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The promise and peril of crypto for Black investors

A gold plated souvenir cryptocurrency Tether (USDT) coin arranged beside a screen displaying US dollar notes. JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

The promise and peril of crypto for Black investors

Black consumers are more likely to own crypto than white consumers and crypto enthusiasts laud the crypto world as a driver for racial equity. In today's show we explore that premise. If you're interested in learning more, listen to the episode and check out Terri Bradford's article on Black crypto ownership.

The promise and peril of crypto for Black investors

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Home prices are up. For Black families, is selling Grandma's house the right choice?

Regan Adams at her home in northeast Knoxville. Lynsey Weatherspoon for NPR hide caption

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Lynsey Weatherspoon for NPR

National

Home prices are up. For Black families, is selling Grandma's house the right choice?

Fast-rising home prices are creating opportunities for some longtime Black homeowners. Those high valuations can also raise big questions about the best way to tap into that wealth.

Home prices are up. For Black families, is selling Grandma's house the right choice?

Listen · 7:01
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Black And Latino Homeowners Are About Twice As Likely As Whites To Get Low Appraisals

A "For Sale by Owner" sign is posted in front of property in Monterey Park, Calif., in April 2020. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Business

Black And Latino Homeowners Are About Twice As Likely As Whites To Get Low Appraisals

A new analysis by Freddie Mac has found that only 7.4% of appraisals in majority-white census tracts came in below contract price, compared with 12.5% for Black areas and 15.4% for Latino ones.

COVID Diaries: Jessica And Sean Apply For A Loan
Dani Pendergast for NPR

Code Switch

COVID Diaries: Jessica And Sean Apply For A Loan

On March 1, two Los Angeles-based capoeira instructors realized a dream almost 15 years in the making — they opened up their very own gym. Two weeks later, California's stay-at-home order went into effect, and the gym shut its doors. This week, we follow the two of them as they navigate how to keep their dream alive in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID Diaries: Jessica And Sean Apply For A Loan

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Too Little, Too Much: How Poverty and Wealth Affect Our Minds
Andrea Cappelli/Picture Press/Getty Images/Picture Press RM

Hidden Brain

Too Little, Too Much: How Poverty and Wealth Affect Our Minds

We all know the downsides of being poor. But what about the downsides of being rich? This week, we explore the psychology of scarcity...and excess.

Too Little, Too Much: How Poverty and Wealth Affect Our Minds

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Black, Latino Two-Parent Families Have Half The Wealth Of White Single Parents

A study by the think tank Demos finds that black and Latino families with two parents still own only half as much as wealth as white single parents. David McNew/Getty Images hide caption

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David McNew/Getty Images

Code Switch

Black, Latino Two-Parent Families Have Half The Wealth Of White Single Parents

New data illustrate how deeply entrenched the racial wealth gap is. The reasons traverse the historical and deliberate exclusion of people of color from economic institutions and government programs.

What's It Like To Be Rich? Ask The People Who Manage Billionaires' Money

Sociologist Brooke Harrington says that for the world's wealthiest people, many of the laws and rules followed by the rest of us simply don't apply. Tom Merton/Getty Images hide caption

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Tom Merton/Getty Images

Hidden Brain

What's It Like To Be Rich? Ask The People Who Manage Billionaires' Money

Several years ago, sociologist Brooke Harrington decided to explore the secret lives of billionaires. What she found, she said, shocked her.

What's It Like To Be Rich? Ask The People Who Manage Billionaires' Money

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Amid A Business Boom, A Wealth Gap Between Races Leaves Some Struggling

The Millennium Tower looking down Franklin Street in downtown Boston. The city has seen a tech boom and housing prices have also increased over the past few years. Jesse Costa/WBUR hide caption

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Jesse Costa/WBUR

A Nation Engaged: Sparking Conversations That Matter

Amid A Business Boom, A Wealth Gap Between Races Leaves Some Struggling

WBUR

The growing gap between America's rich and poor plagues many cities, including Boston, where the economy is flourishing. But a legacy of racial discrimination has left a huge wealth divide.

Amid A Business Boom, A Wealth Gap Between Races Leaves Some Struggling

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Why One Democratic Congresswoman Wants To Drug-Test The Rich

Rep. Gwen Moore (shown in 2012) has introduced a bill that would mandate drug testing for wealthy Americans before they could claim itemized tax deductions over $150,000. She says the bill is intended not so much as a statement about the rich but about the poor. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

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J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Politics

Why One Democratic Congresswoman Wants To Drug-Test The Rich

Rep. Gwen Moore's bill is unlikely to go anywhere in the GOP-controlled House, but it seems more designed to troll Republicans anyway.

For Some, Powerball's Promise Wasn't Just A Big Payout — But Stability, Too

Demonstrators protest the police shooting of Michael Brown in August 2014 in Ferguson, Mo. A Justice Department report found the police in Ferguson levied excessive fines for small infractions. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

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Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Opinion

Can I Just Tell You?

For Some, Powerball's Promise Wasn't Just A Big Payout — But Stability, Too

Forget the fantasy of luxury. NPR's Michel Martin says that, when small fees can be more common — and more crippling — for many African-Americans, the notion of financial security is fantasy enough.

For Some, Powerball's Promise Wasn't Just A Big Payout — But Stability, Too

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Wealth Gap Between Races Widened During Recession, Study Says

Occupy Wall Street protesters join a labor union rally in Foley Square before marching on Zuccotti Park in New York's Financial District in 2011. A new report shows that wealth inequality between whites and nonwhites grew during the Great Recession. Jason DeCrow/AP hide caption

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Jason DeCrow/AP

The Two-Way

Wealth Gap Between Races Widened During Recession, Study Says

According to the Pew Research Center, white, black and Hispanic households all lost wealth during the recession, but nonwhites saw the disappearance of a much greater percentage of their net worth.

Is That Another Wave Of Collapse Headed Our Way?

London's financial district, known as the Square Mile. Will it be one of the first dominoes to fall when society can no longer sustain itself? Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images hide caption

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Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Opinion

13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Is That Another Wave Of Collapse Headed Our Way?

Is civilization on the brink of collapse? Every age has its seers who falsely claim that all is rotten. But it's also true, as a new study notes, that history is littered with examples of implosion.

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