Coinstack Team Interview #1: Chris Booth
Today we’re sitting down with one of our founding members Chris and asking him a few questions about his time with Coinstack, cryptocurrency and more!
What is your role with Coinstack?
My role is to make sure that all of our marketing efforts and operations are covered. I work with all of our social media, direct outreach, street teams, coffee machine and more to make sure Coinstack is running smoothly.
How long have you been a part of your team?
I’ve actually known the people on my team for a few years. We met at an educational incubator in Silicon Valley where we were all working on our own projects. After fast forwarding a few years later, we’re all working together in Holland now. I think we’re around our 4th or 5th month, but it already feels like we’ve been a team for years. Our cohesion is great — we have great teamwork, memework… you name it. It feels like a big family.
What does your daily building of Coinstack entail?
I deal with making our users happy and connecting our message to potential new users. Any issues that our beta testers have generally get sent directly to me so I’ll always handle those first thing in the morning and then throughout the day (and night). I make sure all of our social media networks stay up to date and make sure that I’m consistently reaching out to new partners and fostering those relationships. In an early stage start-up, you’re really involved with everything. You can be a “marketer” but that doesn’t mean you won’t be out in the field helping with operations, or making sure your programmers have everything they need to be successful.
How long have you been involved in cryptocurrency?
I hate when this gets asked because of how many early adopters use it like an elitist badge. But, to answer the question I think I’ve been in since around late 2014. I had a friend transfer me $40 of ETH for some marketing help and then as I did more research I was blown away by the potential of some of the utility protocols (though I’m not as excited now… I could write a whole book about that) and I began to get involved in any way I could.
What first got you interested in blockchain technology?
I think my interest was piqued when I first started reading about contract protocols through Ethereum. I’ve never really been interested in the currency aspect of the tokens, but more so the deeper and generally more creative applications. As my journey with crypto has progressed I think I’ve evolved (like many others) from someone who was at first excited about being a part of something so explosive to a more pragmatic version of myself. I’m now involved because I think it has the potential to really challenge the way we operate as a people — there’s so much frustration politically, financially, etc., and I feel like DLT is one of the potentially massive solutions to ameliorate a lot of that.
What excites you the most about Coinstack and how is it challenging the current standards?
Too much, but I think your question touches on one of the main reasons actually. I’m excited about Coinstack because of how it challenges current standards in that it so much of the crypto realm is designed for the early adopters… the people who understand tech and are excited about it. But in reality, this is something that’s designed for mass adoption… for everyone. So Coinstack thrills me because of how we’re reframing that current market condition and creating a bridge for everyone to use crypto. We’re lowering the barrier to entry by providing intuitive and easy to use blockchain solutions. We’re fulfilling the crypto vision by making it for everyone.
What do you see as the future of crypto and DLT as a whole?
This is a massively broad question, but at the end of the day I think it will be more integrated into our daily lives than almost any of us can imagine currently. I don’t believe there will be some massive “happening” where everyone is all of a sudden using crypto, but instead, it’ll be something that just slowly creeps into all of our lives until you wake up one day and you realize that nearly everything you’re using is being supported by some type of blockchain inspired tech. I also think that we’ll see a much bigger focus on real-world applications like securities over utilities. You can read more about that in this blog I’ve written here.
What are a few cryptocurrency concepts new enthusiasts should familiarize themselves with?
They should look into what exactly a blockchain is and then how it works from its cryptographic hash algorithms to the mining process and on. You should start as basic as possible. Look into utility tokens, security tokens, currencies and try to internalize how each of those differs from each other and what their upsides and downsides are. Also, even though it’s not a blockchain specific concept — understanding the difference between investing in a team and an idea. A lot of these things sound great on paper, but at the end of the day, anyone can suggest ridiculous ideas like Mars Mining Drones supported by blockchain technology™… but who would you support… Bill Gates and his buddies or a team of kids straight out of high school. Awful example but you get the point. Hopefully.
If you could speak with one thought leader in the cryptocurrency space who would it be and what one question would you ask them?
Definitely Vitalik. I’d ask him how his opinion of utility protocols has evolved and what were the biggest lessons he’s learned over the past 5 years. And I’d probably ask him a few things about his World of Warcraft account haha. And yes, I know that wasn’t one question. I cheated a little bit.
What should our readers be on the lookout for concerning Coinstack)? Any updates or sneak-peaks you can provide us?
Tons of giveaway’s planned. Lots of free bitcoin, lots of free merch, security token partners and so much more. There’s only so much I’m allowed to say, but I can honestly say that everyone should be super excited for what’s coming!
Give your readers a little insight into who you are outside of crypto?
I love watching League of Legends and CS:GO. Unfortunately, I don’t have as much time to play as back in college… and funny enough I’ve actually gotten our whole office into watching the CS:GO majors. I also love playing in my band back home in the US, and practicing audio/vocal production. I love working with different vocalists and helping them grow as musicians!
Anything else you’d like to say?
We’re all extremely ecstatic at how well Coinstack has been received despite being such an early version of itself. It feels phenomenal to know that we’re building something the people really want and are using. I want to say thank-you to everyone who’s shown us support so far and that we’re seriously looking forward to sharing our future successes with you. Rock on!
