Byron Gilliam is not your average newsletter writer. With a career spanning nearly three decades in equity trading across some of the world’s most respected financial institutions, he brings Wall Street-grade insight to a crypto industry often saturated by hype and speculation. Now a full-time market strategist and writer at Blockworks, Byron has carved out a distinctive voice—part macro analyst, part cultural critic—helping readers decode not just where the markets are, but what they actually mean.
But his journey into crypto wasn’t driven by ideology or a moment of epiphany. It was more accidental than inspirational.
“I was just poking around on Linkedin looking for a career change and responded to an ad for a Newsletter writer Job,” Byron revealed.
“I had never been a writer before. I was an equities trader for, like 25 years, knew a little bit about crypto. Not a lot.”
It’s a telling statement from someone who has spent his life interpreting signals in financial markets. And it’s precisely that grounded, observational mindset that has made Byron a standout voice in the modern crypto media ecosystem.
A Long Career in Traditional Markets
Byron’s career began in Frankfurt with Baader Bank AG in 1994, before he moved on to major roles in London with Citi and UniCredit, where he spent over a decade in equities trading. His years on trading desks during the dot-com boom, the 2008 financial crisis, and the rise of algorithmic markets gave him a deep appreciation for risk, liquidity, and market psychology.
From 2011 to 2021, he worked with Olivetree Financial Group in New York, focusing on trading, compliance, and operations. This mix of front-office experience and regulatory literacy helped shape the analytical edge he brings to crypto markets today.
Byron studied history at Vassar College and Binghamton University, and while he never worked in academia, his writing often reads like a well-researched historical dispatch, layered with irony, skepticism, and cultural depth.
The Blockworks Era: Writing in the Age of Attention
In 2021, Byron joined Blockworks, where he now writes the Blockworks Daily newsletter, a must-read for institutional investors, DeFi degenerates, and curious market observers alike.
His writing blends sharp economic analysis with wry social commentary. Whether he’s unpacking the economics of meme coins or explaining why ETFs represent financial nihilism, Byron has a rare ability to cut through noise and provoke real reflection.
“Mostly, I mean that it’s just an idea, right? Like it doesn’t have any intrinsic value other than you know, what value people arbitrarily decide that it has right?”
He doesn’t see that as a weakness. For Byron, understanding crypto requires recognizing it as a cultural project as much as a technical one. And it’s this interdisciplinary lens that makes his voice stand out in an ecosystem still grappling with its own identity.
“But ideas can have genuine value, and I think you know, Bitcoin has reached escape velocity, so that its meme value is genuine and lasting.”
Philosophy Meets Markets
On The CoinRock Show, Byron expanded on what he sees as crypto’s current malaise: a space that once aimed to disrupt finance now seems mostly interested in replicating it, complete with ETFs, compliance wrappers, and algorithm-driven pump cycles.
His take? Crypto is maturing, but not in the way many hoped. Innovation is increasingly measured by attention metrics rather than breakthroughs. Most protocols still lack real cash flow. Token holders chase yield without rights. And meme coins dominate headlines.
Still, Byron isn’t disillusioned. He’s just honest.
“Almost all of the revenue in Crypto is downstream of meme coin trading. Basically right? Well, with like a couple of exceptions, maybe in the deep in space.” he argued.
“There’s very little of what you would call, you know, like something that’s traditionally investable. Yeah, unless you are bullish on meme coins. There’s not very much investable in crypto right now.”
A Voice the Industry Needs
In a space flooded with optimists and hype merchants, Byron Gilliam plays a different role: the seasoned adult in the room. He knows markets. He understands narrative. And he’s not afraid to ask if the emperor is wearing any clothes.
His background in traditional finance gives him the credibility to challenge crypto’s sacred cows. His work at Blockworks gives him the reach to do it at scale. And his writing ensures that, even if you don’t agree with him, you’ll still come away thinking harder about what crypto is really building.
Where You Can Find Byron Gilliam
- Twitter: @bgilliam1982
- LinkedIn: Byron Gilliam
- Newsletter: Blockworks Daily
