Striving for the equilibrium of security and ease — Janine Grainger of Easy Crypto
Welcome to the first edition of yWhales Community Stories, a series highlighting the key contributors and innovators at the center of Web3, shaping the next wave of revolutionary technology and transforming how businesses operate.
yWhales is a Web3 ecosystem that facilitates the migration from Web2 to Web3 for and by the world’s top executives, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. We credit our success to the power of our global community as collaboration sits at the heart of the Web3 revolution.
Janine Grainger, Co-Founder and CEO of Easy Crypto and a member of yWhales, is an expert in strategy development, blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, and regulation. She has a background in finance, economics, and consulting, and has worked on strategies for leading corporates such as Air New Zealand and Westpac, as well as in the public sector.
She recounts her journey into the world of cryptocurrency, starting from when she first discovered Bitcoin in 2014, to becoming an expert in the field, and ultimately founding her own crypto exchange.
Janine had been fascinated by the concept of Bitcoin since she stumbled upon it while browsing the internet in 2014. Despite it being the early days, she understood the vision and was immediately drawn in. Although she was a bit late to the party compared to some, she saw the potential for a global payment system that could sit alongside the global communication system provided by the internet. She invested in a couple of Bitcoins and learned how wallets work, even though the process of buying cryptocurrency was quite cumbersome at the time. Janine believed that this technology was going to be the next big thing, but not much happened until 2017 when there was a big hype cycle and other coins started popping up. That was when the first NFTs and CryptoKitties made big waves in the space.
At that time, Janine was working at Westpac, one of the largest banks in Australia and New Zealand. Her colleagues at Westpac knew that she had an interest in cryptocurrency, so she quickly became a trusted resource on the topic, fielding a lot of questions and giving presentations on Bitcoin and blockchain technology. As a result, she became the go-to person for all things crypto-related at Westpac. People were always asking her how they could get involved and buy cryptocurrency, but at that time, it was difficult to do so in New Zealand. The local providers were expensive and using international exchanges was complex and time-consuming.
Janine, joined by her brother, saw a problem — finding the balance between high security and simplicity of use — and set out to solve it by creating an easy, straightforward, and fair way for people to access cryptocurrency. The mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency has long been anticipated, but it hadn’t happened yet. They saw an opportunity to create a platform that makes it easy for people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in a secure and regulated environment. With this goal in mind, they set out to create Easy Crypto.
Easy Crypto’s goal is to make all aspects of crypto easy to understand and use, with the aim of promoting financial freedom and equity around the world. Security is a top priority and they use industry-leading security measures to keep crypto assets safe and secure. Their non-custodial service means that your crypto is truly yours — they don’t hold onto your funds and you choose where to store your assets.
As Janine delved deeper into the world of cryptocurrency, she began to recognize the potential issues surrounding smart contracts and their complexity. She understood that as the demand for smart contracts increases, it is crucial to provide transparency and understanding for the end user in order to ensure trust in the contracts and the level of risk involved. Janine believes that the principles of free market economics should be upheld, giving individuals the autonomy to make decisions with their money, as long as it is accompanied by transparency and education to enable informed decisions.
Janine also recognizes the value of both centralized and decentralized systems in the crypto and blockchain industry. While she personally prefers decentralized systems, she acknowledges that centralized systems can also provide value for many people. She believes that it is important to have appropriate regulations in place to protect customers while also enabling innovation. The industry should strive to move beyond its reputation as the “wild west” and become legitimate and safe for people to engage with and run businesses in. Janine believes that the solution is not a polarizing stance between decentralization and regulation, but rather finding a balance between the two.
We asked Janine her perspective on the composition and goals of groups that aim to represent the blockchain industry, whether there are any concerns about the current state of these groups or the regulations they are pushing for and what would an ideal group for representing the blockchain industry look like, in terms of structure and objectives. Here’s her perspective:
“I think it’s important for a group representing the blockchain industry to have a diverse set of members, including those who are at the forefront of the technology and have a clear understanding of its impact. This includes those who are running decentralized and centralized protocols. In addition, regulators should also be involved in these conversations in order to create a balance between protecting customers and promoting innovation. It’s also important to have face-to-face interactions with regulators to dispel any misconceptions they may have about the industry and to show that legitimate businesses exist in the blockchain world.”
We also asked if there was only one issue she could solve, what would it be? As a seasoned professional in the cryptocurrency industry, she has seen firsthand the negative impact of scams on retail customers who are unfamiliar with the complexities of the crypto world. Recognizing the need for better tools to help these individuals make informed decisions, Janine advocates for increased regulation and auditing to provide a measure of legitimacy for projects and to protect consumers from fraud. At the same time, she understands the importance of making blockchain technology more accessible and user-friendly for a wider audience, acknowledging that not everyone may be interested in taking on the responsibility of self-custody.
“I believe that the world doesn’t usually align with ideals, but rather with reality. It is important to educate people about the principles and fundamentals of blockchain technology, but it is also essential to make it accessible and easy for people to use and understand. This means that not everyone will want to hold their own crypto and have self-custody, rather they will want a more simplified experience. We can find a balance between ideals and reality to make blockchain technology more widely adopted,” Janine says.
Janine considers the current phase of the crypto market to be relatively speculative. She separates crypto into two categories: utility and use cases, which is what many people got involved in, and speculation. She sees the importance of people diversifying their investments and encourages a small allocation to digital currencies. Her rule of thumb is 5–10% of assets invested in crypto and diversifying within crypto by not putting all of it in one project or protocol. Easy Crypto also offers dollar cost averaging, as this is a well-proven strategy for investing in crypto. Janine admits that she herself has been more of a buyer and hodler in the past but has started to dollar cost average recently.
As for how she visualizes the next 5–10 years in Web3 development, Janine is a firm believer that “we will see an increasing digitization of a huge number of items from personal identity documents, insurance, medical records, and house deeds, to gaming, to how we will do business with each other on a daily basis and how we connect with loved ones.” She concludes that “the future of Web3 is such an exciting place as it sees us moving away from big, centralized corporations making millions of dollars off our own personal information and gives power back to us as individuals, along with speed and, hopefully, ease. That will be a game changer for life as we know it.”
One thing that makes Web3 unique is the power of communities. We asked Janine how yWhales has impacted the way her business approaches the space and the value she has found from being part of our community.
“yWhales is a global movement of passionate, talented, and incredibly intelligent people working together to help each other bring business from Web2 to Web3. The biggest impact for us has been increased exposure to other parts of the community and how they are tackling the task, broadening our viewpoint about possibilities and paths forward, and globally increasing the trusted parties we can work with to help achieve worldwide Web3 adoption. yWhales members are always willing to take time out of their busy schedules to help each other succeed and having talented practitioners in the space I can bounce ideas off and be inspired by is awesome in such a fast-moving and rapidly changing industry. Collectively, the talent of members of yWhales will quite literally change the world.”
We are extremely fortunate to have Janine as a member of the yWhales community. Her passion for blockchain technology and its potential real-world use cases aligns with our goals and mission, and her focus on educating and safeguarding individual investors from fraudulent schemes is in line with our core principles.
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