Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Change Maker: Actress & NFT Collector Katie Cassidy on NFTs, Nudes and Self Love

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

Star of DC comic's Arrow Katie Cassidy joins Nicole today to talk about making your own crypto, collecting and creating NFTs, and how a breakup over an art project can turn into a cash cow. Katie talks about the wise investments she’s made - and the times she missed out. You won’t want to miss this.

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Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. As you know, every Friday we talk with a celebrity, a public figure making change in every sense of the word,

and along the way has been in or may still be in money rehab. So today I'm talking with Katie Cassidy. Katie is an actress who starred in the TV series Arrow for a whopping eight seasons, casually. She is also a badass tech queen and one of the first celebrities to break into the NFT game. She just auctioned her first NFT called Me, She, We. So I called her up to talk about it. I am ready for some money rehab. Let's go. Yeah, baby. Okay. So before we dive in, we would love to do a quick round of money rehab. Never have I ever. I'll ask you a question about your finances and you can tell me if you have or you haven't made this money move. Never have I ever had a financial advisor.

I have. Never have I ever missed a credit card payment. I have. I really strongly suggest you pay your credit card off. Otherwise, the interest rates are insane. And I learned that the hard way, you know, live and learn. Never have I ever gone drunk shopping. Oh, yes, I have. I never have I ever found some extra cash in a random jean pocket or coat pocket. I have. And it makes me so freaking happy when I do. Me too. I'm like, yes, an extra 20 bucks.

But also, you know, we can get into it later. But physical cash, how I feel about that. I can't wait to hear. So never have I ever been audited. I was. I think I was like 17. I had like no money, really. I had done some modeling when I was young. And I remember being like, really, what do they care about this girl who's got like $10,000 to her name? Who knows? Never have I ever had to remind a friend to pay me back for something. I don't feel as though I've ever had to remind them. All right, sister, here's the layup. Never have I ever sold an NFT.

I have. Yeah. Tell me more. You were one of the first celebrities to get into NFTs. I really want to talk about that. I'm super interested in how you got interested in crypto and in tech. Yeah, absolutely. So basically, I grew up totally as a gamer, a gamer girl. I used to play Mortal Kombat. I mean, from Mortal Kombat, Duke Nukem on the PC from 100 years ago. And then my stepdad, he used to have me break down and build backup computers. I think probably when I was, I don't know, 8 or 9 or 10, just, you know, probably just trying to keep me. So I wasn't annoying

him while he was doing work. He'd be like, you see that computer over there. Can you break that down and build that back up? And I would do it. And then I think he was also kind of impressed. I don't know. I just, I like figuring stuff out and I, that's so bad-ass. I love technology and I love learning things. And so about in 2016, 2017, I learned about, I learned about cryptocurrency and through actually my husband, which he does play into this later on in regards to my NFT, but I'm a big believer in it. And especially now, uh, I don't really ever want to touch a piece of piece of physical cash after 2020 and, you know, COVID. It's kind of gross. So I basically, you know, got into cryptocurrency then and have just sort of kept up with it.

And what I had gone through in my personal life over the last year and a half, I guess, it was a huge change in my life from going from Arrow on our eighth season and the show being completely finished November, 2019. And I was living in Canada for eight years. So moving back to Los Angeles, um, and in January, 2020, I filed, I filed for divorce and I, then we were all forced into quarantine. And it was so interesting because I really, it really forced me. I haven't been able to, I don't know, self-love self-care. I feel like while I was shooting that television show, I didn't necessarily take the best care of myself. I felt like I was always just going, going, going. And I never really looked inward

and really learned how to fall in love with myself. And I think that's really important in regards to any, obviously relationship, but before you can love other people, you need to learn how to love yourself. And so when I learned about NFTs, I was like, you know what? It's women's history month. I've never done a nude shoot either. And I basically, I can't wait for you to pull all these together, the nude shoot, the NFTs, all the things. It'll all come together. I promise. I promise you. So I basically, I was dating somebody during COVID because they lived in my building and I met him. I remember in the elevator, he was also going through a divorce and we stayed together almost a year. And then

around Valentine's day, I basically had given him this thing called love is art, which is, it's a canvas that the, this company sends you and they send you paint and you're supposed to, you know, have sex with your partner on this canvas covered in paint. And then you get it stretched and you put it on your wall. So I got this for my, for my, for my boyfriend. Oh, don't worry. We didn't get to use it. He broke up with me like the next day. Yeah. And so like relearning to fall in love with myself again, all over. But I think that's life. It's like ebbs and flows and you go, you have to look, we all get knocked down sometimes and we have to

pick ourselves up and that's okay. Just stronger. My brain, when that happened, it allowed actually all this like space to come into my brain, I guess. And creatively, I was like, you know what? NFT, I've always been in cryptocurrency, gaming, like all of it. It all makes sense. I'm going to actually screw this guy. I'm going to take this canvas and I'm going to like make love to myself on it. And in fact, I'm then going to donate a portion of the proceeds, drop it as an NFT, be the first to do it. And I was, and that makes me really happy. And I wanted to do it for a good cause. And, you know, I think, I think overall the important lesson is really as a woman learning how to embrace yourself, embrace your body and really love yourself. And this photo shoot,

we put together in three days with the Riker brothers. Um, they're incredible photographers. We did it in my living room in less than an hour. Um, and what was crazy is we, the second they wrap, we, everybody wrapped, they left the building literally two minutes later, a fire alarm went off in my condo. And had I not, I had thought about like, Oh, maybe I'll just shower later so I can hang with you guys for a little bit. But I was like completely naked, covered in paint. Fire would have started during the shoot. I would have been, I literally ran with my three cats, my giant greater Swiss mountain dog running down the fire escape. Luckily I washed the paint off by this point. And I was in this teeny little like black dress slip thing, um, walking out on the front street barefoot. And I'm like, Oh my,

and there was a fire in the garage of my building. And I was like, Oh my gosh, could you imagine if I was naked? I mean, it would just be another NFT. Exactly. That's where the photo, like too bad the photographers had left by that point. Yeah, totally. Um, so yeah, that's how it sort of all came together. And to be honest with you, I look at this photo shoot and it's one of the, my opinion, most artistic and, and beautiful photo shoots I've ever done. Like the, the Riker brothers, they're so incredible, but I think also bringing the team together that I did, um, um, uh, you know, a writer to write, she, she was a friend of mine and I was like, I would love for you to cover this and write the article, um, on this. and the series I dropped is called me, she, we, um, and it's sort of about how,

you know, I have this like personal persona, I have a public persona, and I've also had to learn how to live and love both. Um, and so we, I dropped the series. Uh, we auctioned off the first piece that actually already was relisted on OpenSea, I think for around 14. I think it's equivalent to like 14K or something. Whoever got that also is dropping it as an auction. But whoever also, what I did is I sort of decided that I was going to string together my NFT and actually sell the physical canvas. So whoever had gotten that canvas or whoever had gotten that NFT specifically is getting the physical canvas that I rolled around naked on. So I had it stretched and

it's being sent to the winner, which is exciting. Wow. Hold on to your wallets, boys and girls. Money Rehab will be right back. Now, back to business. So tell me how you even set up this auction. Like, somebody's listening and they say, this sounds awesome. I also want to roll around on a canvas and auction it off. What do I do?

Yes. So if you go to Coinbase, you can buy cryptocurrency and you would buy ether. You also then get a wallet. I have my made a mask wallet and I take my ether and put it there. And once I have a made a mask account, you can then go to the marketplace, which where I dropped my NFT was on OpenSea. And you can search for me, period, she, period, we. And my series comes up. And you go there. And once you have made a mask, you can buy shares and have ownership of this digital, original piece of artwork. So just to step back for once again, if somebody is a total novice, if they're like Katie and

Nicole, what the fuck did you just say? Ether is a type of cryptocurrency, just like Bitcoin is a kind of cryptocurrency. And Coinbase is like where you go buy these cryptocurrencies, right? So you have to buy a specific type of cryptocurrency called Ethereum, right? That's the Ether that you were talking about. And then why do you put it in a wallet? To protect it. Yes. So you were talking about. And then why do you put it in a wallet? To protect it? Yes.

So you can protect it. And there's a way to do that with like two-factor authentication. You would then, once you have a MetaMask account, transfer your coin from your Coinbase to your MetaMask. And then you can go on your MetaMask. Or like whatever wallet you come up with. MetaMask is just one of many. And then you go and you can purchase with your ether on OpenSea or Nifty or Maker's Place. There's so many. Yeah. There's so many. Got it. So the crypto part wasn't stressful for you?

No. The crypto part was not stressful. The stressful part was like... The being naked part. Yeah. The being naked part. But luckily, again, it's been a huge success. I've accomplished what my goal was and continue to do so. So I'm really happy about it. And I really do hope people, you know, really educate themselves on NFTs and cryptocurrency and get involved because this is the way of the future. So NFTs are interesting because they're at the intersection of art and finance or creativity and data. Do you feel like your approach to NFTs was from one side or another? You seem to have both the left brain and the right brain. I don't know. Which one do you think is more dominant or do you think that this requires a mix of both? the crypto space or NFT space. Um, I think as an artist in the NFT space, I think it helps obviously to have both able to tap into your left brain and your right brain for me. Yeah. I think

that was very helpful, but it basically, you know, it also allows artists another way to connect with your fans and they can actually help have an impact on your career because they believe in you as an artist, because they can support you and want to buy your art, whether it be again, like a musician, a song. It's going into a lot of different options. Like NFTs can be a lot of different things. Yeah. I think someone just recently sold their house as an NFT. a lot of different things. Yeah. I think someone just recently sold their house as an NFT. Cool. One of the biggest criticisms is that NFTs can be copied. What do you say to people who think that NFTs are less valuable because they can be copied? Well, they can't really be copied. I mean, sure, you could take a screenshot, but that doesn't mean you can blow it up

pixelated. You can't put it on your wall and you don't actually own the artwork. You don't have a certificate of authenticity. And it's not, I mean, that just seems like bogus. It's like making fake, I don't know, anything. Like didn't they make like a ton of fake beanie babies or something like that? That was bullshit. It's like, no, that's not the whole, that defeats the whole purpose of what this space is and what it is able to become.

Do you think it's a real money-making opportunity? Because, you know, you are leading the charge to close the gender gap in crypto trading and trying to get more women involved. And I think that that gap can be bridged. But do you think that it's a big money-making opportunity? Or would you encourage people to get involved because of just being a collector sport? A hundred percent. Just think, you know, we made 15 grand. I feel like, and it continues to grow and it's just going to continue to grow and anybody can do it. Anyone can get involved and start trading. And yes, I do believe that the value will continue

to increase as more and more people get involved. And so when you say 15 grand will continue to increase as more and more people get involved. And so when you say 15 grand will continue to grow, you get a royalty, right? Every time it's sold in perpetuity. So resold. Yes. So somebody already had relisted what they auctioned off, what they bought my auction and they have already relisted it at, by the way, let me just tell you, 6.6, no wait, 6.969. Oh my gosh. Which I was like, dude, okay.

This is like a 12 year old in his basement. I know, right? So we'll get a percentage of that once they resell and continue to resell. And then as Ether continues to go up in price, that will look a lot, those numbers are going to look a lot different, you know, and I think it's, it's supply and demand. And, um, I think the world is really ready. It feels like everybody's almost like ready to start accepting cryptocurrency in general. What advice would you give your former self about money? I really...

Okay, so when I first heard... When I first learned about cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, go with your gut. That's not just on money. I think just in life in general, I need to... And I have. Just trust myself.

Because I remember hearing about it and my eyes lit up and I was like, oh I have just trust myself because I remember hearing about it and I, my eyes lit up and I was like, Oh my gosh, this. And I think Bitcoin was at like 3k at the time when I bought in. And I was like, I remember thinking like, should I just like buy a bunch of Bitcoin or should I just like buy one, see how it goes. Of course, you know, my, I do have somebody who manages, I have a money manager, but he also, because I'm running around, well, it was running around the world shooting and not able to do it all, even though I think I can. And I try, um, I, but my gut was like, go in.

And if I would have gone in now, it's like what? 68, 68, 66. What's it have right now? 63. Two. 63, two. So you would have told your former self to trust yourself when it comes to money, when it comes to crypto, when it comes to both of the things? In general. And here's a tip from Katie you can take straight to the bank.

If I were someone who had money that they didn't necessarily know, like, what should I do with it? It's just sitting in my account. Buy into cryptocurrency and don't put all your eggs in one basket. But I think, you know, I like to keep it diverse and I like to kind of have my hand in everything. So put a little bit in this and a little bit in that. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartMedia. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Catherine Law. Money Rehab is edited and engineered by Brandon Dickert with help from Josh Fisher. Executive producers are Mangesh Hatikadur and Will Pearson.

Huge thanks to the OG Money Rehab supervising producer, Michelle Lanz, for her pre-production and development work. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.