FEATURE: Ana-Maria Yanakieva, Editorial Manager at Sebfor.com

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Ana-Maria Yanakieva, a London-based cryptocurrency researcher, analyst and Editorial Manager for crypto blog Sebfor.com.

When and how did you get started in crypto?
A friend of mine mentioned it in the beginning of 2017, but I never really looked into it until early June. I started my internship for a Venture Capital firm, and in my second week one of the partners asked me to watch Chris Burniske’s presentation on Token Summit 2017. After that, I was assigned the big project of finding a way to value cryptocurrencies and cryptoassets regardless if they are protocols or dApps. It is almost impossible to do that using traditional metrics, so I was required to do a lot of digging and reading. That is how I became extremely interested in the space. Since June, I haven’t stopped researching for a day. I came up with frameworks, guidelines and some models that need testing. Unfortunately, my university rejected blockchain modelling to be my Bachelor’s dissertation topic, but I am continuing it in my spare time.

What projects have you worked on?
I mainly do deal-sourcing and research for new ICOs, with the aim of finding those that have potential beyond just flipping on etherdelta. Some of the projects I have looked into include Polkadot, CrowdWiz, Lockchain, Tezos, Airswap, and Kin.

What project are you working on now, and what is your role?
I am continually looking for ways to value tokens more accurately. In addition, I research
ICOs and value them. Currently I have my eyes on Ripio, Quantstamp and others. Moreover, I am Editorial Manager for the cryptocurrency blog sebfor.com, and I mainly write for the Blockchain series.

Tell me some more about your blog
The blog was initially launched in 2013, but then soon ditched by its then-founder. Recently, the new founders took it over and we are slowly building quality information about all-things-crypto. We currently have mostly newbie articles, but the aim is to publish up-to-date news, guides and ICO summaries and valuation very soon.

What do you think are the main barriers for women entering crypto?
It is pretty much the same as the barriers in tech. “Big guys” tend not to take women seriously when it comes to tech, which is their biggest mistake.

What advice do you have for women trying to enter the field, either professionally or as investors/traders?
Never give up and make sure you’re better than most of the people in this field. It’s not a
mistake the women have to fight harder in business. Being a woman in a man-dominated field is both a curse and a blessing. Make sure you play it well. Re: investing/trading, never forget to use stop losses and do extensive due diligence.

What does the future of crypto look like to you?
It is undoubtedly quite bright. As time passes by, more and more people see the potential in this technology. Once the UX and UI improve and the glitches are being resolved, we will see what mass adoption can bring. But bear in mind, it will not be a smooth drive. We are standing before an ICO craze, possibly a crypto bubble burst in the next few years (once we reach global market cap of a few trillions). Many compare it to the Dotcom madness. Well, they are right. Play the market cycles professionally and ripe the fruit from the rise of web 3.0.

What are you favourite three coins/tokens?
I personally am a fan of NEO, Iconomi and Bitcoin (can’t do without a pinch of classics).
Thank you to Ana-Maria for sharing her knowledge and expertise with the Women in Crypto blog. You can check out Ana-Maria’s blog here: http://sebfor.com/what-is-blockchain-technology-explained/. Ana-Maria’s LinkedIn profile is updated almost daily and can be viewed at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-maria-yanakieva/. For short updates, follow Ana-Maria’s twitter account @yanakieva_ana. Ana-Maria will also soon be publishing more advanced articles on medium, which you can find here: https://medium.com/@yanakieva_ana.