Ep 74: The Bitcoin Cinderella: Jacqui Cooper's Blockchain Education Adventures

When Jacqui Cooper, a lawyer and teacher, meets her mentor and starts her journey into the blockchain and crypto space, she embarks on a Cinderella-like adventure to unravel the secrets of digital assets and prepare her family for the future.

"With my major in science, technology and society, I felt like I had come home because of the fact that it dealt with policy, it dealt with the alternative reasons why people look at the financial world and having control over their own finances. And that's why Bitcoin was created, in order to have people be able to not deal with the traditional banks."

Jacqui Cooper is an attorney, crypto consultant, and author of 'The Best Five Minute Crypto Wallet and Wealth Organizer' and 'Bitcoin Cinderella: A Diary of Her Blockchain Adventures'. She is passionate about educating people in the blockchain space and helping them prepare for the future.

Jacqui Cooper was always curious about blockchain and cryptocurrency and was looking for someone to explain it. She eventually found a mentor in Scotland who opened her eyes to the world of crypto. She started a talk show to document her journey and help others learn about the blockchain. Over time, she became more involved and is now a bitcoin miner, teacher, and lawyer. With her newfound knowledge, she wrote books to help others understand the blockchain, including a fairy tale called The Bitcoin Cinderella. Through her story, she hopes to inspire others to explore the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency and be prepared for the future.

In this episode, you will learn the following:

1. How to use blockchain to control your own finances and protect your family's inheritance.

2. The transformation of digital assets, such as Bitcoin and NFTs, into traditional forms of value and how to use them.

3. How to leverage cryptocurrency for fundraising in the nonprofit sector.

Connect with Jacqui:

Website: https://cryptomom2.com/

The Bitcoin Cinderella Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Cinderella-Blockchain-Adventures-Fairytale/dp/B09WW5S1K2

Free Download:

The Words of Web3 - A comprehensive glossary of terms used in the space https://mailchi.mp/9d043022b5a0/words-of-web3

Connect with me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbrooksheehan

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DrBrookSheehan

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/drbrooksheehan

Transcript

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:00:00

Hey, Dr. Brook here with another epic ride through the Web3 universe. I am joined by a copilot today that I'm very excited to speak with. She's also a fellow lady in the blockchain space. This is Jacqui Cooper, who's also an attorney. She does crypto consulting and estate planning for individual individuals and businesses. NFT Creations, crypto taxes, metaverse resources, proof of sale operations, blockchain asset brand development, hardwallet resources, and educational platforms. She does a lot here in the Web3 world. Welcome to the show, Jacqui. So glad you're here.

Jacqui Cooper 00:00:45

I'm very excited to be here. I have been following you, and this is an honor, and I'm really excited to be chatting with you, definitely.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:00:54

So fun. I have a heart for the ladies, especially in ladies doing education in the blockchain world. So we are two PS in a pod right now, and I love it. Thank you so much again. And with that being said, as I always ask my copilots on the show, what is your intro story into Web3? How did you get here?

Jacqui Cooper 00:01:17

So it was about four or five years ago now. I've always been curious about blockchain and cryptocurrency, and I was always trying to find someone who could explain a little bit more. And it wasn't until I met another woman who's in Scotland that she took the time and answered my questions and pointed me to other resources and really became a mentor to me, where I opened up my first wallet, purchased my first altcoin, and then ended up getting bitcoin and a whole slew of other things. And as everyone says, there's a proverbial rabbit hole. I started my talk show right around that same time because I realized, whether you have a degree or not, the blockchain is not always intuitive. And I was struggling, trying to figure things out how to move money from Fiat to the platform that could get me the crypto that I might want. And so I started the talk show, really to document my journey. And then as I started reaching out to people, I said, would you like to be on my show and explain more about what you're doing in your story? And so I met people from all over the world, again in the NFP space, the Web3 area, the metaverse bitcoin. I'm a bitcoin miner now, where I was at the beginning. I'm also a teacher in addition to being a lawyer, but I kind of always equate my learning to what we do in school. So at the beginning, I was in kindergarten. Today I might be a fourth grader. But again, there are people who are coding, and for me, that's like graduate school because my mind doesn't wrap around it, but I totally admire what they're doing, and the space is evolving. So it's been very exciting to be part of the journey, of seeing how things are evolving and also helping, like you said, educate others so that way they can navigate whatever area they want to go to.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:03:24

Wow, that is such a powerful journey into the space. Going from I love the analogy you gave about being in kindergarten and barely getting into fourth grade, five years in or so, and the space is evolving still a lot more. I have been here for two years now. As a person who has five years under her belt, I consider that more of a veteran. You've seen a lot of things happen. I've seen the whole debacle of 2022 go down, and it's been quite a journey. And I really, truly believe, and I know that you would agree with this, is that education in blockchain is so vitally important, especially for women who have very different investment style brains. We don't think like our male counterparts when it comes to investing, and there are things that we need to know before we dive head first and start dropping dollar bills into a space where we know nothing about it. So that journey here has been pretty epic for you, it sounds like. I'm sure there's been a lot of dips in the road and different learning experiences, but you made it.

Jacqui Cooper 00:04:37

Yeah. And you're right about the financial side. Again, I know that you probably do disclaimers and everything. What we're going to be talking about is not financial advice, not legal advice. Everyone has to do their own research. But for me, I was never interested in traditional financial stuff. Stocks, bonds, I wasn't interested in that. My major at college was science, technology and society. And when I ended up discovering the blockchain, I thought, wow, I've come home. Traditional finance I was never that intrigued with, but the fintech world I was. And with my major in science, technology and society, I felt like I had come home because of the fact that it dealt with policy, it dealt with the alternative reasons why people look at the financial world and having control over their own finances. And that's why Bitcoin was created, in order to have people be able to not deal with the traditional banks. And again, you see the different countries that have adopted Bitcoin, el Salvador and other countries in Africa as well, because their traditional currency is not stable. And so Bitcoin, even though there's volatility, always there will be volatility in the crypto space, it still retains value. So it's sort of like real estate. It's sort of like gold and silver, precious metals. Our dollar is not backed by gold anymore, so really it's just the faith of the people that it's going to have value, but then you have inflation and so what, you're able to buy changes. So this has been an interesting experience for me in terms of learning more about the financial world from the alternative perspective.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:06:27

Yeah. And that viewpoint or that education that you got has led you to authoring some really powerful books that help educate people in the space. Let's get into your authorship and how that journey kind of begun and where it's brought you to now.

Jacqui Cooper 00:06:49

Yeah. No, I appreciate that. And for everyone who's listening, I self published at the moment, even though I do have someone who's looking at trying to get some of the books into major bookstores, but you can find them on Amazon. And I did it for a variety of reasons. I have a 26 year old daughter, and she's very savvy, but I asked her at one point, what interest do you have in the cryptocurrency area? And she said none. I said, Well, I'm not putting a lot of money into the wallet, but I'm putting $10 here, $10 there. You need to know where I'm putting the funds, because that's your inheritance. And as an attorney and a parent, I also am very aware that a lot of people don't have wills and they're not talking to their families about the Dabbling that they're doing on the blockchain. And that really bothered me. All right. I chatted with her about how to navigate the blockchain, and I realized it's, again, it's not intuitive. Some wallets you are online, some of them on your phone, some you verify through Google Authenticator. Some you verify through your phone, some through the email. And so I realized how difficult it's become more natural for me when I have to go check on something. But for someone who's new the idea of, okay, where do I go first? So the first book that I created was The Best Five Minute Crypto Wallet and Wealth Organizer, which is a simple checklist. And so basically what I've used is I've used the organizer pages, and I've put my information in so she can go know where to go for each thing that I have. And I designed that so people, when they get it, can make copies. So that way, as they can use it for traditional finance as well as for the crypto side, they can give it to their attorney or their estate planner, or they can put it into a safe deposit box. But people need to know where your money is. Otherwise, if you get sick or something else happens, then they're searching through the house thinking, okay, now what? And with cryptocurrency, if you don't tell your family, it stays on the blockchain forever, and they have no clue. So that was the first book that I wrote. The second book that I wrote is because being an educator yeah, go ahead.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:09:17

Sorry, can I just interject really quick? Because you made a very key point there, and I've heard it the other way, and this is the first I've heard it said this way, and I just want to kind of dig into that a little bit more. Because you are an attorney, and you are well, maybe you aren't specifically helping people create wills and doing all that stuff, but you have the ability you know how to do that. People aren't doing that. People aren't talking about where they're storing their crypto. A lot of the people when I first got into the space were talking about, you don't even share your private keys with your spouse. That is a huge no no. You hide that. You do this, you do that. And when you just said that right now, like, God forbid I get sick, or God forbid something happens, or you know what I mean, my daughter, who's twelve or almost twelve, she's pretty technologically savvy, but not blockchain savvy. Like she wouldn't know how to access it. My mom wouldn't know how, my sister is, nobody. And I'm like, that's an interesting point. I guess we should at least share it with a key family member or somebody that you have a lot of trust with, that they know where your keys are.

Jacqui Cooper 00:10:33

Yeah, I'm not saying give them all twelve keys or 24. What I'm saying is have them know that in the safe deposit box. This is where I am keeping the history of my wallet and my directions. Because that should be part of your will. If you have assets, you need to say what you want to have done with those assets. And real estate is really easy to see. Cars are really easy to see. And yeah, you do need to, in my opinion, walk your loved ones through how to do this. Not give them the information so they haven't memorized and then can steal from you. It's not that, it's just that, again, because sometimes people get divorced and then there's all that, but they're not going to be as comfortable. It's like riding a bike. The first time you get on the bike, you stumble and it takes a while before you become comfortable. And the first time I go back to a wallet, sometimes I'm thinking, okay, and there was a perfect example. I have an online wallet and I accidentally deleted part of it, but I can retrieve it because I have the keys. But I freaked out. Oh no, now what? It was only $58 in there. It wasn't a big deal. But then I realized, oh, I have the information. I can just re enter it. But again, when someone in your family, either your attorney or you, do have to be careful as to who you share it with. For sure, once you give this information to anyone, they can definitely take it. But it's not a question of taking the information. It's making them aware that if something happens, let's say you went to the hospital and you needed access to these funds for whatever, or your family needed it for whatever, they need to know how to do it. Right?

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:12:42

Yeah, I think about it. Because prior to doing what I'm doing now, I was an accountant and I worked at a bank prior to that. And so we would have people come in with the legal documentation that their loved one had passed and they were looking to access the account. Well, with blockchain, you're not working with tellers at the bank, you're not working with a face to face person. This is like just technology. Those keys, if somebody passed those keys, those private keys, they could access the funds with those without having to have all these third parties and getting all this proper documentation in place and so forth. It's an interesting and it may be taking the conversation way offline that's. Okay, I'm going to ask the question, but then.

Jacqui Cooper 00:13:32

We can have more than one conversation and more than one episode.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:13:35

That's true. That's very true. But this particular question is about in terms of a will getting set up. Let's say I had like multiple children, two to three kids. I only have one child, but if I had multiple kids and in my will, I said, okay, my daughter Riley gets 50% of whatever my blockchain assets are, and my kid Jacqui gets the other 50%. I mean, who's really regulating who gets the 50%? It could be in the will, but Riley could get the keys and just wipe the whole thing out. So that might be coming down the pipeline.

Jacqui Cooper 00:14:13

Yeah. And the other thing, the other question is, how do you value the 50%? Not because each digital asset has a different valuation based upon when you bought it, what's going on, and possibly a different appreciation. NFTs people might think that they're just digital assets that are just hanging out there, but it's like a painting. A painting one day might only be worth a certain amount, but ten years down the road, it might be again, there are questions that need to be asked. Maybe not everyone has the answers right now, but it's a family conversation that I think is important. And these are not secrets. These are things that death happens, illness happens. So we need to kind of it's better to be prepared before you need it, especially if someone gets sick and you're in the hospital, you're going to be in a fog, you're not going to be thinking. It's going to be hard enough remembering sometimes some basic things, let alone where did you do an atomic wallet? Again, there are so many different places that you might have put and in an emergency, you're not going to want to think about that. So it's better to do everything before it's ever needed.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:15:42

Very valid point. Thank you, Jacqui.

Jacqui Cooper 00:15:44

Okay.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:15:45

I didn't mean to derail everything, but.

Jacqui Cooper 00:15:47

I don't it's okay to dive into that some more. I love this conversation because I am passionate about information preparation. I think that we sometimes are scared, and this is something that needs to be looked at objectively, not subjectively.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:16:06

Yeah, definitely.

Jacqui Cooper 00:16:08

Awesome.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:16:08

Okay, so that first book, the Five Minute Crypto Wallet, led you into writing.

Jacqui Cooper 00:16:15

Yeah. The bitcoin.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:16:17

Cinderella a diary of her blockchain adventures. I love it.

Jacqui Cooper 00:16:23

And this is actually a real fairy tale. It's a Cinderella story, but everything within the Cinderella story has a blockchain element. So the ball is both at the palace, but it's also in a metaverse. The clock that kicks her out at twelve noon is actually a timed NFT. She does get bitcoin from her mom, who does not die in this story. Her mom, I actually took some literary license and I said was one of the original blockchain engineers that worked with Satoshi. And so now she, she leaves the family just to work on a different project and she leaves a note for her daughter Samantha with clues. And she said, we'll see each other on the blockchain, so this is what you need to do to find me. And so this adventure, this is going to be like Harry Potter series. This is an adventure series, but integrated within is a glossary. So as you're reading, you're learning about what a wallet means, everything else like that. And at the back are QR codes so you can go to different online resources. I'm in the process of writing my second bitcoin Cinderella book, which is called The Bitcoin Cinderella and the Seven Dwarves. And that's where Samantha Cinderella meets her cousin Snow White, who her dwarves are not mining gold anymore. They're now doing bitcoin mining. So that book is only about bitcoin and bitcoin mining. And it's going to be released in time for the conference in Miami in May. I'll be there book signing because I have right now one sponsor and there are some other sponsors so we can give the book away. So I'm really excited about that.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:18:04

Yeah, that's very cool. I love that because I'm such a blockchain geek. Like the whole storyline, first off, the storyline, the education like things that people are getting from that. I also too created like a little dictionary, mini dictionary for Web3 that people can utilize. But I love the fact that they get to also learn it in a story form and then apply those words through the story. It's like when your third grade teacher says, we'll use that word in a sentence.

Jacqui Cooper 00:18:36

And you're like, that's right. I don't know how to use it in a sentence.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:18:40

They get to read it in a sentence and then kind of put the meaning, get to see it. So they tie both of it together and then they learn better.

Jacqui Cooper 00:18:49

It's a fun read. And she does meet her prints and they decide which is the hop onto the next book that their castle that they're building is going to be heated with bitcoin and powered by solar. The glass slipper. I mean, I'll give away some of those things, but the glass slipper actually is the wallet. Again, he has some of the keys and she has some of the keys. And when they come together, the wallet opens and they know that they're supposed to be together.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:19:27

All the feels so precious.

Jacqui Cooper 00:19:31

Oh my gosh, I am definitely getting.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:19:33

On Amazon right after this episode and getting that.

Jacqui Cooper 00:19:36

Thank you. And after you read it with your daughter, we can kind of do another talk show to have her answer questions and ask me questions and stuff like that.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:19:46

Yeah, that would be awesome. So fun. Okay, and now after Bitcoin Cinderella and the second one that's coming out, you did publish a third book about digital assets, like getting funding using digital assets for nonprofits.

Jacqui Cooper 00:20:04

Yeah, I did. I'll chat about that in a quick second. I also want to mention that the Bitcoin Cinderella actually is translated into Spanish and also Creole, and there will be other languages and it's English on one side and the other language on the other. Okay. So that will be the format for all the translations. So that way everyone can always read the English version and then also whatever their native language might be, is it.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:20:28

Currently that way right now? Like if I order it on Amazon because my daughter is fluent in Spanish.

Jacqui Cooper 00:20:34

Oh, awesome.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:20:36

I'm going to make her read the Spanish version and then I'll read the English version.

Jacqui Cooper 00:20:42

Yeah, for sure you can find the Spanish version as well. Oh, cool. This book, the Digital Assets, on fundraising for nonprofits, I did that with another attorney, Patrina Pelton Smith, because we realized that the larger universities like Yale and some of the larger nonprofits, American Red Cross and things like that, they're already aware of cryptocurrency digital assets. But the middle size, smaller nonprofits, they're still struggling. And I'm not saying that crypto is the best, but what I am saying that is as we are navigating and acquiring crypto and digital assets, people are going to want to donate that to a cause. And in order to do that, the charity needs to know how to accept it. And they don't have to accept cryptos. There are enough platforms that Patrina and our research that we are able to consult on where it can automatically be converted into fiat or dollars or Euro whatever year. So the cryptocurrency doesn't have to be held by the nonprofit. And that makes it easier from an accounting perspective, but there might be people that would like to gift. And if you don't have that in your fundraising plan of action or even let your current donors know that you are now accepting, then you're actually eliminating a whole area that could raise funds for whatever the project might be. And again, some people who are acquiring crypto and Bitcoin and digital assets, they might not have kids, so they might want to leave it to a charity. And so this is a way that they can pass on the wealth that they've created to a cause that they care about. So again, we wanted to make sure everyone had a checklist, was able to ask the right questions, help educate the board of directors, just like for us, for corporations, nonprofits, there are point of sale platforms that will help you to sell your products with crypto and also accept crypto for a nonprofit as a donation. Yeah.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:23:09

Wow, that's so awesome. You're doing a lot in the space. I know in my intro to you, you're doing all sorts of different things, and I think it's absolutely incredible. Can you go into a little bit more with beyond so people could get the books and educate themselves to the blockchain, to bitcoin, to bitcoin, mining, fundraising, all of what you just spoke about? But when you talk about crypto consulting in your LinkedIn, what does that entail and how can people work with you?

Jacqui Cooper 00:23:44

Yeah, sure. So I do have a website that people can reach out to me at CryptoMom2. And as an attorney, I've been approached by different people for different things. And one of the areas that I last year became certified on is cryptocurrency investigation. So if, let's say that your wallet is hacked and you need to trace your funds, not just the platform that I use, but there are other platforms that can help you do that. And then when you end up filing criminal charges or whatever, you're going to need to have a document that shows where the money, where the crypto left, where it headed, and where it is. So that's one of the things that I'm able to do. I always do things in partnerships, so I have others that are doing this on a daily basis because I'm a teacher during the day. And I'm loving that, even though at some point I know that I'll be retiring. But in terms of the variety of things that I've consulted on, it's exciting to me because it's been both small business development, it's been, as I mentioned, the cryptocurrency investigation. It's on how do I organize my information for my team again, so the people who have come forward, who have needed help, each situation is a little bit different and unique, and I love the multidisciplinary aspect of it.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:25:31

Yeah, awesome. Well, I'll be sure to also link the cryptomomomtwo.com in the show notes so people can access that easily without any friction, as well as link to the Amazon page where they can get the books and things. But is there anything before we wrap up and bring the ride into the station, is there anything like final words that you feel like I didn't ask. That you want to share with the listeners?

Jacqui Cooper 00:25:59

Yeah, so understand that platforms like FTX and Celsius and some of the other platforms that have had their ups and downs in this last year, those are platforms that's not the blockchain. They use blockchain. Obviously, there's crypto and stuff like that, but they're no different than traditional businesses that could be not ethical. So again, you have to do your own research, even if you think you know who is the face of the company you never know what the liquidity of the company is. So if you are going to be in the blockchain space, again, it's no different than traditional. You have to be willing to lose whatever you invest. And so the reason why I say that is don't invest your mortgage, don't invest your food money or your child's college education because there's so many ups and downs in this market. You can do well, but you can also lose it all. And so you do whatever you feel is comfortable within your area. If it's just $5 a week, so be it if it's a little more, but again, if you go to buy a Starbucks, you're putting money there, but you've lost it. Again, have the same attitude that you have no attachment to it. Do your research, get multiple information from different sources and have fun because this space is just phenomenal. The creativity, the DAOs. Again, all these areas that are developing. I'm hearing about so many things that blows my mind every time I hear how we're using information to protect information. And again, that's what I'm saying. We definitely have to have more than one conversation.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:27:55

Oh my gosh, for sure. Yes. And I love the idea of getting my daughter on here and the three of us having a conversation, her talking about the book and all that kind of stuff, because she can also help educate the youngsters exactly. Who are essentially growing up with an understanding of this technology, whether they truly know that that's what they're embarking upon. We talk about NFTs. My daughter plays these multiplayer games like Roblox and Fortnite.

Jacqui Cooper 00:28:30

Exactly.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:28:30

NFTs. They're going to be able to own those assets from those games with blockchain gaming. And so they're being groomed for it, where totally, we had to kind of learn about it.

Jacqui Cooper 00:28:43

I mean, they're already in a metaverse when you think about it. I remember when my daughter played with the Wii. Yeah, that was the pre days before all this was happening. Just being in the gaming world, they already know about rewards, they know about tokens. They just don't understand maybe the currency value behind it. And that's a whole other area I'm going to be dealing with this year that I really want to focus on. I want to do a cursory because I know I can't do a deep dive. I want to look at every state, like starting from Alaska, going all the way down to say, okay, what's their loss? What are they doing in the blockchain? And again, when I do the show, it might be current for that moment and there might be new things going on, but there are states like Wyoming and Texas and others that are pretty progressive. They're in the blockchain space and they're encouraging the businesses to develop. We need do legislation for consumers because sometimes consumers don't act smart. But we need also to protect the creativity because this is really entrepreneurship at the heart of it. Yes.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:30:03

Oh, gosh, Jacqui, this conversation was so amazing. Like, we could go on and on and on, but I like to keep them a little shorter so people are able to listen to them in bite sized pieces. And we will for sure reconnect and get you back on. And I'll be on your talk show and we'll just push this relationship going in this conversation. So for those of you listening to me right now, know that Jacqui also has her own show, which I will also link so you guys can have access to that and really connect and continue the learning process. Because education and blockchain is honestly where it's at. This is the prime time to do it. With the economy in the state that it's in, this is an amazing opportunity for you to learn and not miss out. In fact, you're in a really good place to invest if you choose to embark in this adventure with us. So, Jacqui, really quick, before I do pull this in, what is the best way, other than the website, to connect with you? Do you have social media handles LinkedIn?

Jacqui Cooper 00:31:02

Yeah. So CryptoMom2 is on both Twitter, LinkedIn, and if you need to email me or want to email me through CryptoMom2consulting@gmail.com, you're welcome to do that. But, yeah, just putting CryptoMom2 into most platforms and something will pop up, and I look forward to chatting with everyone.

Dr. Brook Sheehan 00:31:28

Awesome. All right, guys, you know the drill. If you've listened to any episodes, we're going to pull this in and I want you to exit to the right and we will see you on the next one. You made it. Congratulations. That wasn't so bad, was it? I hope you laughed and learned a little bit more about this Web3 universe and how simple and fun it can really be. Would you be so kind as to leave us a review and share it with your friends and family? It would mean so much to get this out to more people as we embark on the greatest transfer of wealth that has ever happened in human history. Can't wait to see you on the next one.