The Barrier to Crypto Adoption Nobody's Talking About | Ali Tager

**Ali Tager** (0:00)
We're seeing lower rates of scams, and losses and fraud is a real goal of ours. The biggest barrier to entry when it comes to crypto in America is the knowledge gap. People just don't get it, and they're overwhelmed trying to learn it all, turned off by the hype and the jargon. And that's exactly what we're here to solve for.

**Tony Edward** (0:19)
Crypto has matured, and with TradFi companies offering the assets, it does make it easy for a lot of consumers. Accessibility is becoming easier with ETFs and all these blockchains.

**Ali Tager** (0:28)
That's exactly right.

**Tony Edward** (0:34)
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Hey folks, welcome into the Thinking Crypto Podcast. I'm your host, Tony Edward. And joining me today is Ali Tager, who is the Vice President of External Affairs at the National Cryptocurrency Association, which is helping everyday Americans and businesses to understand and use crypto with confidence. Ali, great to have you.

**Ali Tager** (2:33)
Thanks for having me, Tony. Lovely to see you.

**Tony Edward** (2:35)
Yeah, long time no see, right?

**Ali Tager** (2:38)
Feels like only yesterday.

**Tony Edward** (2:40)
For the audience, Ali and I met in person in New York. Was it, Ali, three weeks ago, was it?

**Ali Tager** (2:47)
Yeah, which actually now that you say it feels like a lifetime ago. But I will be back in New York very soon and look forward to seeing you in person.

**Tony Edward** (2:56)
Absolutely. So Ali, tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how do you make your way into the crypto industry?

**Ali Tager** (3:02)
Yeah, of course. Well, as you know, Tony, I am actually from Long Island, New York. So grew up not too far from you. And I make it back East pretty often, which I'm very fortunate about. But about a decade ago, I did trade coasts and I live in Los Angeles, California now. I'm so sorry to hear about the heat wave for all of my East Coast friends and for you as well. Because as you can see, I'm in a blazer because it is actually a balmy morning in California.
But yeah, my professional background, I kind of grew up in the traditional public relations and communications agency world. So I actually started my career in health care, working for pharmaceutical companies on things like Parkinson's disease drugs. It was there that I started working with patient advocates directly, and really loved the end user focus. So much of what we do, no matter who you're working with, it's not always the case that you get to work directly with the people who are being impacted by your products and whose lives are you're really making a difference in.
So it's a little bit of a preamble of what brought me to the NCA. But I sort of went from health care to health tech and working with things like wearable devices. And then ultimately found myself purely in the technology space, working with consumer tech brands like Adobe and then fintech companies like PayPal. So that's a little bit of how I started to slowly inch my way towards crypto.