As part of our ongoing series of interviews with the top pilots of the Namada Shielded Expedition, OriginStake is excited to highlight the journey of Anodeofzen, who secured the impressive position of the second top pilot. Known for their exceptional skills and resilience, Anodeofzen shared valuable insights and experiences that shaped their journey in the competition.

Let’s delve into the highlights of our latest interview with this outstanding pilot!

Q&A with Anodeofzen

OriginStake: Hello, Anodeofzen! Can you start by introducing yourself and sharing a bit about your journey in the blockchain world?

Anodeofzen: Hi, most know me as ZEN! I’m far from being that way, but I chose to carry that name as a constant reminder of my aspiration to live like this.

My journey into the blockchain world began like any other—as an investor. We all know how that tends to go; you baby step into big coins, become more interested in the protocols behind them and venture through the plethora of smaller altcoins and DeFi protocols created.

While at that time I was already programming in web2 — usually spiralling into never-ending optimizations of algorithms, squashing bugs, and pondering future-proof solutions — I hadn’t considered continuing this part of my journey in the web3 space. It all felt so daunting to me. Especially the idea of coding in a sector where flaws could cost everyone dearly. Ironically, I still managed to face big monetary losses due to experiencing first-hand how volatile this market could become.

One thing was certain: I had to become more proactive in this space and not just place my bets on the work of others. It didn’t feel right to live on such hopium, nor did I want to feel like a parasite or leech. This changed when I had the opportunity to become more involved in a biotech project called GenesisL1. The creator of that chain, M, needed help every now and then with the development side of things. This is where I started to dive deeper into the Cosmos Ecosystem, scripting, data validating/parsing, running nodes, setting up testnets, writing chain upgrades, writing contracts, translating theoretical ideas into working solutions and, most importantly, where I became less scared to build in web3. The chain, community and creator hold a special place in my heart; they trusted me enough to give me the freedom to experiment on thissharedplayground, and it’s where many opportunities for my personal growth emerged.

OriginStake: What does it feel like to have secured the position of one of the top 3 pilots in the Namada Shielded Expedition?

Anodeofzen: I am super grateful and humbled to have become second! Especially knowing how many other extremely capable people participated. I couldn’t have done this without the help of the members in the community I’ve met along the way. Though, in all honesty, I do have mixed feelings about my position since I probably wouldn’t be second if it wasn’t for the re-evaluations the team made after the competition had already ended.

OriginStake: What inspired you to join the Namada Shielded Expedition, and what were your initial thoughts going into the race?

Anodeofzen: I actually decided pretty late to join as I didn’t expect to get chosen nor felt like I stood a chance against big validators. My confidence boosted when I managed to cause a chain-halt during Housefire, an event held by Luminara to test the Namada protocol. That experience made me realize I had the potential to compete.

OriginStake: Can you walk us through your journey throughout the expedition? What were some of the key moments for you?

Anodeofzen: I was in quite an ambiguous state during the expedition! This is because I got asked to help the community wherever I could. I did this while also trying to remain competitive. So, at moments I didn’t know if I was giving away too little or too much. I tend to be quite altruistic so it was mostly the latter, but it took me some adapting to get used to this paradoxical way of being.

This actually turned out to be a good thing, for I tend to get quite lost in the work that needs to be done. This requirement to remain communicative kept me connected with the rest and reminded me that I wasn’t alone in hitting these bumps in the road. I learned a lot while getting to know so many cool people.

As for my work ethic throughout the competition, I made sure to create scripts that could automate repetitive tasks, knowing that the S class missions would require extensive time for research and implementation.

OriginStake: What were some of the biggest obstacles you faced during the race, and how did you manage to overcome them?

Anodeofzen: Two big ones: my lack of experience and my relationship with time. I can become very stressed out when I don’t know how to proceed or when deadlines are approaching. This stress tends to lead to self-sabotage, neglecting my mental well-being and physical health. I was definitely not alone with this; we all came to understand it’s not healthy to remain competitive for such a long period of time.

Skills I realised to lack were for instance relaying and coding in Rust. Initially, I didn’t allow myself to ask for any help. I tend to feel like I’d then owe the other person or that it would show incompetence on my part. However, I came to understand this is not true; it’s okay to receive a helping hand at times. So many out there happily share their knowledge and are willing to explain a concept you find difficult to grasp.

In my struggle with time, I always aimed to gain a global sense of what needed to be implemented first. Then, I would break down the larger problem into smaller, puzzle-sized pieces. This approach helped alleviate me from a lot of unnecessary stress because it’s easier to work bit-by-bit towards an end result. Specifically in programming, I tried to adhere to concepts like loose coupling, tight cohesion and periodic refactoring.

OriginStake: Could you share a memorable experience or a significant highlight from your time in the Namada Shielded Expedition?

Anodeofzen: There’s one achievement that comes to mind that I found pretty cool! For the Security Vulnerability-task I found a way to spam a ton of -emojis via IBC. At first I didn’t consider this to be a vulnerability since I was specifically trying to halt the chain, but then came to understand that these types of transactions did halt other Cosmos’ chains in the past. Having unlimited fields can allow unnecessarily big transactions and makes it easy to slow down nodes with bogus transactions. Give enough nodes a hard time and the chain results in a halt. CryptoDruide made an NFT out of it named Sad Times for SE Uptimes.

CryptoDruide’s NFT – Sad Times for SE Uptimes

OriginStake: The NEBB rankings have fluctuated quite a bit throughout the race. How did these changes affect you, and how did you adapt your strategy?

Anodeofzen: During the competition I had to tell myself not to worry all too much about the ranking. I’d lose too much valuable time doing this. It was actually favourable for me that this stopped working at some point. It made it easier to keep my focus on the A and S class missions.

As the A classes were unknown and the Nebb wasn’t giving us any real-time data, I tried to make sure I did everything the protocol was capable of doing. This was especially at the beginning of the competition a focus of mine that I tried exploring with two friends: Manuel from Stake&Relax and spidey. Roughly halfway through the competition my focus shifted mostly towards the S classes.

OriginStake: What technical aspects of the Namada platform caught your attention, and how did they influence your performance?

Anodeofzen: I was particularly intrigued by the MASP and its implications for the Proof of Stake mechanism. The combination of privacy and new staking variants fascinated me. Although challenging, working with Rust instead of Go was an interesting aspect of the Namada platform.

OriginStake: Considering the numerous bugs and postponements, what kept you driven to continue competing?

Anodeofzen: I’m stubborn by nature. This goes both ways: I either stubbornly refuse to do something or I stubbornly continue doing something until it’s done. Luckily, this time, it was the latter!

However, I have to say that I have a lot to thank for the Housefire event and how the community received this. It gave me the necessary boost in spirit and mindset, changing my inner voice into: “I can solve this. Ranking low or not knowing how to proceed is temporary. I’ll eventually find a way.”

OriginStake: How do you view Namada’s approach to privacy on the blockchain, and what do you think makes it unique compared to other platforms?

Anodeofzen: So most privacy-oriented blockchains are either not optional or are only bound to the native token. Namada offers protection across existing assets and gives the user the freedom to choose whether to transact privately or not. I love how they see privacy as something that should be available by default rather than some additional feature. It’s in my eyes how most protocols should be, especially with sensitive information as one’s finances.

OriginStake: Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently in your approach to the race?

Anodeofzen: I wish I dove deeper in rustlang. This would have made it easier for me to navigate through the SDK and find ways to improve the MASP algorithm. I also would have made sure to experiment more with building Wasm contracts. I’ve only written Solidity in the past. This would’ve probably been very useful in the making of the Shielded Action app.

OriginStake: Can you describe a particularly tough puzzle or task you encountered during the expedition and how you managed to solve it?

Anodeofzen: The most difficult task for me turned out to be the Shielded Application. First, I created a Shielded IBC web application (Link: ZENODE – IBC App). However, I soon realised that the Namada Extension couldn’t fully support this yet. I spent two weeks trying to build something that was only semi-capable of Shielded IBC transfers.

Unsure if my IBC app would be sufficient, I delved into learning about Shielded Actions. These are a series of transactions involving interactions with the MASP. For instance, consider swapping a token on Osmosis but shielded by using the Namada chain as the “middleman”. With only three days left, I rushed to create a CLI wizard that could perform such shielded swaps. It was insanely stressful, but I’m so glad I figured out in time (Link: ZENODE – Shielded Swap).

OriginStake: How do you envision the future of privacy on the blockchain, particularly after your experiences with Namada?

Anodeofzen: Like I somewhat already expressed before: I love to see privacy as a default in blockchains. I hope to see this become more and more the standard. Not for illicit affairs, but rather for a person’s protection. Even if wallets are considered pseudonymous in crypto, they will eventually be used to transact. It shouldn’t be the case that e.g. doing groceries would expose your complete transaction history and the assets you own. It doesn’t make sense and, worst case, could easily make you a target in real life.

OriginStake: What role do you think Namada will play in the broader blockchain ecosystem in the coming years?

Anodeofzen: I know that Namada could play a big part in the standardisation of privacy and protection of sensitive data in general. It would inspire other chains to operate similarly if executed well and if the target audience grows and gets reached. The latter is important, since most do not actually realise how revealing data can be. It’s no surprise that all these big tech companies thrive on and see value in the data of their consumers.

OriginStake: As the race is nearing its end, what are your thoughts and emotions about reaching this stage?

Anodeofzen: I have mixed feelings. It was stressful, but it was a time we got to share with one another. I’m usually lone-wolfing, so this took me out of that comfort zone and I appreciate the time I got to spend with the people I’ve met along the way.

On the other hand, as I said earlier, to remain competitive for such a long period of time isn’t healthy. Especially if feelings of uncertainty and doubt arise in everyone. For that reason, I am glad we were finally able to close this chapter.

A big congratulations to everyone who participated! This journey demanded a lot from each of you, but I hope it brought numerous valuable experiences and insights.

Thank you

Closing

Thank you, Anodeofzen, for generously sharing your insights and experiences from the Namada Shielded Expedition. Your dedication, collaborative spirit, and enthusiasm have left a lasting impression. We look forward to seeing your continued success and contributions to the blockchain community.

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About Anodeofzen