In this episode, Sunny Ray talks with singer-songwriter and early Bitcoin advocate Tatiana Moroz about her journey from the music industry to the crypto world. Tatiana shares how growing up with music that carried a message, disillusionment with the post-Britney Spears music industry, and her political awakening through Ron Paul's 2012 campaign led her to Bitcoin. She recounts meeting BitPay founders Tony Gallippi and Stephen Pair, buying her first bitcoin at 11 dollars, and later creating Tatianacoin in 2014, widely considered the first artist cryptocurrency, built on Counterparty with Adam Levine. She discusses her friendship with Ross Ulbricht's mother Lyn Ulbricht, her prison visits with Ross, and using his artwork on her album Keep the Faith. Tatiana also talks about CryptoMediaHub, her podcast The Tatiana Show, her Proof of Love series, and her CryptoCares initiative in the Bahamas. The conversation closes with reflections on why music resonates universally and why more artists have not embraced Bitcoin in their work.
Tatiana Moroz traces her path from music to Bitcoin, Ron Paul, Tatianacoin, and Ross Ulbricht.
Where are you based these days and what's coming up for you?
I'm living in Jersey, right outside New York, though I try to keep my location a bit obfuscated since it's a security thing for bitcoiners. I have some travel coming up including an event called era.global in Texas, which has a bit of a Burning Man vibe with a lot of OGs attending, and then I'm heading to Miami. Lots of good trips ahead.
What was your backstory before Bitcoin and what drew you to it?
I studied music at Berklee and managed recording studios in Manhattan, but got disheartened by the post-Britney Spears era and negative messaging in hip-hop. In 2011 a friend showed me The Money Masters and America Freedom to Fascism, which got me into Ron Paul's movement. I started singing at Ron Paul events, and BitPay founders Tony Gallippi and Stephen Pair, who sponsored one of my shows, introduced me to Bitcoin. I bought my first bitcoin at 11 dollars.
Can you tell us about Tatianacoin?
Tatianacoin was created in 2014, built on Counterparty with Adam Levine, and it was the first artist cryptocurrency in the world, before NFTs existed. It solved two problems for independent artists: fans and funding. Buyers helped fund my third album, Keep the Faith, and received perks like store discounts and private chats, letting me build a direct relationship with my audience instead of depending on platforms like Facebook.
What was that journey like building Tatianacoin, were there ups as well as downs?
There are always ups in crypto. It was such an amazing journey to bond with and feel inspired by incredible people. After we launched and raised enough to fund my album, the coin needed infrastructure, like having a car with no roads. Adam Levine's company Tokenly started building tools for that, and we eventually developed a music blockchain platform.
How did you get connected to Ross Ulbricht and the Silk Road story?
I became friends with Lyn Ulbricht, Ross's mother, while doing interviews for my podcast. I visited Ross in prison about a dozen times and was told I was the first person from the community welcomed to do so. Ross drew a picture of me for my birthday, and I used it on the cover of Keep the Faith to bring attention to him and to show the importance of artistic independence.
Did you end up doing that Bahamas event you mentioned around Christmas time?
I have an event called CryptoCares, aimed at doing good in the Bahamas, like educating people about Bitcoin, cleaning beaches, and giving kids computers. In January I did a smaller scale scouting version with friends, played a well received local show, and worked on my fourth album. The bigger event planned for April and May got affected by the world shutting down.
Why do you think Bitcoin hasn't inspired more music from artists?
Most people who write Bitcoin songs, aside from me and a handful of others, do it because they want donations, not out of artistic integrity. Real artists aren't sitting around wanting to write about cryptocurrency. Also, artists tend to be financially illiterate and lean heavily left, so they aren't exposed to ideas like Austrian economics. I wish more artists understood freedom and liberty so they could represent those values in their music.
Building something daring? Sunny talks to founders like this every day. Fifteen minutes to see if your story belongs on the stage.
Claim your pre-interview