The time Justin Sun nearly got liquidated 1.1B Story time with Liquity veteran, Bonjan
interview about crypto journey, stories & how to land a job in crypto
1) Can you do a short introduction of yourself?
I work at Liquity and have been there for 3 years by now. Most of my work revolves around bizdev, the community and ops.
Before that I was at a VC fund and earlier I did all kind of random jobs. I have no formal education and have been freelancing online since 2010. All grit, no brain :)
2) How did you fall into the crypto rabbit hole and end up working full time in crypto?
During the ICO mania I was following the space but had zero interest participating. That is until I read The Bullish Case For Bitcoin
which aligned the legos in my head - no going back after that.
So sats were stacked and articles consumed.
I was not following any other coin/chain until Robert Lauko asked me if I wanted to help with something called Liquity.
3) Any interesting story u love to share?
There are two interconnected stories.
Liquity got off to a crazy start, reaching a TVL of $1B after 10 days and $4.8B after a month - also thanks to Justin Sun taking out a $1.1B loan!
Then May 19th 2021 came along - 6 weeks post launch.
We just started our regular team-call as the dominos began to fall, and it was a total shitshow.
ETH dropped quickly from $3’400 to $1’800 causing a system-wide liquidation cascade.
We were watching the meltdown live, gasping at the dozens, and soon hundreds, of liquidated Troves all while Stability Pool gains ballooned.
We were scared and proud at the same time, witnessing the protocol performing as intended and successfully handling its baptism by fire.
As the dust settled, an interesting story emerged a few days later.
Justin Sun, and his $1.1B loan, were up for grabs. But no one acted…
He could have been liquidated for about a minute, but as the protocol was still new and bots not fine-tuned no one capitalized on it, and his Excellency got away.
A lot of bot operators were rightfully pissed, missing a $350’000 paycheck and eternal fame.
You can read more about 5/19 here.
4) Can you share some advice for people who want to join crypto full time?
In my days there were hardly any job openings but for devs.
Nowadays, as many companies transition from the incubation/seed phase into growth, a much wider array or roles is available.
First and foremost you need to be a person who is reliable, trustworthy and does a good job. That is universal for every industry.
I’d also advise to do 2 things:
Scour job boards to see what is out there, and what would fit your interests.
Pick a few projects that align with that and join their Discord. Be a valuable and constructive community member.
This is the single best thing you can do to land a job. Especially for noobs.
If you are more seasoned then start networking with crypto bros. I personally am always open for a chat.
5) What do you think is required to make it in crypto?
Deliver good work
Find/create projects aligning with your values
Be in it for the long term
Don’t forget what we are building here, the ‘De’ in DeFi stands for something
Gud read ❤️❤️