Every morning and evening, tens of thousands of cryptocurrency investors tune in to watch an IT professional-turned-crypto educator deliver market analyses during one of the most brutal market downturns in digital asset history.
George Tung, founder of CryptosRUs, broadcasts twice daily at 8:30 AM and 8:30 PM CST, maintaining an unwavering schedule that has continued through multiple crypto market crashes since 2017.
“I’ve been kind of battle-tested,” Tung told a Google Web3 Talks audience in a recent interview. “Through the experience of many ups and downs, I truly understand what Bitcoin and decentralization and blockchain and the importance of holding on to something that can’t be controlled by governments or banks is all about.” This consistency during market turbulence has transformed the former IT manager into what he calls “the biggest hopium dealer on YouTube,” a self-deprecating title that acknowledges his role delivering optimistic perspectives during crypto winters.
From Three-Time Market Loser to Educational Authority
Tung’s journey into cryptocurrency began in 2013, after already experiencing financial losses in two previous market bubbles. “I lost a bunch with the dot-com bubble,” he recounted. “Then fast forward to 2007-8-9, that’s when we had another bubble, the housing bubble, and I lost a whole bunch there too.”
His initial crypto foray followed a similar pattern. After discovering Bitcoin mining in late 2013, he invested near the market peak around $1,000. When prices crashed, Tung abandoned his Litecoin mining operation, marking his “third bubble” experience. However, unlike previous market cycles, he returned in 2017 when Bitcoin regained the $1,000 level.
“In 2017, that’s when things changed,” Tung explained. “I started really paying attention, really diving in, and that’s when I started to understand.” This deeper engagement with the technology led him to launch CryptosRUs that same year, transitioning from merely “chasing gains” to educating others about blockchain fundamentals.
The platform now reaches over one million students across 190 countries through multiple channels. Beyond the YouTube channel with nearly 150 million total views, CryptosRUs operates an academy offering structured courses on cryptocurrency investing, maintains active communities on Instagram and Facebook with 22,000 followers, and publishes regular technical analysis through its premium newsletter services.
Surviving Crypto Collapses While Others Disappear
The cryptocurrency education landscape is littered with abandoned YouTube channels and defunct websites from content creators who entered during bull markets but vanished when prices collapsed. Tung, however, maintained his twice-daily broadcast schedule through the 80-90% market declines of 2018-2020 and the current downturn that began in late 2021.
“There’s a lot of people that start channels or start their social media journey, especially if they’re constantly on crypto – they started when things are good,” Tung observed. “But then when things come down, they never survived the crypto winter or down market.”
This persistence has positioned CryptosRUs as an educational constant amid market chaos, particularly following high-profile collapses like FTX’s $8 billion bankruptcy. “The main message I’ve been sharing with my audience is don’t think that FTX is a true reflection of Bitcoin and crypto,” Tung stated, comparing the situation to previous financial scandals. “We had the Madoffs before and we had Enron crashes before. That doesn’t mean that every other company out there or every other hedge fund is bad.”
His approach emphasizes fundamentals over price action, stressing that projects continuing to build during downturns often emerge strongest in subsequent cycles. “The greatest companies that came out of the last downturn – when we had the bubble burst in 2017, 2018, 19, 20 – the ones that continue to build during that time, continue to move forward with their roadmap, their development, their upgrades, their partnerships, those companies became the biggest ones in 2021,” he noted.
Expanding Influence Beyond YouTube
Tung’s credibility has extended beyond educational content into advisory roles for blockchain projects. In 2023, WAGMI Games announced his addition to their advisory board, citing his “deep understanding of crypto markets, tokenomics, token utility, and macro environments” as valuable assets for their development.
“George Tung is by far one of the most influential figures in web3,” the company stated in a Medium post announcing the partnership, highlighting his 801,000 YouTube subscribers and 272,000 followers on X as evidence of his reach.
The advisory role marks Tung’s expansion beyond pure content creation into more direct industry participation. While maintaining his educational focus, these partnerships allow him to shape projects’ development during the building phase of the current bear market.
His influence stems partly from his balanced perspective on industry debates. While many crypto educators take hardline stances in the “Bitcoin maximalist” versus “altcoin” debates, Tung advocates for collaboration: “My overall sentiment is everyone in the crypto space should be helping each other. Bitcoin is by itself; it doesn’t really compete with anything else.”
This approach extends to his views on centralized exchanges following the FTX collapse. Rather than simply condemning all exchange services, Tung provides nuanced education on self-custody while acknowledging convenience trade-offs. “Centralized exchanges do have their convenience. They have a ton of wallets, a ton of tokens, makes it easy to buy things very easily, trade things very easily, onboard cash really easily,” he explained, before emphasizing the importance of private key control.
As institutional adoption increases and regulatory frameworks develop, educators who can translate complex blockchain concepts for mainstream audiences position themselves at the intersection of traditional finance and decentralized technologies. With his IT background and consistent track record through multiple market cycles, Tung exemplifies how specialized knowledge combined with communication skills can build substantial influence in emerging technology sectors.
