Greetings fellow frogs!
This is the first of what will be weekly (written) interviews with various on-chain defi gigabrains… in this case with our esteemed friend @phtevenstrong “The Calculator Guy”!
Interview
Q: Greetings ser… first off… could you share your ‘origin story’? What did ‘The Calculator Guy’ do before defi? And how did you first get into crypto?
A: It all started after I was bitten by a radioactive calculator; I woke up the next morning with super calculating abilities. But, more honestly, I was a “Theory of Knowledge” teacher at an international boarding school before I became “The Calculator Guy.”
Embarrassingly, The Silk Road was my first soiree into Crypto back in 2012 when BTC was around $60. At the time, I didn’t really think twice about the price, because I wasn’t really interested in investing. I was an English and Philosophy major, don’t judge me.
Without being long winded, I got into DeFi when a friend recommended STRONGBlock (RIP). I decided I wanted to project potential earnings so I built a calculator and let the community play with it. They loved it, and that was that. I started building calculators for protocols all across DeFi and, in doing so, I was forced to learn tokenomics and finance.
Q: You have a reputation as being one of the most high-integrity people in the defi/defi-education space… do you have any advice for young dudes just getting into defi or CT on how to cultivate the same thing?…
A: Start with the basics: be honest, stop watching porn, work out, find a purpose higher than yourself. Those things will help most young men tremendously. But if you want to really challenge yourself, do the right thing and worry about the consequences later. That was a piece of advice I got from a stranger in Mexico, and it’s never failed me.
Young men waste too much mental, emotional, and intellectual energy and fruitless things. Cut out the waste and increase productivity and quality of life.
Oh, and reading a bit of Aristotle couldn’t hurt. #virtueethics4life.
Q: (cont) …the intensity of crypto and the idiosyncrasies of social media can often bring out the worst in all of us – so any purposeful thoughts you may have on this subject would be really valuable and welcome…
A: Get rid of Facebook and Instagram. If you can’t do that and you need to argue with people, try your best to steelman their position before responding to them. That just means try to discuss the strongest possible case they could have for holding their opinion. This will show the other person you’re discussing in good faith and it will force you to broaden your perspective.
As an aside, I wish people would stop using laugh emojis, “lmao,” patronizing sarcasm, or other disrespectful responses in an attempt to dismiss people they disagree with. Those types of non-responses kill legitimate dialogue.
Now more than ever we need a world full of adults who are capable of adult conversations. If you disagree with someone, engage them respectfully and earnestly. The truth should always be more important than winning a debate.
Alright, off my soap box.
Q: What do you think will be the next big crypto or defi ‘narratives’? And on a related note, what excites you the most in defi right now?
A: I would love to see orderbook dexes in DeFi get big. The idea of providing single side liquidity to competent market makers for a yield is a farmer’s dream. I think derivatives, tradfi synthetics, and new crypto primitives will be what drives the next major adoption cycle; but who knows, really.
Liquid staking assets are the current “thing” that I’m excited about. These assets are great for accumulating blue chips, and while incentives are flowing, they can also be pretty good for some delta neutral plays.
Crosschain funding rate arbitrage vaults would be a dream come true for me, but I’m okay doing that manually now. Oftentimes the most difficult yields to access last the longest because so few investors are willing to put in the work to farm them.
Q: What advice would you give to someone newly interested in defi who really wants to ‘make it’?
A: You probably won’t make it simply by investing; it’s possible, but unlikely. Virtually all of the full-time DeFi people I know worked their assess off, either in engineering, marketing, content creation, or asset management to get where they are now.
That said, DeFi is super new. If you are willing to put in the work, there are hundreds of paths to success. Find communities you vibe with, be active in them, be respectful, be patient, ask concise questions, learn, practice, and learn some more.
Finally, if there’s some resource that you really wish existed in DeFi, you’re probably not alone. Build it and monetize it.
Q: You have an extremely popular YouTube channel/Launchpass/Discord… could you tell us more about those? And how people can get involved with them?
A: Of course! My YouTube is for yield strategies and opportunities. The Discord (DeFi Dojo) is where the real magic happens. There, we’re constantly finding robust DeFi strategies, yield opportunities, and new protocols. We’re also actively developing theory around how to best enter, exit, neutralize, and manage positions.
I genuinely believe DeFi Dojo is the best Discord in DeFi and if nothing else, the most thoughtful and earnest. The launchpass is how you join, I highly recommend it. The first month is free, so if it’s not paying for itself in opportunities and education, you can leave without paying a penny.
Link: https://launchpass.com/defi-dojo1/vip
Q: What does The Calculator Guy do for fun when he’s not gigabraining on defi?
A: Well, if you watch my last video you might notice my black eye. Boxing is my pastime. A younger calculator guy was a cage fighter (over a decade ago) in his spare time. Now I just let the young locals beat me up a few times a week in the ring.
I also have three kids who take up all my leftover time. I love ‘em to death; they’re the best things that have ever happened to me.
Q: Any final thoughts you want to share? Or resources/projects/charities/etc you want to mention?
A: I’m a big supporter of real humans who are actively helping people. Miguel Cruz from The Hungry Children Foundation in Venezuela does that. If you have some extra cash and you want to give it to a man who will use 100% of it to feed, house, or get medicine for communities in squalor, he’s your guy.
Otherwise, any charity that directly helps orphans and single mothers has my full support. I know it’s still super en vogue to donate to climate change causes, but if you’ve ever seen a starving child, I can’t imagine you’d ever donate to any charity except for ones that feed children. Money cannot be better spent. I also hope I never forget that.
Anywho, check out the DeFi Dojo. Even if you just join the free section, everyone in DeFi should have a community they can trust, and I think our’s is the best. If you want to step it up a notch, I highly recommend accessing the premium channels.
-End-
Conclusion
Huge thanks to @phtevenstrong for all the wisdom and alpha!
Here is a link to this Twitter account, which in turn has links to both his YouTube channel and Defi Dojo (Discord): https://twitter.com/phtevenstrong
If you enjoyed this interview we’d be honored if you’d share/RT/follow/all that good stuff!
And if there’s any on-chain defi gigabrains you’d particularly like to learn more about feel free to suggest them as possible interview subjects :)