By Sadpanda.blockchain

Let that sink in! I’m the new editor in chief of Web3ArtBlog.NFT! If you don’t know me, chances are you may have been distracted by Elon Musk or living under a Web2 rock. Anyone can subscribe and read about my Sadpanda adventures here. Twenty of the first 100 subscribers will win an Unstoppable NFT Animal domain, so hurry up and subscribe to Sadpanda.blockchain and I will see you in your wallet and email.

This is my first and historic exclusive interview with a true Web3 and Crypto legend, Jez.nft. He started mining Bitcoin pretty soon after it went live (Let that sink in!), lost a load in Mt Gox, and was the 12th or 13th member of the Unstoppable Domains team.

A little bird told me that you are a crypto OG and one of the first employees at Unstoppable Domains. What is your origins story into Crypto and Unstoppable Domains?

This is true. I started mining Bitcoin on my (old) PC shortly after it was launched. It appealed to me as soon as I heard about it. Being able to create and distribute a new form of digital currency that no one can stop felt like something I wanted to be a part of. We just needed to keep at it so others would start believing too. As any form of money/value is built behind belief. Once someone took the next step, then you could hit them with the Bitcoin White Paper and show the tokenomics and what makes Bitcoin such a good form of value. The way it is designed is unlike anything we had seen up until then, and it makes sense. Unlike the current financial, printer-goes-brrrrrr, system.

After losing some Bitcoin, which I’ll go into more in the next question, I took a step back but kept up with news and new innovations. I also took a job in a traditional finance company dealing with stocks and shares. I had to do stuff that although was deemed legal, went against my morals. I learned very quickly that the traditional system is broken and corrupt. Then Ethereum popped up, and I couldn’t help but start a 2nd chapter in crypto.

Shortly after this time, I saw a video mentioning Unstoppable Domains, and it was like I had been slapped in the face! To me it just made sense; just like Bitcoin was doing for the financial world I could see Unstoppable Domains doing for the internet. Ownership of your data, websites, and content, like ownership of your money. Plus, a way to make sending crypto payments just as easy as texting your mates. It was a no-brainer!

It was also very exciting to think that I was buying something on the blockchain that had several uses outside of money. It felt even more tangible than crypto, I could see people using these domains without even caring about crypto. Although at that point, you could only order domain names, we were all waiting for them to start minting. And, once they did, I got to work.

I started building on the domains straight away. I created the world’s 1st IPFS Bitcoin puzzle game on cicada3301.zil (this is currently closed awaiting a relaunch as an NFT project) where anyone could win BTC by solving puzzles. And TheBasics.crypto, a quick look at the basics of all things Unstoppable Domains and cryptocurrencies.

At this point there were probably less than 1,000 people in our community, and, due to my health, I didn’t have an IRL job then, so I was in the Telegram group a lot, helping out others with their questions, and I’m sure annoying Mago, who was head CM at the time.

Covid then hit and I wasn’t even allowed outside due to my health, so I got to dedicate even more of my time learning all about UD and IPFS. I led a few community ideas, like petitioning Brave to get integrated and creating a library of live .zil and .crypto websites.

I was then made homeless, during Covid, and I honestly didn’t know what to do in the now, but I knew the future was Unstoppable and that kept me positive and productive. It was only a few days later Unstoppable offered me a grant to work for them. From that, I was able to find somewhere to live, and then 6 months later, they offered me a contract and a place, officially, in the Community team. I can actually say that UD changed my life ❤

Funny thing is, a few months back I bumped into the friend that I thought got me into Bitcoin and he asked me what I was doing these days. I mentioned Unstoppable Domains and gave the ‘What is Unstoppable Domains?’ explainer, and then thanked him for getting me into Bitcoin over 10 years ago…

He then told me that it wasn’t him and that he knows very little about Bitcoin, crypto and blockchain. He’s an incredibly smart guy, and a dev too, so for the last 10+ years I’ve incorrectly assumed it was him…

I now have no idea who told me about Bitcoin, or what got me jumping down the rabbit-hole head-first… But it’s too late now! It has changed my life in more ways than one, and there is no way back! Only forwards!

A little bird also told me that you lost bitcoin in a famous hack? What is that all about and did you recover your lost bitcoin?

Haha, CleverBird.crypto?

Yup, I was caught up in the infamous Mt Gox hack back in 2014. They think somewhere between 650,00 and 850,000 BTC were lost, only 200,000 were ever recovered. Mt Gox used to be the number 1 Bitcoin exchange, dealing with around 70% of all Bitcoin transactions. Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad for me, I was using (still use) an Electrum wallet for most of my mining rewards, only selling occasionally on Mt Gox. That what was lost has recently been repaid to me, as a cheque($), as Mt Gox has been dealing with its bankruptcy proceedings. It may have taken 8 years, but it has been returned.

We have seen Reddit minting NFTs and refusing to call them by their native name and they are seeing a BULLRUN of “Digital Avatars” Do you think that WEB3 should rename some of the terms like NFT, NFTdomains, Crypto Wallets etc in order to onboard the billions of normies?

Interesting question. I think we will all eventually agree on what something is called or is known as in an organic way. It just goes to show how early we are when the words we use to describe something aren’t even properly known yet and are still changing. Whatever happens, crypto education is super important. If you are new to crypto this is a whole new world and doesn’t work in a way we are used to.

Having to be responsible for your assets, for example, can seem daunting to the uninitiated… But, with great responsibility comes great power! The sooner people have this paradigm shift, however it’s worded, will be a beautiful moment for them, and I will welcome them with open arms, public ledgers, verification, and DIDs 😀

Should Unstoppable Domains rebrand Animal NFT domains as “Animal Avatars”? Do you think such a campaign would have the “Reddit effect” and help onboard millions? After all Unstoppable Animals are much cooler than a lot of AVATARS out there.

Our animal domains are extremely cool! I have a few, all with websites – Drunkbull.crypto and Trustcat23.crypto. And AtomicFox.crypto, which has a Web3 chat feature – Leave me some messages 😛 I use my own edited version of the AtomicFox image at work and in Discord – I put on traits before NFT art with traits (PFPs) was a thing, and I send out NFTs of my AtomicFox to friends and family to say thank you for things. I recently treated myself to atomicfo.x, and was given CockyWhale.blockchain recently by a really lovely chap, too! 😉

I quite like ‘Animal Avatars’ – If you haven’t already, I’ll share your idea with the team.

A little bird also told me that you are an English man. We have seen Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed to office and there are rumors that he is crypto and Digital asset friendly. If you were his special Web3 advisor, what would you say to him

This bird!! PolitrixEmu.nft 😉

“Tell the truth, always!”

There have been a lot of integrations at Unstoppable Domains, giving the NFT domains or rather Decentralized Digital IDs an unrivalled utility. Which have been your favorite integrations so far and why?

Brave has to be one of my favorites. Being able to load a website using your Web3 domain/DID has helped normalize our domains, and shows people that these are tangible products, not some magic internet token.

Login with Unstoppable I also think is amazing, and anything to do with identity and control of your data. This is the future starting today, and I’m all here for it!

Community in Web3 is crucial and the UDFAM community is one of the best. You started your career at Unstoppable as a community manager. How important is the UDFAM community to Unstoppable Domains?

UDFAM for life!! I will always have fond memories of Community. I used to love it when people would come on the chat after just hearing about us and the lightbulb going on over their heads. You can feel the enthusiasm from the other side of the screen. It’s powerful stuff!

You keep us on our toes, too, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! This is the way of the Community Manager 😉

“UDfam, I love that we have you and that you have all found each other through Unstoppable. What an amazing time to be alive! Just know wherever you are in the world, you are Unstoppable!“

You have an interesting collection of Nft domains. What is your minting strategy?

Haha, I’m not sure I’d call it a strategy 😉 I like to buy short sentences that use the TLD, like AddictedTo.crypto, iTrade.crypto, and WhatL2.blockchain, for example. Others I feel could be of use to others and maybe wanted or gifted in the future, like CoverUps.crypto (website), or LoveIsEverywhere.crypto (gift). And I also like to think I could use others if I wanted/got around to it. I have a ton of interests and hobbies so lots of domains to go with them… I used to be a magician so I own a couple of magic-related domains, which I know I could easily do something with… Ultimately, I buy if I like them.

Do you like tea and what do you enjoy doing in your free time?

HAHA!!

Erm… How does one say this…

I think I’m the only Brit that doesn’t drink tea! I’m weird, I don’t drink any hot drinks 😀

In my free time, for my mind, I like to create. I don’t have a TV, and I live in the middle of nowhere with my cat. No neighbours or street lights. This could be very isolated or boring for others, but for me, I feel alive, and whenever I feel like I have nothing to do I make something happen. I have been creating a pack of cards for an NFT project I’m a member of recently, and I like to write a lot (if you couldn’t tell already 😉 ). I have a number of self-published books under a pseudonym, from a fictional autobiography of a man with a serious mental disorder, to short rhyming, nonsensical, stories about fictional characters with extraordinary ailments and experiences, like Hand Stan;

There once was a boy who was a head and an arm.
He spent lots of time at a flamingo farm.

He was there quite a lot because he fitted right in.
Because he was small, he was pink, and extraordinarily thin.

• Len Wobbler

I’m currently writing a couple of dystopian sci-fi stories. I love dystopian comic books, so wanted to try my hand. These are much deeper stories, much more serious and longer than anything I’ve done before… I started writing the 1st dystopian sci-fi book 7 years ago 😀

And, for my body, I ride a mountain unicycle… Yep, a mountain bike-sized wheel with 2 pedals and a saddle. Off-road, preferably downhill. No gears, no brakes. As well as the most fun ebike you’ll have ever seen, with 20 inch wheels with 4 inch wide tyres… Basically, my motto in life is to have fun. It doesn’t matter how old you are or where you are in your life, if you’re not having fun then why are you doing what you are doing?

Talking of which, this has been fun!