I should probably introduce myself before I start telling you what to do with your money.
(I'm not going to tell you what to do with your money. But we'll get to that.)
My name's Tony Barrett. I'm 52yo, I live in Melbourne, Australia, and for the last few years I've spent waaaay too many of my waking hours armpit-deep in the crypto trenches (and in the process developing a remarkably unhealthy obsession with my TradingView account).
Before that I had a 20+ year corporate career. I was a lawyer, then a strategy consultant at BCG, then the General Manager of an $80m-revenue, 160-employee business, then the CEO of a tech startup.
When I retired from the corporate rat race in my mid-40s and jumped ass-first into the wonderful world of digital assets, I made enough expensive mistakes in the first couple of years to fill a textbook that nobody would want to read. I paid $9,000 for a digital sneaker that I later sold for $250. I locked $10,000 into a protocol that evaporated. I round-tripped an entire bull market because I was too busy counting imaginary zeroes to take any profit.
I've wised up considerably since those early days. I have plenty of scars to show for my naivety, but plenty of hard-won wisdom as well. In fact, every single one of those disasters has since become a rule in the system I now teach.
Expensive tuition indeed. But very effective.
Over the last couple of years I've also done more than 1,500 one-on-one coaching sessions helping people navigate what is, frankly, a foreign and unforgiving ecosystem.
My own experiences, and the many & varied experiences of my coaching clients, is what makes up the now vast body of knowledge that informs the philosophy, rules, systems and practices that I use today, and that I'm going to write about here.
What This Blog Is About
Crypto Decoded exists because there's a gaping hole in the market for people like you.
If you're reading this, you're probably not a 22yo with a cartoon avatar and a Discord addiction. You're more likely someone who's spent the last 20 or 30 years building something real — a business, a career, a practice, a family — and you've realised that this crypto market represents a genuine opportunity. Maybe the most asymmetric opportunity of our generation.
But the infrastructure to access it is actively hostile. The information ecosystem is a firehose of noise. The user experience was designed by people who think "intuitive" means "requires a PhD in distributed systems." And the advice landscape is dominated by influencers whose qualifications begin and end with owning a ring light.
You're not stupid. You're overwhelmed. And there's a massive difference.
This blog is about breaking down that overwhelm piece by piece, and replacing it with knowledge and calm confidence. We cover security, self-custody, portfolio infrastructure, estate planning... the boring-but-essential plumbing that lets you access this market without the spiked heart rate.
What You Won't Find Here
Financial advice. I don't tell you what to buy. I don't recommend specific tokens. I don't predict prices. What I teach is process — frameworks and systems for making your own decisions. You're a grown-up. I'll give you the tools. You drive.
Product shilling. I mention hardware wallets and tax software where relevant because you need to actually use something. I also provide referral links when they're available, some of which give you discounts on the products, and some of which give me a small commission or other reward for doing so. But here's my promise: I will NEVER recommend products because I have a referral link. I recommend only what I use myself. In fact, in some cases I actually recommend products that I don't have a link for over ones that I do, simply because they're better products.
Hype. No moonshot promises. No "100x guaranteed." If something sounds too good to be true, it is. I've got the receipts to prove it.
What You Will Find
Practical guides that assume you're intelligent but new to this. I explain things in plain English because that's what my clients need (sometimes with, ahem, "colourful" language, because I truly believe in the communicative power of profanity). If I use jargon, I'll translate it.
A generational perspective. Most crypto content is written by and for people who grew up with this technology. We didn't. But that's not a weakness. It means we bring decades of risk management, structured thinking, and operational discipline to an asset class that desperately needs it. But it also means that the learning curve looks different, and the guides here account for that.
Opinions. I have them, and some of them are strong. I think the four-year cycle is a remarkably poor excuse for "analysis" that doesn't belong in a grown up financial environment. I think most crypto influencers couldn't find "alpha" with a compass, a map, and a team of sherpas. I think self-custody is essential risk management, not libertarian ideology. You'll probably agree with some of this and disagree with some of it. That's fine. The point isn't to agree — it's to think.
Battle scars. Every framework I teach came from a mistake I made or watched a client make. The system exists because the scars do.
Where to Start
If you're new here, these four posts cover the foundations:
- How to Secure Your Crypto: The Checklist Nobody Gave You — The security system I build with every client. Start here.
- Self-Custody for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide — Taking control of your own keys, step by step, in plain English.
- Crypto Estate Planning: How to Protect Your Family's Digital Wealth — The Spouse Test. Three questions your partner must be able to answer.
- Bitcoin ETF vs. Self-Custody: What Nobody's Telling You — The full picture on what you're giving up when you choose an ETF over direct ownership.
One More Thing
I also write a daily(ish) email. Short, sharp, occasionally profane. Crypto markets, macro analysis, security practices, and whatever else is rattling around in my head at 6am. A few hundred people get it every morning and so far nobody's asked for a refund.
(Hard to refund something that's free. But the point stands.)
If that sounds like your kind of thing, there's a signup at the bottom of every page on this site. No lead magnets, no 47-step funnels. Just the emails.
Right. Introductions done. Let's get to work.
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Former corporate lawyer and strategy consultant who spent 5 years going deep on crypto so you don't have to. I teach systems, not picks.
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