Crypto, Explained by the National Cryptocurrency Association

If you have watched the news lately, you have probably seen a percentage tucked in the corner of the screen next to the polling numbers, pulled from a place called Polymarket or Kalshi. Most people glance at it, wonder for a second where it came from, and move on. But that small number sits on top of one of the fastest-growing corners of finance, where billions of dollars now move every month on the outcomes of real-world events.
In this episode of Crypto, Explained, host Ali Tager breaks down prediction markets, walking through what they are, how they are built, and why some of the biggest names in finance have started paying attention. At their simplest, these are platforms where people trade contracts tied to a future outcome, and the price of each contract reflects what the crowd collectively thinks the probability is.
From there, Ali unpacks why the structure matters, how these markets run more like a stock exchange than anything else, and how the two biggest platforms, Polymarket and Kalshi, are built very differently under the hood. She digs into the part most people miss, that prediction markets have turned out to be surprisingly good at forecasting, accurate enough that researchers and even the Federal Reserve have taken note. And she connects it back to crypto, framing prediction markets as one of the clearest real-world examples of blockchain solving a practical problem today, running on-chain, settling automatically, and staying transparent around the clock.
The episode closes on a structural takeaway: knowing what prediction markets are, how they are built, and where they fit is the difference between watching the news and understanding it. The same, Ali points out, goes for crypto more broadly. We do not get to opt out of technology that is already part of how the world works, but we do get to choose how informed we are about it.

What We Discuss:
0:00 – Intro

2:15 – 7 Things to Know

2:31 – What's a Prediction Market

3:43 – Markets Work Like Exchanges

6:01 – Polymarket vs Kalshi

7:12 – Are They Accurate?

9:29 – Taylor Swift Wedding Bets

10:30 – Blockchain Use Case

12:05 – Integrity Rules

12:50 – Legal Battle Explained

Learn more about the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA):Website: https://nca.org
X: @natcryptoassoc
Instagram: @natcryptoassoc
TikTok: @natcryptoassoc
LinkedIn: National Cryptocurrency Association
Facebook: National Cryptocurrency Association

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice.

Real estate has long been one of the clearest ways for everyday people to build something lasting, but getting started can come with a high price tag. Down payments, financing, paperwork, closing timelines, and the challenge of managing property from far away can make ownership feel out of reach before the process even begins.
In this episode of Crypto, Explained, host Ali Tager sits down with Brandon Frans to unpack real estate tokenization, a new lane that lets people buy smaller pieces of investment properties instead of purchasing the whole thing. Brandon shares how he went from traditional real estate investing in Nebraska to owning slices of property across 26 states, and why the ability to spread smaller amounts across more places changed the way he thinks about access, diversification, and risk.
From there, Ali and Brandon walk through how the process actually works, from choosing a platform and reviewing properties to completing onboarding steps and receiving rent distributions. They also slow down for the fine print: what ownership means when the deed is usually held by an LLC or SPV, why tokenized real estate is not the same as buying the home you live in, and why regulation, liquidity, offering documents, and platform research all matter.
The episode closes with a practical reminder that tokenization does not replace traditional real estate or remove the need to do your homework. It adds a smaller on-ramp, faster settlement, and a clearer record of ownership, while still requiring people to understand what they are buying, start small, read the documents, and think carefully about whether the opportunity fits their goals.
What We Discuss:0:00 Owning Real Estate Fractions0:43 What Is Property Tokenization2:35 Meet Brandon Franz, Realtor4:35 Owning Property In 26 States21:50 How To Buy Tokenized Real Estate25:00 Blockchain Property Records Explained26:54 Tokenization Vs Fractionalization36:34 Is Your Name On The Deed?41:03 Selling Tokenized Property Shares
Learn more about the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA):Website: https://nca.org
X: @natcryptoassoc
Instagram: @natcryptoassoc
TikTok: @natcryptoassoc
LinkedIn: National Cryptocurrency Association
Facebook: National Cryptocurrency Association

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice.

Memecoins are one of the loudest, funniest, riskiest, and most misunderstood corners of crypto. They can start as jokes, spread through online communities, and suddenly show up everywhere in your feed, but that does not mean they work like major crypto tokens, stocks, or traditional investments.
In this solo episode of Crypto, Explained, host Ali Tager breaks down what memecoins actually are, why people buy them, and what makes them different from other parts of the crypto world. She starts with the biggest misconception, that memecoins are “just a joke,” and explains how internet culture, community, attention, and belief can create real market activity even when a token is not built around a specific job it is meant to do.
From there, Ali unpacks who actually buys memecoins, why cheap per token does not mean low risk, and why viral is not the same as verified. She explains how copycat tokens can use familiar names and logos, why checking the contract address matters, and why a token that everyone is talking about still needs to be verified before you touch it.
The episode closes with a practical framework for approaching memecoins safely: treat them like fun money, use reputable platforms, verify what you are buying, make a small test purchase first, be careful with suspicious airdrops, and decide your exit plan before the moment starts making decisions for you. By the end, listeners will have a clearer way to look at the next memecoin lighting up their feed and understand the joke, the community, the attention, the risk, and the difference between enjoying something and betting on it.
What We Discuss:
0:25 – What Are Meme Coins? Crypto Explained
1:39 – Myth #1: Meme Coins Are Just a Joke With No Real Value
3:46 – Myth #2: Only Get-Rich-Quick Gamblers Buy Meme Coins
4:58 – Myth #3: Meme Coins Are Cheap So You Have Nothing to Lose
6:16 – Myth #4: If a Crypto Is Going Viral, It Must Be Legit
7:38 – Myth #5: Meme Coins Are Just Like Stocks or Bitcoin
9:21 – How to Buy Meme Coins Safely: Crypto Risk Management Tips
Learn more about the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA):Website: https://nca.org
X: @natcryptoassoc
Instagram: @natcryptoassoc
TikTok: @natcryptoassoc
LinkedIn: National Cryptocurrency Association
Facebook: National Cryptocurrency Association

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice.

Market cap. Cost basis. Realized gains. Dollar cost averaging. For a lot of people, the vocabulary around crypto can feel like it requires a finance degree just to follow along. In this solo episode, host Ali Tager makes the case that it doesn't, and breaks down five personal finance terms you will hear in crypto so you can make sense of a chart and follow a conversation about the market without getting lost.
Ali starts with dollar cost averaging, or DCA, the practice of buying a fixed dollar amount at regular intervals no matter the price, and compares it to filling up your gas tank on the same day every week, or to the way a 401(k) quietly does the same thing in the background. From there she unpacks market cap, showing how a coin trading at two dollars with a hundred million coins in circulation carries a two hundred million dollar market cap, and why that number tells you more about the size of a project than the price of a single coin.
The conversation turns to volatility, framed through the weather, with crypto markets sitting on the stormier end of the spectrum, and why understanding that the swings run in both directions is one of the most important mental shifts for anyone getting started. Ali then clears up the difference between realized and unrealized gains, the fifty dollars you hold on paper when a hundred dollar buy climbs to one fifty, versus the gain that only becomes real, and in most places taxable, the moment you sell. She closes on cost basis, the hundred and two dollars you actually paid once a two dollar fee is folded in, and why good record keeping there saves a lot of headaches come tax time.
What We Discuss:
0:00 – Intro: Why most people get shaken out of crypto
0:35 – Why understanding crypto feels overwhelming
1:18 – Term 1: Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) explained
1:53 – DCA in everyday life (gas tank analogy)
2:11 – How your 401k is already DCA
2:31 – Term 2: Market Cap explained
2:53 – Why price alone is misleading
3:19 – Term 3: Volatility explained
4:10 – Term 4: Realized vs. Unrealized Gains
5:42 – Term 5: Cost Basis explained

Crypto Taxes with guest, Trish Turner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCU3gaX61mI
Learn more about the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA):Website: https://nca.org
X: @natcryptoassoc
Instagram: @natcryptoassoc
TikTok: @natcryptoassoc
LinkedIn: National Cryptocurrency Association
Facebook: National Cryptocurrency Association

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice.

For more than a decade, blockchain has come with a lot of promises about what it could do someday. This episode is about what it is actually doing right now.
In this episode of Crypto, Explained, host Ali Tager sits down with Asheesh Birla, CEO of Evernorth, a digital asset treasury focused on XRP that is preparing to go public. Asheesh has spent 13 years at the intersection of blockchain infrastructure and institutional finance, including a long run at Ripple, so he has watched this shift happen from the inside.
Ali and Asheesh start with what blockchain actually delivers today once you strip away the theory. Asheesh explains the core idea in plain terms, that the technology lets you remove the middleman and trust the network instead, then walks through tokenization, the standardizing of real-world assets like bonds, equities, and property so they can move freely. He notes there is now roughly 300 billion dollars in stablecoins circulating, with more than half of it sitting outside the US, mostly in emerging markets where financial access is harder to come by.
The heart of the conversation is digital asset treasuries, or DATs. Ali builds the picture from the original story most people know, Michael Saylor's company converting its corporate treasury into Bitcoin in 2020, and Asheesh explains what a DAT actually is: a regulated, audited, publicly traded way to get exposure to an asset like XRP without buying and custodying it yourself. He draws the line between passive treasuries and what Evernorth is building, an active treasury meant to be a steward of the XRP ecosystem, putting its balance sheet to work through lending and liquidity rather than just letting it sit.
The throughline is what all of this means for everyday people. Ali cites the NCA's 2026 State of Crypto Holder report, which found that a quarter of American adults now hold crypto, up from one in five last year, and that the share actively using it roughly doubled. The takeaway is simple. This shift is not theoretical anymore. It happens quietly, in filings and boardrooms, and then one day a category that did not exist is just a normal part of the markets we already use.
What We Discuss:
0:00 – Intro: What is blockchain actually doing today?
1:04 – Stablecoins, tokenized assets & real-world impact
2:35 – Blockchain benefits most people don't understand
5:47 – What are digital asset treasuries (DATs)?
14:44 – What is a tokenized asset in plain English?
27:09 – Why XRP? Aashish's 13-year thesis
43:09 – Traditional treasury vs. digital asset treasury
47:04 – The DAT category explained: passive vs. active

Learn more about the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA):Website: https://nca.org
X: @natcryptoassoc
Instagram: @natcryptoassoc
TikTok: @natcryptoassoc
LinkedIn: National Cryptocurrency Association
Facebook: National Cryptocurrency Association

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice.