DOPEX INSIDER: SEED INVESTOR Q&A
The past couple of months the Dopefam community has expanded a lot on Discord & Twitter, and with each day we get to know you all a little bit better. Hearing your stories, seeing you guys support each other, and contributing in your own way to grow Dopex has been amazing. As part of a new series, we want to give you a peek behind the scenes at Dopex too!
Today we’ll be interviewing a few of our seed investors. Keep reading, they’ve also been asked to share a little bit of α too :)
We’re starting off with our favorite OG whale:
📌 TETRANODE
When and how did you get into crypto?
I’m a PC builder/gamer and in 2010, noticed that Radeon 5870s were sold out, after investigating I found out about Bitcoin and MtGox.
After looking at the technicals and the implication that it can’t be double-spent, I intended to send $100 to MtGox to buy, but never followed through because moving money overseas was complicated and not worth the effort, NGMI.
March 2014, a year later, after finding out from a co-worker that MtGox went bankrupt and the FBI seized Silk Road, I bought my first BTC on Coinbase.
How did you hear about Dopex?
TzTokChad told me about Dopex while we were discussing different option venues while I was using Hegic and Opyn… I was on board with the idea of creating a decentralized yet scalable Deribit on L2 and became a seed investor.
How did you evaluate Dopex’ potential?
Existing onchain platforms such as Hegic and Opyn had a lot of issues as some of the first on L1, Hegic for example is expensive, while Opyn had no liquidity… that is a huge delta for Dopex to capitalize on.
Capital efficiency is the problem with writing options, and Dopex allows all kinds of different yields to be built atop the vaults.
As for the talent of the founder, I’m friends with TzTokchad and can attest that he is one of the most competent operators I know, and I know A LOT of operators!
Where do you see the market going at the end of 2021/early 2022 and what is your play using Dopex options? & what is your plan to prepare for a long bear market?
Buy low calls and sell puts during the next six months of bull.
Become a writer for calls and buy puts after the top is clear.
I can also sell lowball puts during a bear market too.
What motivates you to stay in the crypto scene while you’ve already GMI’d?
In order of importance:
- Influencing the DeFi space. I love working with gigabrains and improving their project through testing in prod and giving feedback… also kicking out bad actors when I see them.
- Helping family and friends make it
- Farming.
If crypto never existed, what would you be investing in or doing now instead?
I’d probably continue my career as a backend engineer and climb the corporate ladder
What alpha can you share with the community, something you learned from your time in crypto.
1st principle approach FTW, when I first learned about crypto, I learned about cryptography (http://royalforkblog.github.io/), this is what interested me first before making money off it…it allows me to X-ray through all kinds of BS (which is 99% of projects in the space) and make the right decision.
Don’t listen to 99% of YouTubers, if you can see the gaping maw they’re trying to fuck you, instead:
- Learn cryptography and economics 101: https://www.weusecoins.com/james-deangelo/
- Learn the technicals and implications: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJWCJCWOxBYSi5DhCieLOLQ
From having a foundation at the cryptographic level, you can then make correct assumptions about the implication of the tech, from there, you can make correct assumptions about the implication of the economics, and so on… the take-home message here is correct fundamentals drives good decision-making
Three subjects that helped me most:
- Game theory: from playing games like Starcraft while hearing about balance QQ on TeamLiquid, I found many lessons repeatable in crypto.
- Computer Science: from learning about algo, sorting, and working as a software engineer, it’s easy to tell what’s feasible and what isn’t.
- Cryptography: ‘nuff said.
If you’re too lazy to follow through with this, just buy $ETH on Coinbase and HODL for the next 4 years!
Now heading over to our master and mother of $rDPX:
📌 DeFiGod
When and how did you get into crypto?
Learned about Ethereum in July 2015 at 90c, saw it again in Jan 2017 at 9, and went all in.
How did you hear about Dopex?
Talked with tztokchad about existing options and how they sucked and discussed a new model after he said he was going to launch options.
How did you evaluate Dopex’ potential?
The team behind it, model, and weakness of existing options.
Where do you see the market going at the end of 2021/early 2022 and what is your play using Dopex options? & what is your plan to prepare for a long bear market?
Chop or bearish chop. I am writing options. Continuing to farm
What motivates you to stay in the crypto scene while you’ve already GMI’d?
This is what I do.
If crypto never existed, what would you be investing in or doing now instead?
Dick pills. No probably tech stocks.
What alpha can you share with the community, something you learned from your time in crypto.
Everyone has an end game, and it’s not usually in your best interest. Filter the noise and focus and cultivate your end game.
Next up is our megachad and saviour of calls:
📌 David Iach
When and how did you get into crypto?
I first found out about Bitcoin in March 2011 from Lesswrong, an internet forum for rationalists. Was very excited about it, even posted on Facebook that it’s going to be the future, but sadly I did not buy any BTC back then as the whole process was too complicated and I eventually gave up. I ended up buying a fraction of a bitcoin in January 2014 and lost most of it trying to trade altcoins. But then 2017 happened, I started getting serious about crypto, learned about Ethereum, and never looked back. Quit my job in November that year and ever since I’ve been doing crypto full time.
How did you hear about Dopex?
I have been following tz since DeFi summer and we chatted a few times about options trading and farming strategies. Early this year I was thinking about making a large (and stupid) options trade so I decided to ask tz first about his opinion. He told me it would have been a gamble and I should try another trade instead (this ended up saving me a lot of money). He also told me he was working on a new on-chain options platform and was looking for investors. Of course, I decided to invest and have been on board ever since.
How did you evaluate Dopex’ potential?
At first, it was a bet on tz, I knew he was smart, and betting on smart founders is the best strategy when it comes to early-stage projects.
Where do you see the market going at the end of 2021/early 2022 and what is your play using Dopex options? & what is your plan to prepare for a long bear market?
I’m extremely bullish about the future of crypto and while I think it’s possible that we get another bear market in the near future, I believe it will unfold differently than the last one. The lesson for the one percent of the world’s population that was in crypto back in 2017–2018 was “I should have sold”, but for the rest who weren’t in crypto, the lesson was “it seems crypto wasn’t a scam, after all, I should have bought when the price crashed”. So even if we get a really big crash, people will front-run the recovery — that they all know is coming.
As for me, I plan to mostly stay invested and to compound my coins/tokens including via strategies enabled by dopex.
What motivates you to stay in the crypto scene while you’ve already GMI’d?
Because I’m in it for the tech as well :D
If crypto never existed, what would you be investing in or doing now instead?
I was always very interested in technology so I would probably be investing in tech stocks.
What alpha can you share with the community, something you learned from your time in crypto.
If a potential investment requires significant effort to fully understand and it is complicated to acquire, chances are it is also undervalued.
Last but not least we got hardwood to talk about more than just.. wood..:
📌 Hardwood A.K.A. Heartwood
When and how did you get into crypto?
Late 2019, I was unemployed and depressed after dropping out of college and basically failing at life so I was looking for an easy way out after having heard that Ethereum existed (in 2017 I think).
At first, I was just losing money from degen-ing stuff on CEXs lol. When airdrop season (and DeFi summer) happened my life turned around basically, stopped losing money, and started getting money. It was liberating, really.
How did you hear about Dopex?
Tetranode invited me to his discord to hang out w other friends, coincidentally I found tztokchad in the same network (was already following because I had this weird habit of following people who write smart stuff on Twitter and not just hentai artists).
When tztokchad posted about his ideas for Dopex on that server, I knew I wanted to support it, plus I had gay posted him a bit already so I just jumped right into his DMs — next thing I knew, I had become gay.
How did you evaluate Dopex’ potential?
I didn’t really, I’m not smart enough to do something like that, for me, it was more of a bet on Tztokchad’s big brain lmao.
Where do you see the market going at the end of 2021/early 2022 and what is your play using Dopex options? & what is your plan to prepare for a long bear market?
I have no fkin clue what the market will do.
Fwiw I don’t think there will be a prolonged bear market? But I’m often wrong also. If we really did get one I’d probably have to sell for “bad price” like anybody else lol, or I’d hold through it and be poor for a few yrs.
What motivates you to stay in the crypto scene while you’ve already GMI’d?
I have not GMI’d lmao, I am very poor.
If crypto never existed, what would you be investing in or doing now instead?
Probably men. Or I’d still be working some dead-end job for minimum wage.
What alpha can you share with the community, something you learned from your time in crypto.
Make good friends, and bet on them — after you learn a bit, try to be such a person for others around you.
We hope you enjoyed these short Q&A sessions. We’re curious to know what you’d like to hear more about, let us know on Discord/Twitter!
About Dopex
Dopex is a decentralized options protocol that aims to maximize liquidity, minimize losses for option writers and maximize gains for option buyers — all in a passive manner. Dopex uses option pools to allow anyone to earn a yield passively. Offering value to both option sellers and buyers by ensuring fair and optimized option prices across all strike prices and expiries. This is thanks to our own innovative and state-of-the-art option pricing model that replicates volatility smiles.
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