Genesis Founding Member: Alexander

*In Oct 2020, the protocol undertook a rebrand from Coda to Mina.

Alexander joined Mina’s community in July 2019, right when the testnet was opened to public beta. Alexander enjoys trying out new technologies, is experienced in social media marketing and has some technical knowledge. He is drawn to Mina for its promise to bring real adoption due to its succinct size, and he shared his excitement and knowledge with the community in the form of video tutorials and guides. He also playfully envisioned a Mina wallet. Besides Mina, he is also active in the communities of Near Protocol and Solana.

(Interview has been edited for clarity)

How I got into blockchain:

I found out about Bitcoin, experimented with mining on a CPU, and tried out this new technology in 2009. I didn’t think much of it besides experimenting, and I didn’t even save the wallet file at that time. It was a challenging experience. Back then, there were not many Russian resources on this new technology available and little infrastructure in place. For this reason, I decided to wait until the technology matured more, and I came back into the crypto space in 2017. When I came back, I realized that I really love blockchain technology and regretted having waited 8 years. I’ve decided to commit my entire future to this industry, because I believe in it — it’s only a matter of time when blockchain technology will be used in everyday life.

Why I joined the Mina Testnet:

I like the idea of a blockchain with a constant size, and I plan to run a node in the future.

After participating in several testnets, I feel that Mina’s testnet is the most accessible with the clearest instructions for participants. Every step is explained very well in the testnet docs — this is very important to me, because I am not a technical specialist.

My favorite things about the Mina technology and community:

When I participated in the testnet, it struck me how friendly the team and community are. I’m feeling very lucky that fate brought me to Mina and gave me the opportunity to meet such wonderful people.

I especially like Mina’s Russian-speaking community. We all share the same passion for blockchain technology and help each other out. I also respect Kunkomu and garethtdavies from the Mina community a lot for always being great resources.

What I like to do in my free time:

I enjoy spending time with my family. In the future, when I have more free time, I aim to start a blockchain-related website.

What about Mina excites me the most:

Mina is very cool, because of the way it solves one of the main problems in blockchain and brings adoption. One of the main problems in crypto is that blockchains become less accessible in time due to the growing size of the blockchain. Mina realizes a succinct and constant-sized blockchain by using zk-SNARKs. I believe that the ideal blockchain would be compact, fast, reliable and decentralized. A succinct-sized blockchain, like Mina’s, has the potential to make this possible. Due to the small size of the blockchain, users will be able to interact with the blockchain from their mobile devices. This will make blockchain much more accessible for everyone — a step towards true decentralization.

Other projects that I’m participating in:

I am also excited about Near Protocol and Solana. Near Protocol’s potential is in dApps, and Solana has achieved crazy TPS (transactions per second).

Resources that I use to stay on top of blockchain/crypto news and information:

https://cryptopanic.com/

Thank you, Alexander, for being a valuable community and Genesis Founding member! Join Alexander in the Genesis token program by clicking here.