“It didn’t mean to be Stacks”: Revealing the Origins Behind the Beloved Alter-ego, Moneystack

**Disclaimer) The opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewer and do not represent the official statement of DeSpread.

Hi, I’m ZZoha, PR Lead at DeSpread.DeSpread is a company of “Degens” who are immersed in the Web3 industry. Each of our coworkers has a unique personality, but we share the same DNA: a genuine love for Web3. We work in a free-spirited atmosphere, but we’re all professionals in our respective fields.

Last time, we interviewed Jeff Kim, Partnership BD for our fifth Coffee Chat with D’s Friends, and this time, coming up is Logan Lee(MoneyStack) / Consultant & Contents Producer. We talked about the reason why he created his alter-ego “MoneyStack” and his know-how to promote Web3 contents’ mass adoption. Aren’t you curious about the backstory around the birth of “MoneyStack”? 

ZZo: I want to know why you are acting as an alter-ego, MoneyStack.

"My name is Logan Lee and my alter-ego in the Web3 space is called Moneystack. I started my YouTube channel when I was preparing for the civil service, and I was worried that I might get into trouble in the future."

ZZo: What made you decide to leave the civil service and enter the Web3 industry?

"I worked in the civil service for a year and a half, and while it had its advantages, it also had its obvious limitations. Although the civil service itself is a good job, the nature of the job made it frustrating to see how I would live when I was older, and my hobby at the time was to look up white papers and project-related information after work. That's how I realized I was interested in the web3 industry."


ZZo: Why did you choose DeSpread?

"When I was doing research on crypto, I fell in love with Stacks(STX) and even became an ambassador in the Korean Stacks community. Then I found out that DeSpread was supporting Stack, and I trusted that they were supporting my favorite project, so I approached GM Chung, CEO at DeSpread, directly and expressed my interest in joining the company, and I've been with them since August last year."


ZZo: What are your current roles at DeSpread?

"Firstly, as a Key Opinion Leader(KOL), I identify and promote not only our partners but also projects that I think are promising. I believe that no matter how well a project is developed and how good its technical performance is, if market participants don't hear about it, it loses a lot of meaning. Therefore, when there is major news (about a project), I edit the content and upload a video to make it easier for retail investors to understand.

Other roles include managing other KOLs and influencer networks, brand marketing and community support for various projects, including Stacks Korea. Also, I’m in charge of PM for 3ridge, DeSpread's on-chain data analytics platform."

ZZo: How did you come up with the character MoneyStack? And what's the meaning behind the character's name and image?

"Many people are misunderstanding, but the word 'Stack' in 'MoneyStack' doesn’t mean Stacks. It comes from the name of a hip-hop singer, Bill Stacks, so I wanted the character's image to reflect a hip-hop sensibility, and the character's name to mean "stacking money." I didn't think about it when I created the character, but it's connected to Stacks, so I guess it was half-destined."

ZZo: Why do you focus on Stacks especially?

"There are two main criteria I use to evaluate crypto. The first is stability, and the second is upside potential. I score each of those two criteria and multiply them, and the higher the score, the better the crypto. For example, BTC and ETH are both 10 out of 10 for stability, but only 3-4 for upside potential. Conversely, some altcoins have a stability score of 2, but an upside potential of 8 or 9. In contrast, STX has the highest stability score multiplied by its upside potential score. I'd give Stacks a 7 or 8 for stability and upside potential, respectively, because the project's longevity and transparency of development and operations make it stable, and the project is likely to grow significantly when the Bitcoin halving issue and the Nakamoto release* update overlap next year. 

*The Nakamoto release is an update that speeds up Stacks' block times, introduces the sBTC(a decentralized two-way peg for Bitcoin) and more.   

ZZo: How will the Nakamoto Release update affect the growth of Stacks?

"I've always thought that Stacks will help spread the Bitcoin DeFi paradigm, because once the Nakamoto release update goes live, you'll be able to do the same DeFi activities on Bitcoin that you can do on Ethereum. It's an idea I've been thinking about for a long time, and I'm excited to see it come to fruition." 

ZZo: As someone who produces Web3 content, why do you think the mass adoption of Web3 is slowing down?

"There is a high barrier to entry for my parents' generation to get into the crypto market. I think it's harder for them than it was for my grandparents to learn how to use a smartphone. The point that the market is too small is another limitation, and it's hard to find absolute standards (to assess whether a particular crypto is currently overvalued or not). As a result, there is a lot of low-quality content that focuses solely on trading or touts Hedge(a term used to show off that the direction of a crypto's price is in line with one's predictions). I'm thinking of blogs that write bad explanations and put referral links, or YouTube videos that only introduce trading techniques such as leverage multipliers.

On the other hand, quality content is rather difficult to understand, so I think my parents' generation can't get into such content and continue to be interested in easy and stimulating content. Even if I explain the technical merits of a project, it is difficult to understand. It is hard to use Web3 products such as wallets such as MetaMask immediately, and even the content is abstruse, so I think the speed of mass adoption is slowing down.

Also, I think mass adoption is currently going in an undesirable direction, such as more views are attracted to huge conspiracy theory content that provides immediate stimulation than constructive content.So I think there's a need for more balanced content in this market, with the right amount of expertise and the right amount of fun." 

ZZo: So what do you focus on when creating content for mass adoption?

"I create content with two principles in mind. 

Firstly, we need to make it easy somehow - instead of trying to get the content across 100% perfectly, we need to use analogies to explain it. It's virtually impossible to create content that is both informative and entertaining at the same time, so I choose to make it easy and entertaining at all costs. It would be great if I can act as a gateway for the masses to enter the Web3 content market, and I believe that those who become interested in Web3 and blockchain after watching my content will move on to channels that offer more in-depth content.

Secondly, you need to be approachable, and I personally think 'We Crypto Together' -a crypto influencer- does a good job in that regard. As difficult as Web3 project technology is, you should be able to enjoy the (community) culture. He answers not only the questions of his viewers, but also their hilarious comments, and I think that's how we should treat virtual asset market participants. That's what inspired me to become a virtual YouTuber. It's a more comfortable way to interact with viewers. Easy, friendly content. That's the key to democratization. Of course, you also have to be professional."  

ZZo: How does the character of MoneyStack synergise with DeSpread?

"MoneyStack is all about friendliness, so he can be a bit of a clown, but as a member of DeSpread, the Web3 expert group, I can also be professional. I keep up to date with industry news, so I can communicate important news to the public. I came from the community, so I know what the average investor wants to know, and that's a great synergy with DeSpread."

ZZo: How does your position differ from that of another Content Producer(CP), Ju Hyuk Park?

"While Ju Hyuk's content is an in-depth course for viewers who have some knowledge of Web3, my content is an introductory course for viewers who don't even know how to install a wallet. I think it would be a good picture if viewers who came across my channel and entered the Web3 industry moved on to Ju Hyuk's channel."

ZZo: What role do you play in the development of 3ridge?

"My role is to design the overall look and feel of the events that will be featured on 3ridge. From the image and title of the event, to how it will be promoted and how long it will last, to the fatigue level of the participants, I consider many factors when creating the event.

Generally speaking, if there are more than eight missions to complete, I consider fatigue to be high. Twitter like and retweet tasks tend to be high fatigue, while tasks that involve reading a few articles and taking a quiz are low fatigue. We try to balance fatigue and reward without compromising the user experience, so if there's an event that's a little bit more fatiguing, like entering our Telegram channel, we'll reward it more." 

ZZo: I understand that 3ridge is still in beta testing, what features are you focusing on and what do you think users will be interested in?

"There are certain features that identify Korean users. It's that they use Upbit and Bithumb as their main exchanges and KakaoTalk as their main messenger. Using 3ridge, we can find out what Korean users are doing by linking their Ethereum EVM addresses and KakaoTalk IDs, and users can receive rewards (for participating in tests, etc.) via KakaoTalk Gifticons. This will improve convenience.

We want to make the process of rewarding users as transparent as possible. From the user's point of view, in other events, no matter how much you participate, the chances of getting a reward are slim, and it's unclear what criteria are used to select the winners. In the full version of 3ridge, we will use a VRF(a solution provided by Chainlink) to generate random numbers for random draws, etc."

ZZo:  Last question, do you have any goals you'd like to achieve at DeSpread?

"DeSpread is a cohesive organization, but we have distinct personalities. Some of us are looking at DeFi, some of us are focused on research, and I'm trying to play the role of the democratiser. I want to help the Web3 industry by giving people the perception that 'DeSpread stands as an expert across all facets of Web3'. Ultimately, I want people to engage with the Web3 industry through my content and grow to the point where they can build their own analytics tools."

DeSpread’s Mission

DeSpread provides refined perspective for web 3 pioneers.