If you’re like a lot of people, you may never have completely gotten your head around crypto currency or believed that it is a viable and inevitable replacement for traditional bullion-based U.S. dollars. When the crypto market cratered in the summer of 2022, you might have felt a little bit vindicated and assumed that the whole thing was over. A flash in the pan, just like you’ve been saying all along. Right? Well, not so fast apparently.

As crypto continues its fluctuations, here in Baton Rouge there are more than a few entrepreneurs betting on the continued adoption and growth of alternative currencies. Among them are Stephanie Riegel's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge.

Jared Loftus was the poster child for entrepreneurism in Baton Rouge a decade ago. He had owned a popular T-shirt company near the LSU campus, then brought the food truck revolution to the capital region with Taco de Paco. He also took on the beleaguered bus system, CATS, at a pivotal moment and got himself appointed to its board, and then walked away from the spotlight to help grow the very successful startup Mastery Prep, an online test prep firm which was acquired by a huge national company.

Moving more into the tech world - as you may remember from our pandemic-era Out to Lunch shows - Jared helped build RASA.io, an AI powered email newsletter platform, and theses days he's all-in on crypto!

Jared's latest company, founded in early 2022, is Max Boring, which is focused on building out the infrastructure that makes decentralized blockchains possible. What exactly - or even approximately - does that mean? If you're wondering, "What the heck is the blockchain?" and "Where does crypto currency come from anyway?" Jared explains it all in this conversation.

Charlie Davis is an entrepreneur and CEO of Moxey, a network of small businesses who have banded together to improve their sales and cash flow through a unique community currency.

You may remember we talked about the original version of Moxey back in 2016 when it was called The Trade Authority. In the years since, the community currency has grown to include 3,000 small business owners and has created a mobile app that makes using Moxey as easy as Venmo or a credit card.

In a small-world - or perhaps small-town - coincidence, Charlie Davis is also a co-founder of Mastery Prep.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Erik Otts at itsbatonrouge.com.