"Crypto Skaters" is a new skatehive.app exclusive series
Each week we will interview a Skatehive community homie, ask a bunch of questions about skateboarding, life and their involvement with crypto, web3 and Skatehive.
In this very first issue we invited @web-gnar, skateboarder, contemporary artist and member of Skatehive since 2017
My name is Zack, I live in Chicago and I'm a relatively unknown contemporary artist. I work at a warehouse part time, and I skate. Oh yeah, and I'm also developing a crypto-themed skateboarding video game called Quest For Stoken.
What's you background with skateboarding?
I started skating when I was in sixth grade, so when I was like 12 years old. My younger brother and I had a skateboard our parents bought for us... but I didn't really start to become a skateboarder until my group of friends in elementary school also started skating. IDK what made us start to think it was cool though. We were just seeking some kind of adventure out of being bored out of our minds at school and after school. It was sick when we found a twin-tail board at the local K-mart with decent wheels and bearings... we all went out and bought that... it was like $25...it was Varaflex... I think that was the brand. Yeah it did have something to do with a rebellious spirit inside me though. My friends and I... we were the coolest dudes in the school for sure, as 12 year olds. That changed when I moved away though, I got really depressed at a young age. Skateboarding kept me in touch with my friends from Iowa. None of us knew how to ollie though we didn't even know what an ollie was... until i bought Thrasher Magazine from the grocery store. The internet was super primitive- no videos, and pictures would load super slow. We used the internet for chatting on AIM, thats how we kept in touch. There was no skateboarding media on the internet. I got my first thrasher magazine when I was like 13 after I moved away to Illinois, from Iowa.
Favourite Skater and video part?
um... I don't know. I used to like Arto Saari alot... then Jerry Hsu... Geoff Rowley....
Thrill of it all and Mislead Youth. Those two videos were like the best. I liked Adrian Lopez's first part in Thrill of it All. Then it was Flip's SORRY. The videos that I used to rewatch were Label Kills by Black Label, Thrill of it All by ZERO, and Flip's SORRY
... I actually really like Zero right now... I like that guy Brandon Burleigh on zero too... a video I recently saw called SWORD is cool, hes in that.
How did you get involved with crypto and why?
I first heard about crypto back in 2013. I was learning more about our monetary system and the central banks and how it all works. I discovered that it is all really corrupt and messed up, and that discovery led me to learning about crypto. I knew it was going to be huge, and I was one of the people who tried to order a Butterfly Labs bitcoin miner, to have it never show up... i think bitcoin was like $200. I should have just bought some coins. I probably originally heard about bitcoin and blockchain from libertarian youtube videos... The Dollar Vigilante... I remember when I first heard about Steemit from him... back in 2016. I got pretty into Steemit, thats where I met @Knowhow92. I lost a bunch of bitcoin doing dumb things back then, but stayed in the green with my EOS investment, which I held until around 2019. I had kind of given up on crypto and stopped paying attention from 2016-2019, but then the covid crisis happened and two people influenced me to get back into it, a dude at my work and a guy on the internet named Austin Steinbart. It was cool to come back to crypto and see that Steemit forked into a new blockchain, Hive, and @knowhow92 was busy keeping what was once Steemskate, alive- on it's new blockchain, Hive- now called Skatehive.
How did you find out about Skatehive?
So before Hive blockchain, it was called Steemit. I created a skate community on Steemit called STEEMSKATE, it was basically like me doing everything that Skatehive does with my @web-gnar account. It was actually a really interesting dude on Steemit, named @ackza, who inspired me to make the community. I want to also give a little shout out to my friend IRL who also pushed me to develop the community, @hazylogic. I would compile all the skate content that I could find on Steemit, into an article and hype everyone up. Back then there were only like 5 people who posted skate content. You can scroll way back in my posts and see the Steemskate posts that started it all. It's cool those are still up on the blockchain. But when I went on my crypto hiatus, @knowhow92 messaged me that we needed to make a Skatehive community page, and a proper active discord channel, and that he would spearhead the operation if it was ok with me. So told him "yeah! go for it!" It meant a lot to me that I inspired him enough to keep it alive. Then, when I heard about HIVE, @knowhow92 and Daryl had already migrated everything over to Hive and were busy building, re-named it SKATEHIVE, and I just kinda slid right back into the community, who of course welcomed me.
Kickflips or Heelflips?
Kickflips
In your opinion, how can Web3 change skateboarding?
I think web3 is going to change way more than just skateboarding. Skateboarding is going to help usher in that change for web3 much quicker though, due to its fierce community. Nothing can stop what is coming. Imagine if every person who used Facebook or Instagram owned a small part of the company, and that ad revenue was shared among the stakeholders. That's what is happening with web3. Universal basic income can be achieved with this web3 model, and everyone will be able to live for free. Instagram wasn't cool until all the pro skateboarders started using it. That's what is going to happen with web3 too I think. Skateboarders are going to liberate the whole earth using web3. Imagine if all the money in the skate industry was in a giant DAO, and how strong the skate community would back that DAO. So to answer your question, I think skateboarding is going to change web3 more than web3 is going to change skateboarding.
Any Web 3 communities you're part of and wanna mention other than Skatehive?
Yeah! An Ethereum DAO called Gnars, and their parent Dao, Nouns DAO. Gnars is a skate-oriented DAO that sponsors extreme athletes. Nouns sponsors artists and a full spectrum of creative activities. I wrote a proposal to Gnars DAO for a small grant of 0.47ETH to fund Quest For Stoken, the video game I am developing with @gnarip12345, and it passed. I was recently on a Twitter spaces called Nouns Square and was meeting the Nouns and It seems like it's one giant community of like-minded creatives with a knack for branding that has piqued the interest of industry leaders like Vans shoes. I'm stoked to be involved I would have never even dipped my foot in if it wasn't for @xvlad.
I'm getting more into computer code and programming, so expect more building on the horizon. I get a lot of enjoyment working in web3 on discord and whatnot. I'm just going to stay sending on all fronts, without getting stressed out or burned out. Hopefully get the HIVE API integrated into stoken.quest. thats my web3 goal for 2023. If i can do that, it might open up doors to what we can do with skatehive.app.
Any last words for those reading or anything you wanna mention?
Try not to get bored. Pay attention to the clues and signs that the universe gives you. Try to be healthy. we are in the end days of a spiritual war be mindful of what you give your time to. Dont drink tap water. eat organ meats like beef liver and heart, and get plenty of sunlight. Men are happiest when they are building something, be that relationships, community, projects ect. stay sending!
... and don't forget to join the Skatehive Discord if you need help understanding more about Skatehive as well as to connect with the community. It' a fun place!
@knowhow92 was busy keeping what was once Steemskate, alive- on it's new blockchain, Hive- now called Skatehive.
@ackza, who inspired me to make the community. I want to also give a little shout out to my friend IRL who also pushed me to develop the community, 
@hazylogic. I would compile all the skate content that I could find on Steemit, into an article and hype everyone up. Back then there were only like 5 people who posted skate content. You can scroll way back in my posts and see the Steemskate posts that started it all. It's cool those are still up on the blockchain. But when I went on my crypto hiatus, 
@gnarip12345, and it passed. I was recently on a Twitter spaces called Nouns Square and was meeting the Nouns and It seems like it's one giant community of like-minded creatives with a knack for branding that has piqued the interest of industry leaders like Vans shoes. I'm stoked to be involved I would have never even dipped my foot in if it wasn't for 
@xvlad.
@skatehive