LAURA SHIN has risen to prominence as the host of the Unchained podcast on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
But her high profile role in the sector came about almost by accident, with Shin having had a career for almost 15 years as a mainstream journalist before that.
So, what is the story behind Laura Shin?
Who is Laura Shin?
Laura Shin studied Modern Thought and Literature at Stanford University, California from 1993-1997 where she took her first steps into journalism.
Already interested in becoming a reporter, she was an active writer at the university’s newspaper, Stanford Daily. She also interned for four months at National Public Radio, writing scripts for the daily classical music show Performance Today.
After graduating, Shin spent nine months working at an English Second Language school in Indonesia before kickstarting her career as a journalist.
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Her first full-time report role was at Newsweek, where she worked for just over a year between 1998 and 2000, before taking on roles at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
But in 2001 she decided to go freelance, spending over a decade self-employed, writing for a large range of publications on a vast variety of topics, including business, tech, personal finance, environment, energy, arts, fitness, health, and travel.
In May 2013, Shin joined Forbes on a freelance basis as a “contributor”. It was here that she first started covering cryptocurrency.
Upon joining the publication she primarily wrote articles on personal finance, but as her interest in crypto grew, she started writing more and more stories on Bitcoin and other aspects of blockchain tech.
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It was in 2016 that Shin first talked with her superiors at Forbes about launching a crypto podcast.
She said in a recent interview about her pitch: “I was a freelancer and I just saw that they had launched 12 podcasts, and I said to my editor ‘oh, I want to start a podcast.,
“I basically became the 13th Forbes podcast just because I begged so intently on creating one. And so they let me do it, and actually, I think mine is the only one that’s still going. So, lucky no13.”
While Shin relish the opportunity of doing her podcast, which was named “Unchained” from the outset, not everyone was so convinced. After just one season, Forbes tried to bring an end to the audio series.
“They decided to drop it after the first season, so they weren’t funding it anymore,” she explained.
But, eager not to let go of the idea she had moulded from the beginning, she looked at how to keep up the podcast at Forbes.
She added: “I found a sponsor who would cover the year of 2017.”
By now cryptocurrency was no longer a piece of niche fintech that no one has heard of. Bitcoin’s price was booming and interest in the sector was exploding to new levels.
Several specialist publications offered to take on the journalist full-time, but when Forbes heard they gave Shin a contract and made her a Senior Editor.
The contract bought Forbes a few extra months but it didn’t stop Shin from eventually leaving the publication. In February 2018, she quit to work on the podcast independently.
Explaining the decision, she said: “After I launched it, I think about a year and a half later, finally the downloads were to a point where someone that was working for me said ‘hey, we could be charging this amount for sponsorships’.
“I had no clue and said ‘woah, that’s more than I make in my job’. So then I quit Forbes.”
Shin’s newfound freedom allowed her to split her time, spending half her time working on her podcast while spending the other half writing a book on crypto.
Published in 2022, “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” focused on uncovering the truth behind one of the biggest hacking incidents in crypto’s history.
Her book received rave reviews, with Shin taking part in many sit-down interviews to promote her work.
How old is Laura Shin?
Laura Shin was born in Ohio, USA, in 1975. She is 47 years old.
Does Laura Shin have a husband?
Little is known about Laura Shin’s personal life. Details about whether she is married, has a partner, or is single remain private.
What is Laura Shin’s net worth?
Laura Shin’s podcast and book are thought to bring in a considerable sum of money a year.
Six years after first launching Unchained, Shin’s net worth is estimated to be $2.5million.
