Argent, PoolTogether and Being Present
PoolTogether Community Interview #39 Adam | Argent
Hello,
Welcome to the first PoolTogether Community Interview after the Ethereum Merge!
Today, we have a special London, England based guest Adam from Argent who takes part actively in the PoolTogether Community and as you will read and see has a lot of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency experience.
As always, this and all other content on the PoolTogether Community Substack is not intended to be financial advice and is for informational purposes only. Please always do your own research and only invest what you can afford to lose. (Again NFA!)
Tell us a bit about yourself. Describe yourself in a few words/facts:
I’m Adam, living in London. I’ve worked in web2 startups for the last 15 years in growth/marketing roles, originally studying Computer Science. I’ve been Growth Lead at Argent (smart contract wallet) for 2 and a half years.
I’m curious, open-minded, introverted and love to learn new things. I’m an avid podcast listener/watcher with some non-crypto favourites being Lex Fridman and Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal.
How long have you been into crypto?
I dabbled in browser based mining in 2010, but earning a few cents a day seemed pointless at the time so I quickly gave up 😬
Around 2013 I was looking at how to integrate bitcoin rewards into a ‘turnkey’ website script I was selling as a side project, which allowed people to run a ‘lowest unique bid’ website - but as an amateur coder (copy + paster), this proved a bit difficult. After that I mostly forgot about crypto and only really used it to pay for things from time to time, as that was the only real use case.
I properly got into it around 3 years ago, during the ‘quieter times’ of 2019. I’d noticed my $20-30 btc balance had increased to $100, which is when I first at my first chart 📈.
A few friends had also started talking about it (XRP was shilled, of course) and that’s when I stepped down the rabbit hole and discovered Ethereum and smart contracts.
Do you want to tell us about the main lessons you have learned since then?
Generally:
Find a community of like-minded people who share the same values and interests. This could be a DAO, a local meetup or a web3 company. This is even more important in a bear market.
The moment I stopped relying on a seed phrase, I felt 10x more comfortable holding crypto (hint, use Argent).
Have fun playing around with this new technology! ZkRollups with account abstraction (like zkSync and StarkNet) allow for completely new and exciting use cases and dapps. Get involved.
Follow wisely, prune regularly - In terms of Twitter, podcasts, projects etc.
In terms of investing:
Learn (read/watch/listen) before making any investment decisions.
Be patient. FOMO will likely end badly for many reasons.
Only invest in things you understand, believe in or use.
Never give financial advice to anyone; not friends, partners or family members.
It’s better to have conviction in a few projects that you have time to follow, rather than spraying and praying. The long term play is less stressful!
We’re still VERY early!
What was your best crypto moment?
Discovering Argent, being an instant fan and then getting a job there a few months later.
What is Argent? Why did it interest you so much, how did you end up getting a job there and what does the future hold for this?
Argent is a non-custodial, mobile smart contract wallet on Ethereum and zkSync, offering bulletproof security, one tap DeFi and great UX. Versus a normal EOA wallet (e.g. metamask, Rainbow), an Argent wallet is actually deployed on-chain and each account is a smart contract. This allows for novel security features like social recovery, multi-sig, trusted sessions and more.
The other big difference with Argent - there’s no seed phrase. This is what swung it for me and helped me sleep more peacefully knowing I didn’t have to trust myself to look after a seed phrase.
In addition to the Argent mobile wallet, we also have Argent X - a browser extension wallet for StarkNet. Zk-rollups with native account abstraction offer a lot of potential for innovation and scalability, on top of the security guarantees of Ethereum. I’m excited to see the next wave of dapps that are enabled by this new tech and Argent is well positioned to be a safe, easy and secure way to access them on both zkSync and StarkNet.
Here’s my crypto wallet journey, from a centralised exchange to a non-custodial smart contract wallet with multiple layers of security.
I was previously working at an ecommerce startup and came up to the 8 year mark. As an early employee it was incredibly fun to grow it from 4 people to around 150 when I left. In 2019 when I properly got into crypto I was quickly hooked and excited and could see where the future was heading.
I stumbled across the Growth Lead role at Argent at a time when I was spending almost all my free time reading, watching and learning about crypto so while I wasn’t looking for a new role, but, felt like it was an amazing opportunity and the perfect time to jump from web2 to web3.
And your biggest fail?
Buying XRP because of a friend’s recommendation, without understanding it at all. Don’t worry, I only held it for a few months.
I’m bearish on XRP because the future of finance is clearly Ethereum and traditional banks will be obsolete in the near future, I hope.
How did you find out about PoolTogether?
I think it was via Chico Crypto - of all the Youtubers in 2019, he seemed like the best I could find. Cutting out all of the crap, not shilling leverage trading and talking more about the tech and cool dapps.
What made you stick around?
Many reasons! PoolTogether v1 was natively integrated into Argent so I was keeping a close eye on usage, as well as being a depositor myself.
Of course, I then got the airdrop which allowed me to vote and participate in my first DAO. The PoolTogether community is the most wholesome I’ve come across and Leighton’s values really shine through. I also really believe in prize savings as the best way of saving and can’t wait to see PoolTogether replacing more exploitative and damaging lotteries that take place around the world.
Fun fact: As part of my interview process at Argent, I also came up with an idea to use PoolTogether as part of a referral program. I hope it gets implemented one day!
How are you involved in the community? Tell us about it.
As I already work full time in the space and try to keep up with all things web3, I’m not that active in terms of PoolTogether contributions. When I’m free I try to attend the weekly community call and of course, I’m a regular voter, POOL hodler and lurker.
Would you recommend PoolTogether to others? How would you describe it to them?
Absolutely! As I’m in the UK I usually just say it’s the crypto equivalent of Premium Bonds. Outside of that I’d say it’s a way to save with a bit of fun and a chance of winning a decent amount from just $1.
Are you involved in any other projects or communities?
I’m full time at Argent so not much space for other projects, but I’m always keeping my eye on potential integrations or novel use cases.
Do you have any other thoughts and comments you would like to make?
I’d like to share some of my favourite web3 podcasts:
Into The Bytecode by Sina Habibian
The Daily Gwei by Anthony Sassano
Lunarpunk Dreams by Stephen Reid
Which books would you recommend people read? And why?
I’ve never been a big reader of fiction as I have aphantasia (which means I can’t visualise so reading is maybe less exciting?) but I have a stack of non-fiction books that all come recommended to me (and many I’ve yet to read!).
A common thread for all of these books is about challenging how you think and how you see the world. The one book that kick started my journey of self-exploration was The Power of Now. Kind of cheesy but if you’re open to what’s said, it can be quite transformational. If you’re curious and open minded, then any of the books below will be an interesting read.
I must also shill Green Pill, ImpactDAO and A Guide to the Pluriverse - these are essential reading!
Tell us more about The Mind Illuminated and Zero books. Why do you like them, what have you learnt from them and why do you recommend them?
The Mind Illuminated is a 10 stage meditation journey, combining the knowledge of the east with the scientific rigour of the west. I’m very open minded, but I found the combination worked really well, at least from what I’ve read so far. I’m only on stage 4, but I think for anyone that wants to really up their meditation game beyond a few Headspace sessions, this guides you as deep as you want to and are able to go.
This tweet made me buy the book Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, but it’s still in my ‘to read’ pile!
How active is the London Crypto scene in terms of both protocol building and communities? What are the plans for the London Pool Party?
I’m not so close to the builder side of things, but there are several meetups throughout the week such as MonDAO and TuesDAO and also regular community events and talks run by Chainlink, Aave and a few others. Degen.events is a great resource for finding events and meetups happening in your area.
The London Pool Party needs more Poolers! Fill in this form if you’re interested.
What is your philosophy for having success in life?
Being present, stoic, kind and staying young at heart. Listening more than I speak. Travelling far and wide. Finding the funny side to almost anything. I try to keep my mental health in good shape with regular exercise, meditation and other practices.
It’s important to have a purpose too, and I think helping to web3 the world is a good one for me :)
I’m sure you will agree this has been a fantastic Community Interview.
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