Learning DAOs, Building Trust and Rehash
Learning DAOs, Building Trust and Rehash
PoolTogether Community Interview #37 Cpoetter
Hello,
Welcome to the first September edition of the PoolTogether Community Interview series.
Today we feature another interviewee from Germany with Cpoetter, home of many of the PT Community.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Describe yourself in a few words/facts:
I'm working for a local branch of the German pension insurance. The job is not associated with anything related to the internet or even crypto. I provide support for various aspects of the software stack to our office staff; second level support on a federal level.Also I try to explain some legal stuff to our devs. If the explanation isn't good enough, well, I also have to test it. I cannot code but can read a little bit of COBOL.😁
I've got interested in web 2.0 in the second half of the 2000s, especially in open web standards like OpenID and OAuth. I was even blogging about it for a few years but lost interest when big tech, especially Facebook, became the dominant players in the field.
How long have you been into crypto?
Only since November 2021. The acronym NFT was popping up more often in my feed reader and I started reading more about it. But as it turned out, I was only scratching the surface.When the German chapter of the World Wildlife Fund launched an NFT project in November, I jumped right in. Prior to this, crypto was only Bitcoin to me.
Do you want to tell us about the main lessons you have learned since then?
The space is moving at an incredible pace. It's really hard to keep up when having a full-time job outside of the industry. So it's important to find both people whose information and knowledge you trust and tools to organise the information flow. It requires some fine tuning over time, though.
Unfortunately, all the bad stuff you read and hear about crypto is true. Scams, rug pulls,... you name it. This can be depressing. On the other hand, there are so many helpful people and forward thinking projects that try to have a positive impact on their communities. Just think of Gitcoin and the grants rounds and the projects they support. Also donation efforts like Pooly and the support of the Ukraine are big advantages of the industry.
What was your best crypto moment?
Definitely joining Semester 2 of Crypto, Culture, and Society. CCS is a learning DAO, focusing on the liberal arts. It offers workshops and talks with some well-known thinkers in the space on various topics on the intersection of crypto, technology, art, policy topics, and much more. Fascinating and highly recommended!
https://cryptoculturesociety.substack.com/
And your biggest fail?
Unfortunately, I've got scammed in January and lost all my ETH. I don't want to go into too much details here. It's been my fault alone. Let's say, at some point the red flags couldn't be ignored anymore but you want to believe. It cannot happen to you, right? ;)
How did you find out about PoolTogether?
I discovered PoolTogether via RabbitHole. In spring I tried to complete most of the RabbitHole tasks and it still offered the PoolTogether task. So that was my introduction to it.
What made you stick around?
PoolTogether is probably the DeFI protocol everyone understands. It's so simple and compelling. No eye-popping APY or fancy mechanism, just simple saving with a bonus. Don't know where to put your crypto? Park it in PoolTogether.
PoolTogether has a very friendly and helpful community. Also it was fascinating to watch Pooly and everything following it evolve: Friends of Pooly, starting a DAO. I've got a Pooly, of course.
Oh, and PT has Tjark as a community manager. That's a big bonus.
How are you involved in the community? Tell us about it.
Unfortunately, I'm not really involved in the community. Currently, time doesn't allow. I try to scan the Discord and join the Swim Meets on Fridays. Hopefully, there will be more spare time in the future.
Would you recommend PoolTogether to others? How would you describe it to them?
Of course, I would recommend it. Description? A savings account with a lottery ticket.
Are you involved in any other projects or communities?
I'm involved with Rehash. It is mostly known as a web3 podcast which is hosted by Diana Chen. It's a DAO as well and started with a crowdfunding on Mirror.Let's see if we can be something more than a podcast. We try to progress into some kind of content agency, a service DAO. Looking forward to the next couple of months. Season 3 of the podcast will kick off on September 8.
https://rehash.mirror.xyz/
Do you have any other thoughts and comments you would like to make?
Often proponents of web3 are making promises about the future of the space, trying to onboard the next billion users. Buzzwords. Well, improve the UX, weed out the scammers, don't talk too much about fancy tech, build real world use cases, and people will join; maybe not next month, maybe not a billion users.
Which books would you recommend people read? And why?
a) James Bridle - New Dark Age
Bridle is challenging the notion that technology is neutral. Often, it encourages us to think and act in a defined way that's not obvious at first. But we can use tools and technology differently, to our advantages. He is critical of technology but not against it.
b) Clay Shirky - Here Comes Everybody
This is the book that has accompanied me during the web 2.0 development by the end of the 2000s. He's describing how people organise and interact with each other, using new - social media - tools. In some way was in a similar situation as web3 today.
c) Simon Reynolds - Energy Flash
Reynolds is chronicling the (UK) rave scene. Reading it, makes me nostalgic. It's a fascinating book full of details.
What is your philosophy for having success in life?
Be true to yourself. That's not really a philosophy. But if you're trying to impress others, pretending to be someone you're not, this will lead to complications and embarrassment sooner or later.
We hope you have enjoyed this interview and look forward to connecting with you more. We have the weekly PoolTogether Community Newsletter and the PoolTogether Community Podcast for you to enjoy and learn more about DeFi and Web3. So, please subscribe if you haven’t already.
Please also go to https://pooltogether.com/ to learn how to deposit into the Protocol via Optimism, Polygon or Ethereum as well as connect with us on the PT Discord https://pooltogether.com/discord and Twitter: https://twitter.com/PoolTogether_