It can be hard to keep up with things in crypto, so we created a guide to make sense of it all. Private Key is a premium newsletter about cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and everything in between. Starting today (Sept. 5), Quartz will bring you smart, informative, and thought-provoking material from these fast-growing—and sometimes, fast-contracting—markets, delivered to your inbox twice a week.
Quartz was obsessed with bitcoin when we were founded six years ago, and since then our coverage has expanded greatly. Our reporting has taken us from massive bitcoin mines in Inner Mongolia to decommissioned military bunkers serving as crypto vaults in Switzerland. Along the way, we have met students mining cryptocurrencies in MIT dorm rooms and Nigerian entrepreneurs using digital assets to speed up cross-border payments.
Like everything else we cover, we aim to make crypto both accessible and approachable. We aren’t here to wallow in snark, or overwhelm with jargon. We also acknowledge that there are large, established financial markets that serve many people’s needs, and that blockchains, tokens, and decentralization aren’t always the answer.
We will leverage our global reach to bring subscribers news and analysis about the issues that matter most to the markets for stateless digital assets. For example, we are currently watching India’s supreme court in Delhi, which will hold a final hearing next week on a challenge to the central bank’s ban on lenders dealing in cryptocurrencies.
Each week, subscribers will receive two issues of Private Key. The first will take a step back and analyze major trends in crypto markets, with dispatches from reporters around the world, Q&As with newsmakers in the industry, and more. Today’s edition featured a conversation with Arianna Simpson of Autonomous Partners, one of the most influential, forward-thinking investors in the virtual-asset sector. Among other things, she told reporter Matthew De Silva: “I firmly believe that a number of countries have already begun stockpiling bitcoin to hedge against the greater geopolitical forces.”
The second email, on Fridays, will round up the week’s news, giving busy subscribers a quick way to catch up on what’s important, with clear takeaways highlighted throughout.
In these emails, we will share notes and tips we pick up during reporting as well as give you a sneak peek at forthcoming features and investigations. For instance, we have been making calls and running the numbers on Binance Coin, the token associated with one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. According to our calculations, its intrinsic economic value is less than where it currently trades—a lot less. Stay tuned for more on that.
In the meantime, we are keen to hear what you think we should cover at privatekey@qz.com. Sign up here for a two-week trial subscription; after that, the newsletter costs $15 a month, or $150 a year. We look forward to decrypting the world of crypto for you, one block at a time.