Community Spotlight: Digital Spaceport

Iron Fish community member Digital Spaceport is an established YouTuber with a channel that takes the mystery out of crypto mining. His video on setting up an Iron Fish node helped countless users earn Testnet points in Phase 3. He has been in the crypto space since 2011 and believes strongly in creating welcoming, educational content.

Tell us about yourself. 

I am Jerod Moore, AKA Digital Spaceport on YouTube, and at heart, I am really just a nerd. I have a passion for tinkering with used enterprise gear, and I now have a mini datacenter in my garage. Professionally, for the past decade, I've been a consultant working with various businesses, and state and federal entities and developing and optimizing unique products for niche use cases. I live in Austin, Texas, and enjoy Linux a lot.

How did you get into crypto? 

I dabbled as early as 2011, generating Bitcoin on a laptop as I was inspired by the unfolding revolution heralded by groups like the EFF and Anonymous challenging the status quo. In 2013 I was able to use one of my seed phrases 2 years later to recover some BTC and sell it off to buy my first GPU farm and start mining LTC. I started a subreddit around Scrypt Mining and wrote several guides – it was a blast working with others in that early wave of digital currency production. After that, I was hooked.

What are your favorite dApps? 

I have (more than) a few NFTs. While I started on OpenSea, I am now usually buying, collecting, or flipping on Dexie.space

What do you think will drive crypto adoption? 

In my opinion, we will see crypto adoption driven by the utilization of blockchains for novel problem-solving. Innovations around storage, art, and finance are just the beginning of a coming wave of adoption. The inflection point of mass adoption will be when the value propositions of blockchain uniquely align with end-user use cases.

Wild thinking outside of the box is what is needed. While many would be quick to point to regulation and say that is the linchpin, I feel it is the compelling nature of a killer must-have product that will truly get crypto in the daily lives of the world's population.

When did you learn about Iron Fish, and what sparked your interest in Iron Fish specifically? 

I learned about Iron Fish in late November 2021. I knew some of the names associated with Iron Fish, like Jill Gunter, and was happy to see a woman founder with a compelling story on privacy leading an L1. As a miner, I was, of course very interested in the early testnet and incentivization possibilities, but the privacy aspect of Iron Fish with ZK tech is an important factor that will drive adoption.

Public blockchains are amazing for their innovation, but publicly associating every purchase with an end user is a major obstacle to adoption. It can't be ignored. Even in TradFi technology, end-users have some expectation of privacy. Iron Fish has an excellent solution to address privacy in crypto.

How do you explain Iron Fish to someone unfamiliar with the project? 

Did you just buy some beer with crypto? Do you want the world to know that you just bought beer with crypto? Iron Fish solves that.

What has been your experience in the Iron Fish community? 

Iron Fish has an awesome Discord, and I am amazed at the talented people I have met there.

What do you think draws others to Iron Fish? 

I would like to say the privacy-focused nature of the solution that is being presented, but it is a bit early for that to be what people see. At the current time, it is the possibility to participate early in the mining of a new L1, with gear many in cryptocurrency already have.

What has your experience been like interacting with Iron Fish team members? 

I am really wondering how the hell Jason on Discord does so much. Does he have clones? But seriously, getting to know the team more, I’m impressed with their technical approach to problem-solving while being genuinely fun individuals.

What makes Iron Fish different from other crypto projects you’ve dealt with? 

There is a lot of alignment on what I call the “safe” side of starting a cryptocurrency that Iron Fish has taken. We live in a world where there is a lot of scrutiny from the media and regulators at a level we have not seen until now. Part of being a producer of a cryptocurrency, in my case, is that I have a portfolio of risk. That varies with every miner, but I view Iron Fish as being pretty far on the safe side of things. At this time, this is a prudent choice, I feel.

Is there anything else that you’d like to share? 

I am excited to see what happens with Iron Fish. The team has produced a lot of code, spent a tremendous amount of time with the community, and has a leadership direction with Elena captaining the ship that makes me feel optimistic about the path we are sailing.

You can find Jerod on his website and YouTube channel:

• Website
• YouTube

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