.

And then, for research purposes, um it's been pretty good for the most part. I've found mostly using AI to kind of scour the internet and get info. It It's doesn't really find too much that I can't just Google and find myself, but it is quicker. It might take me 2 minutes to compile something without AI, just Google, and then it might be like 30 seconds with AI. Um so, people might be kind of sort of overblown its power in research gathering status so far, but I still use it.

Saves a little bit of time.

Yeah, it's an interesting question because in in a lot of the ways you were talking about Ben, I think it's helped us, you know, from you know, I use chat GPT to make my thumbnails, you know, I don't have to go manually do that. I can get, you know, a script or a semi script is what I like to do and like utilize that in my video. But at the same time, we've watched a lot of these content creators that are just basically AI. And it's like, do humans really like that? Like do humans really like watching an AI made video like in the like you lose that human connection.

So I've I've actually seen it kind of going back the other way. Even if it's like right like really highly edited content, like sometimes I'm turned off by that. Like I want to feel like I'm just sitting at Starbucks and we're talking shop about whatever. And so I've always made my content like that anyway. You know, dating back to 2020, I've never edited my long form videos, ever.

And I think that's one of the things people are like, what? Like how did you like you don't have to. I think people are starving for a real human connection. Cuz our world's getting more and more digital. So I actually think it's going to work in your favor if you just kind of do that.

You know, be at your kitchen making a smoothie and talking about what's going on with Bitcoin. Like people like that. People actually relate to that. So it's like you can go overboard with utilizing too much AI and too much editing and you know, and I think it can actually hurt you.

Yeah, and I'll just add on to that. Yeah, I've noticed zero correlation kind of like what Zach said, zero correlation between how professional your videos made. They have all these AI graphics, is the editing on point, all that sort of stuff, the setting. I've noticed zero correlation between views and traction and just how professionally it's made. It's all just character, personality.

One of the biggest things that I hear from other people is like, you know, I I didn't get started cuz I don't want to edit. I hate editing. I just like creating content. Like I was a sports broadcaster ad-libbing you know, a football game for 7 years. Like no planning, just going.

And that's exactly how I do crypto content. Get an idea, get a thought, maybe jot them down a little bit, and just go. And if I mess up, who cares? Like cuz that's real. Like if you're talking to somebody like in a coffee shop, like they're not going to sound like a robot.

They're going to sound like a human. So just be human, be real, and people will I think identify with that.

Yeah, I definitely think authenticity is a big deal when it comes to um posting on socials. And then also So I mean same for me, like I see all these creators, you know, they go from having their own presence online, and you follow them, and you get really into what they're doing, and then all of a sudden you see like a AI avatar of them, and then you're just like, "Really?" And then I just unfollow immediately. Maybe that's a little bit harsh, but like I follow certain people for a reason, like they click with me, I like their personality, I like the story they have to tell. Like I want to see them.

I don't want to see a copy of them, if that makes sense. Um okay. So I have a closing question. So if a founder or builder wants to reach the masses and build a genuine community, what is one thing they should start doing, and one thing they should stop doing?

Um as to start doing, just being more consistent overall. Um posting your videos at the same time each day of the around the same length. Uh just keep your brand the same. Obviously cover some of the same projects, and then go a little bit go find some new projects that are still within your brand, but don't stray too much. I would say I just consistency is key.

Um as for stuff to stop doing, just you know, straying too far outside your brand. If you're covering projects that are in totally unrelated sectors, have nothing to do with each other, then your audience isn't going to just be consistently as hooked. They'll come for one video, but not another video, and it's just harder to generate momentum with them. So yeah.

Yeah, I would say uh you know, on X, specifically on that platform, quit using, you know, Grok to write your posts. Quit using AI to write your infographics. Like, to me it's just a turnoff. It's like you you put zero effort in this. You just prompted the LLM and you're putting out this message.

Like, show me that you're real. Like, get on X Spaces. Go talk to your community. Go talk to the people who invest in whatever it is or who using your product. Like, be approachable.

And I think a lot of people just kind of passively use social media and then they ask the question like, why isn't this working for me? It's like, well, you're putting in 10% of the effort you could, right? Like, what do you think's going to come out of that? So, I would say that and then um yeah, like on the YouTube side, I think that's interesting. I think video in general is very important right now.

Um both long-form and short-form. You know, people want to see who's behind the brand or see who's behind this idea. So, as much as you can do of that, um and there's, you know, something Ben and I think will both tell you, you can never make enough content. So, if you've got a few people on staff or whatever in your team that are willing to do it, um you know, have everybody chip in.

You should have a full library ready to go.

For sure.

I might exaggerate a little bit, but I like to have at least, if possible, like at least a month's worth of content ready to go cuz you never know what could happen. You could get sick and then you miss I don't know, a whole week of posting and then that the algorithm is not very forgiving when it comes to that.

And then and yeah, people just have ADD. They'll just There's so many other people. But yeah, I will say I I found kind of like what Zach is saying, it's easier to grow on YouTube. The video element, there's just less YouTubers to begin with in crypto. Um it's I find it's just easier to kind of get your audience to to attach to your personality, that kind of stuff.

Twitter just has more people. Everyone's calling their own coins. It's harder to have this thing, personality. And then yeah, I mean, the AI stuff with like written tweets, just yeah, stay away from that. Nobody really reads these huge long tweets.

So, you just That's what AI does. It just gives you all this like flowery language and and I mean, nobody's really reading that. And then yeah, like what Zach's saying, I'm saying just do uh at you know, even though YouTube is my bread and butter, do Twitter Spaces as well, go to conferences, do YouTube, do tweets, etc. Just a wide variety of different platforms as opposed to just one thing like Twitter, for example.

Yeah, piggybacking off of what both of y'all said, when it comes to writing your content, I know it's so like we're all busy, it's tempting to just throw into ChatGPT like, "Oh, write a post for I don't know, my crypto show that I'm hosting. Um and I want it to say A, B, and C." Like that's totally fine. AI is used to help you. Um but go back in there, take the time to go back in there and make sure that it actually sounds like you.

Like add words that add words to the content that like I don't know, that you say with your friends all the time. I don't know. You say the word groovy all the time. Like add it in there. I don't know.

Um but like add a little bit of personality in there cuz it's so annoying for me when, you know, I'm looking at posts and it's sad when it's like, "Oh, this is a great company." And then they just posted this AI slop. Like that's it's careless.

Agreed. Both like with posting and with video content creating cuz you could you could clearly see when somebody's just reading a script, you know, and it's like these aren't your real words. Um so I like use AI to your advantage, but like you should be using it as a complement, not a supplement. Right? Did I say that right?

Yeah, it should complement your work, not like replace it. Um yeah.

I like that. Um we have a little bit of time. Do we want to take any questions? Anybody? Anybody?

Bueller? Okay. Well, thank you guys very much. This is great.

Awesome. Appreciate it.

Thank you.