Interview with the Nerd: Dogemos
This article was written and redone from scratch three times.
This is because every time I tried to modify the conversation with Dogemos to make it more elegant and fluent I always end up with something that was flat and impersonal.
Also, I could never do a formal interview with him without taking away the pleasure of sensing the charisma with which he is endowed of.
So what you’re going to read is exactly what we said in real life and in my opinion reading as it is it’s the best way to know something more about him.
The only thing I want to add is that at our meeting in Berlin he made his debut with “But your bag is from Naruto -ナルト- !”
No one else had ever recognized it.
DOGEMOS — Interstellar doge backed by proof of meme.
Dogemos: OK, I’m done!
Daniela: What?!?
Dg: Done with the dinner!
Dn: But… Did you have time to eat?!?!? In Italy working dinners last as long as they do in ONE PIECE ワンピース
Dg: LOL! So basically never ending.
Dn: xD Sooo…tell me about your road till the beginning of your adventure within the blockchain space.
Dg: Yeah! I was always a tech nerd from high school so I read a lot of tech related websites. The first time I heard about Bitcoin was through one of those websites. I can’t remember exactly what the news was about, but my guess is that it wasn’t positive coverage. My roommate got me a bit more acquainted with Bitcoin as time went on.
I remember collecting a few satoshis here and there through websites that gave you free Bitcoin for watching ads, but nothing too serious at the time.
What really sold me on crypto was /r/Dogecoin. I remember seeing a community of people tipping each other on Reddit, funding NASCAR sponsorships, sending the Jamaican bobsleigh team to the Olympic. The sense of community was amazing, and people were always full of ideas.
I was sold.
I bought my first piece of crypto ($DOGE) during Christmas break of 2014.
I bought about $10 worth of Bitcoin at 10% higher than market rate on LocalBitcoins, simply because I was too excited to wait for my Coinbase account to be verified. I think I used all $10 to buy Dogecoin on some shady exchange I don’t remember.
Dn: Sure you don’t remember? xD Isn’t that you’re rather trying in every way to reset your memory in MIB-style?
Dg: Luckily I put some of it in a web wallet, so I still have about 7,400 doge that I haven’t moved since 2014.
Dn: Lucky you
Dg: It’s only worth like 20 dollars though.
Dn: So, after the Dogecoins, were you still in the U.S. finishing your studies or were you back in Korea to take the military service?
Did you already start writing in a school newspaper or did tech/cryptocurrency-editing communion come later?
Dg: I finished my bachelors and went straight to the military. Just sort of forgot about crypto for a while.
Dg: So yeah, after being in the military for about two years (and being out of touch with crypto), I was looking for a short term job while preparing for other job applications. Some English translation related job came up on a website, so I applied.
I only found out that the job was crypto related after the applying. I realized how much the landscape of crypto had changed.
Dn: What exactly had changed? The way people thought about it or the crypto in general?
Dg: They sent me two articles for me to translate to make sure I could actually translate.
One was about MimbleWimble’s plans for a biannual network upgrade hard fork (I had no clue what a ‘fork’ was at the time), the other was about Oracle wanting to create an enterprise blockchain.
I was surprised by these three things:
1. There’s a big variety of cryptocurrency than I initially knew back in 2014 (This was the first time I heard about Ethereum).
2. Legitimate companies are taking ‘blockchain’ seriously.
3. There are dedicated media outlets covering crypto news.
My preconception was that Bitcoin was only used on darknet marketplaces and Dogecoin was just meme internet money for tipping. Then, I realized this whole space developed into a sizable market.
Dn: What happened in such a short period of time to make you one of the most active community member of Cosmos?
Dg: It’s a funny coincidence, but Peter (who is now the CEO of Lunamint) was the chief editor at the blockchain media I was working at. He was one of the earliest Cosmos community members in Korea.
Dn: The right place at the right time, huh?
You know, I don’t think there are coincidences in life, and honestly seeing your whole path up to here I would hardly be led to think otherwise
Dg: Definitely. So that was very helpful in being able to quickly absorb tons of knowledge about the Cosmos ecosystem.
Then, I began helping out with many of the Cosmos meetups by filming presentations and preparing events while I was working for the blockchain media.
Dn: Lunamint… Isn’t it the first Korean Cosmos validator?
Dg: As far as I know, we were one of the first Korean validator in the Gaia testnet program.
Dn: And what convinced you to join Peter at Lunamint? What were your prospects and your goals?
Dg: Being updated with the latest news on blockchain allowed me to see the problems that exist in this space, and how Cosmos aims to handle those problems (finality, scaling, interoperability, etc)
I wanted to learn more in-depth and be more involved in a specific blockchain project. Cosmos seemed like a solid project.
Our big vision within the Cosmos ecosystem was to create what is now Lunagram. A crypto wallet built into the Telegram messenger.
Dn: Yeah :) I read something about Lunagram.
Would you like to tell me more about it?
Dg: Yeah, so our aim with Lunagram is to bridge the gap between traditional applications and blockchain applications.
Messaging platforms are probably the most frequently used applications. However, are those applications that are most dependent on network effects and user count. Telegram, although centralized, seemed like a good compromise in terms of user momentum, privacy, open-source, etc.
Also, it provides a flexible bot platform that developers can get creative with.
As the Cosmos ecosystem grows, some of our biggest goals are to integrate more dApps and potentially creating more bots that utilize Cosmos.
Dn: Okay, but why did you create a Telegram integration that, as you said, is based on a centralized platform? Why didn’t you build a new decentralized instant messaging app or a sort of social network?
As an example, Forbole will release Desmos, which will in fact allow you to have all the tools you need to develop your social network related ideas more immediately.
Have you ever thought of collaborating with some emerging projects that deal with messaging or social and make an integration to these projects?
Dg: Because we are a fairly small team with a lot on our plates, we put a lot of effort into being efficient. So here are the main reasons:
1. Users
- Messengers are social applications. People only use messengers when other people are using a messenger. It saves a lot of cost in marketing and on-boarding.
2. Open Sourced
- The client application itself is completely open sourced. (If I’m right, I think Telegram is the biggest open-sourced messenger in the world). Which means we don’t have to build a messenger from scratch. Also saves a ton of development cost + infrastructure cost which we can’t handle as a small startup.
3. Bots
- While some may disagree, I think the Telegram bot platform has a lot of potential if integrated the right way. We were fascinated by WeChat’s mini-programs especially when integrated with a simple payment service.
4. Non-profit and values user privacy
- While Telegram, at its core, is a centralized platform, I think they do care about user privacy and security. Due to the fact they are run as a non-profit organization, they aren’t pressured into resort to selling user data to create profits for its shareholders.
We are always open for collaborations with emerging projects in the Cosmos ecosystem!
Dn: Correct analysis.
What about WeChat, Line or Kakaotalk?
Dg: While they have massive amounts of users, they are not open sourced. This brings a lot of limitations in terms of what you can and can’t do. I also think they don’t care about user privacy as much as Telegram does.
Dn: Fair point :)
Dg: I don’t think blockchain technology is mature enough, and will be very difficult to compete with efficient & centralized platforms that exist. Currently, there are too many limitations to compete with those platforms.
However, I do think there is a sizable niche market of blockchain enthusiasts who want to experience and use blockchain applications, rather than just hear about it. The combination of Telegram + Cosmos is the perfect match in terms of usability and user accessibility.
Dn: And the idea of using Telegram between all of them is really the way forward.
The focus is always on the user, his experience and a guarantee of privacy.
Which does not differ much from the principles on which we all develop our chains and dApps :D
I totally agree with you
Dg:
Yup. I think at this stage of the blockchain tech, having a LOT of users using a somewhat-centralized blockchain application is way better than having very little amount of users using a very decentralized application.
I think being pragmatic goes a long way for adoption.
Dn: We need more projects to break through the reticence of non-tech people.
It would be almost better if they used the blockchain without knowing they were using it.
Dg: Absolutely agreed. Even if that means we have to make some compromises in the early stage.
Dn: In fact, people who use Telegram, twitter or Dropbox do not ask themselves the language used to write the program, nor where their data is stored.
Too much stress.
When the blockchain will no longer presents itself as an innovation but rather as a simple solution to a problem then we will have a mass adoption.
With due marketing.
And the cute, cuddly graphics.
Dg: I think cute emojis are one of the biggest reasons why people used KakaoTalk in the first place.
Dn: I know. I also have that problem. I like cute things too much.
I think it’s still almost entirely Asian in nature.
Dg: Agreed.
Dn: Because to date in European messaging (WhatsApp, messenger, etc.)
the use of stickers is very limited.
Dg: Huh interesting. You’re right because emojis started from Japan as well.
Dn: So in the end, we’ll never have a universal standard.
As long as there are such profound cultural differences in our societies, it goes without saying that the solutions adopted to certain problems will also differ.
Do you think it’ll ever come to a standard at the payment level? Whether it’s crypto or fiat?
Dg: I think at some level yes, there will always be a dominant platform/standard. However, I think there will always be alternatives that exist (even at a sizable levels).
It will always be a consistent battle between ease-of-building, ease-of-use, functionality, standardization, infrastructure, etc.
And at a certain point alternatives can have a chance to become the dominant standard. And I think this is mostly in line with the Cosmos spirit!
Dn: Agreed. I think sooner or later we will see a sort of “natural selection”.
People will be more aware and better informed, so the risk of scam will also decrease dramatically.
A lot of progress has already been made in this regard, thanks to some projects aimed at the analysis through AI of the ICOs and IEOs that require listing on the various exchanges
What about your short-term and long-term goals?
Dg: Short term is education, localization, and community growth.
Long term, I wanna see more builders in the ecosystem.
And of course, more memes.
Dn: Feel free to ask me help for memes.
What about the Cosmos Korea Community and your contribution to it?
Dg: So first of all, I need to give a TON of credit to Peter for his contributions to the Korean Cosmos ecosystem. Starting a community is essentially the hardest part, and in my personal opinion, he gave a lot of his personal resources to support the local community from the beginning.
As for my personal contributions, I have translated the Cosmos-SDK documentation into Korean, contributed to translating blog posts and other essential communications that happen on official channels. Blockchain technology is meant to be borderless, but language is a huge hurdle. I think localizing content is a big first-step in growing a global community.
I have helped host local Cosmos meetups, and also try to present + join panel discussions in other protocol meetups as well.
I help manage the Korean + English Cosmos group chats, and of course make some memes if I have some free time.
Korean community is highly investor-centric. While I can appreciate that, I really want to see more builders, users, and enthusiasts. It’s definitely not easy to try to get people to go beyond investing, but I think with enough time and effort it is very possible.
Dn: :) I think what you guys are doing is pretty impressive.
I don’t think I’ve had a chance to meet your CEO in Seoul, but I can tell you with confidence that you’re definitely doing your part.
If you’ve managed to make me feel comfortable, and I usually can’t even talk to strangers, you should really give yourself the value you deserve. A community, especially made up of unsociable nerds like me, would really need more people like you.
Ah. I always say what I think.
Dg: I think it’s just better to say what you think and receive criticism than fake it.
In the long term it works out to the same outcome, it just saves you a lot of time and energy just by being honest in my opinion.
Dn: At most you only run the risk of making someone happier, which does not seem as bad as prospective.
INSERT COIN TO CONTINUE…
I would have liked to have gone on for hours talking to Dogemos, whom I thank infinitely for his patience and kindness, but unfortunately we have come to the end of this second “interview with the nerd”.
The Berlin Blockchain Week was really intense from every point of view, and it reminded me how many things I still have to learn (endless) and how rewarding it is to work on ourselves and try to overcome our own limits.
See you next time!
Ps: Congratulations Dogemos for joining the Tendermint Team!🔥🚀
