Jenny Ta on Transitioning From Wall Street to Crypto

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Jenny Ta, the former CEO of multiple investment firms and founder and chief executive of crypto-powered social marketplace, CoinLinked, discussed her journey transitioning from Wall Street to the decentralized economy.

The serial entrepreneur and self-made millionaire emphasized the challenges of seeking sound legal advice for an emerging sector that is subject to rapidly evolving regulation.

However, Ta predicts the increasing maturation of blockchain regulation will drive widespread adoption of crypto assets.

From Wall St to crypto

Ta recounts first hearing about Bitcoin (BTC) through the Winklevoss twins, however, stated that she “got really serious towards the end of 2016.”

“Bitcoin was still under $1,000 and I sent out a Tweet, I said ‘it’s going to pass $1,000 in 2017.”

Ta stated that she left Wall Street “to go into entrepreneurship and into the tech world,” adding: “That is why crypto is just the perfect industry, [...] I have so much passion because DeFi is both of my industries in one.”

Ta launches crypto-powered social marketplace

Ta launched CoinLinked on May 7, comprising a crypto-powered social network and marketplace that rewards user activity with proprietary tokens that can be exchanged against Tether (USDT) or redeemed for discounts on the marketplace.

Ta stated that CoinLinked hopes to drive the adoption of digital assets by providing a place where “anybody can purchase anything using crypto,” emphasizing the lack of platforms facilitating crypto commerce.

“Everyone was talking about adoption — ‘When can we use Bitcoin or Ethereum to buy real products?’ That’s why CoinLinked was born,” she added.

“I started putting the project together on my own about two years ago, and it started picking up steam toward the end of last year,” she said. “I had planned on launching in March, but the coronavirus hit, so I delayed it for a month, and here we are.”

Blockchain regulations are still maturing

When asked about the challenges she encountered in entering the blockchain industry, Ta emphasized a lack of legal experts knowledgeable with the sector.

“Traditional attorneys, usually the gentlemen who are in their 50s, Harvard attorneys, etc., they are very good at the traditional markets. But when it comes to exploring into the tokenized economy they really don’t know much — they are like the blind leading the blind. I learned that very quickly.” 

“I keep my traditional attorneys on the traditional side and then I hire a few blockchain attorneys who are much younger and very much into tokenized economies — and then I deal with all sides and balance the two,” she added.

Ta also noted the difficulties of seeking legal advice on an emerging industry with rapidly changing regulatory guidelines and challenges, stating:

“One of the things I learned in this industry is that we need legal experts and attorneys, but we have to also be ahead of them before they can guide us correctly.”

“Slowly but surely I believe the industry is going to mature when it comes to regulations — and that is where I believe where adoption is going to grow,” she added.