Web3 CMO Stories Living On Crypto Since 2015 | S5 E44
What happens when you stop treating crypto like a lottery ticket and start treating it like money? We sit down with Joël Valenzuela – core member of DashDAO and creator of Digital Cash Network – who has lived entirely on cryptocurrency since 2015, closed his bank account, and built a daily routine on digital cash.
Joel takes us from childhood memories of currency devaluation in Mexico to the first time he split a dinner bill with Bitcoin before payment apps were mainstream. He explains why speculation can’t sustain an ecosystem, how real-world utility creates lasting value, and what investors learn by actually using the product. We explore the bumpy parts too: 2016 fee spikes, network congestion, and the practical decision to move day-to-day spending to Dash for instant settlement, optional privacy, and on-chain scaling that aims to keep payments fast and affordable.
We also dive into decentralization that works in practice. Joel outlines the limits of leaderless governance on major networks and why DAOs matter for transparent, network-wide decision-making and funding. Then we zoom out to the Free State Project in New Hampshire, the unlikely incubator where early crypto pioneers swapped ideas, launched tools, and helped shape a payments-first culture long before it trended. Along the way, Joel shares how legacy projects stay relevant through integrations, liquidity, and partnerships that compound over time.
If you’ve wondered whether crypto can move beyond charts and narratives to something you can actually live on, this conversation delivers hard-won lessons from the checkout line. Subscribe, share with a friend who still thinks crypto is only an investment, and leave a review to help more people find the show.
This episode was recorded through a Descript call on October 22, 2025. Read the blog article and show notes here: https://webdrie.net/living-on-crypto-since-2015/
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