Can you share your background and your first experience with the blockchain industry?

I'm Joxes, from Venezuela. I have an engineering background, although I'm not a developer, and I've been immersed in the crypto ecosystem for over two years, having been a user even before that. My first steps were during the ICO boom, where I quickly fell in love with the idea of decentralized money powered by cryptography and game theory. As a user, I have experienced different things in the ecosystem, such as the various waves of DeFi and L1s, with a later focus on Ethereum. 

I always like to remember how my life and level of involvement in the ecosystem changed when I joined the CryptoChica Telegram group and, soon later, DeFi LATAM. As the first Spanish-speaking communities where I dedicated my time, I shared knowledge as a user and contributed from my position. Little did I know that this would eventually pave the way for me to work within the ecosystem, becoming part of the incredible DeFi LATAM team. 

What are the current projects you're involved in, and what are their core focuses?

I'm currently involved in four different organizations. Let me give you a quick rundown of each:

First, I work as a Researcher for Wonderland. It's an activist fund where we help out various protocols with their development and come up with ideas that add real value to them. We're all about supporting their future growth. 

Next up, I'm part of the team at SEED Latam, which used to be called DeFi LATAM. Our primary focus is educating the community and providing top-notch, quality information on all the latest topics. We've also recently started a governance vertical where we put together teams representing the Latin American voice in DAOs. As part of that, we kicked off an adventure with Optimism precisely a year ago, and I'm the delegate for that. 

On top of all that, I'm a co-founder of L2 en Español. It's a community dedicated to studying Ethereum's scalability solutions. We created it together with SEED Latam and DeFi Para Principiantes, pooling our efforts.

How can individuals begin participating in DAO governance and contribute to decentralized decision-making?

Getting involved in governance requires understanding the new mechanics that emerge from the Web3 ecosystem, where collaboration is key to building and achieving goals. Specifically, governance revolves around an organization that manages a treasury and often a protocol. It's designed to be adaptable. That means its members change over time, and decisions aren't made by a single owner but through open voting mechanisms with tokens, NFTs, or others.

 So, if you want to collaborate and dive into a DAO, start by recognizing your skills and showing interest in the governance that catches your eye. Jump into forum discussions; it's a great first step! DAOs are always on the lookout for contributors from different angles: content creators, partners, community builders, analysts, and, of course, developers. They even have specific roles like administrators to keep things running smoothly.

Since DAO governance is open and decentralized, community reputation is a big deal. If you consistently share your informed opinions, write proposals, make meaningful contributions, or create valuable content, it's a huge plus. Once you genuinely participate in a DAO and understand its dynamics, you'll know where you fit in, can take on a more formal or recognized role, and get rewarded for your efforts.

Exploring scalability challenges on Ethereum: What are the key limitations developers and users may encounter?

For users, the primary challenge lies in understanding and explaining the concept of scalability in a simple and relatable manner. It's essential to establish the need for scalable solutions and why they should function in a particular way. The ecosystem is moving towards a multi-layered blockchain model where different chains are interconnected. Some chains are for user interactions, while others improve overall performance. It's called modularity, but explaining and getting people on board can be a pain.

Scalability solutions are still being developed, but some are already in use. For developers, the major challenge is security. That means there are risks involved, and developers need to understand them and find ways to minimize them.

Our ultimate goal is to strike a balance between relatively secure solutions and a user-friendly experience that doesn't require users to worry about technical details like if you are on Optimistic or ZK Rollup. It is important to strive for a seamless user experience where high-quality products and dApps are easily accessible to all users. Achieving this balance will be crucial in overcoming the scalability limitations in Ethereum.

Assessing the present state of the blockchain sector: What are your insights, and do you have any predictions for its future trajectory? 

I really hope that the regulatory aspect will be sorted out properly in the future for the sector. It would be great if we could have fully decentralized and immutable protocols that are considered just like any other software you can use without getting tangled up in legal or regulatory issues.

On the flip side, we should have a dedicated subsector for Web3 applications compliant with regulations.

My main focus is on maximizing the first group, so I'm hoping that the new movement of building "Public Goods" will help, and I'm doing my part to contribute. At the end of the day, the winners will be those who offer the best product while staying true to the values of the open-source community, which I hope continues to thrive.

Lastly, it's still uncertain whether blockchain will bring about a new era of computing, especially with technologies like STARK. But only time will tell!

Thanks for the interview!