Web3 Leader Spotlight: Cat McGee
This week, we had the pleasure of chatting with Cat McGee, Developer Relations Engineer at Aztec, a privacy-focused Layer 2 on Ethereum.
Cat is an OG Aave employee and software engineer who strongly advocates for a humane and decentralized web. She also founded Hype DevRel, a web3 developer relations agency.
With over 22k followers on X, Cat is a thought leader in on-chain privacy-preservation. Make sure to give her a follow on X at @CatMcGeeCode to stay on the forefront of this critical space in Web3!
Could you please share your journey into Web3? What led you to venture into this space?
I came to web3 around 8 years ago through discovering the centralized nature of money and tech. I found it crazy and scary that our entire lives are not owned by us. The money you see on your bank statement is simply what is owed to you, and every action you do on the internet can be altered or censored at any time.
I found a solution to big bank through Bitcoin, and as a developer of course I went down the programmable blockchain rabbit hole to find Ethereum. This is when I started working at Aave (back when they were ETHLend) and I've been a web3 builder and user ever since.
What roles do you see programmable privacy playing in shaping the future of decentralized applications?
To me, blockchain was always about adding real-life principles into the digital world. It gives us real-life ownership through wallets and composability, real-life value through a world of tradeable assets, real-life incentives through social responsibility, and soon to be real-life privacy. Programmable privacy allows us to use the digital world as we navigate our real lives, and adds so much more choice into who gets what information.
Given the recent approval of the Bitcoin Spot ETF, do you believe there have been sufficient privacy advancements in the space to encourage new investors?
These are entirely different things so it's difficult to answer. My opinion on the Bitcoin ETF is generally negative - sure, it brings more people and money into Bitcoin and likely the entire crypto ecosystem, but only under the caveat of our existing financial system. If people only come to Bitcoin because they can do it in a traditional way, then Bitcoin has failed. And I love Bitcoin.
As for the second part of this question, yes ZK snarks have hugely encouraged more investors, but I don't believe we have advanced blockchain privacy enough until we have programmable privacy for every aspect of the blockchain ecosystem. Fortunately this is progressing fast through protocols like Aztec.
What advice do you have for upcoming DevRels looking to enter into this space?
Be a web3 user so you can learn how to be a web3 developer, so you can learn how to be a web3 DevRel. Get some money into DeFi, get involved in a mint and start playing around with web3 social.
Understand how everything works together, why these things exist, and understand where things need improvement. Then you'll understand the motivations of web3 developers and may even feel motivated to build something yourself. The fun part about working in crypto is it's all so new and explorative. So get out there and explore.
