Meet the Team: Christos (Shiitake) Salaforis

Pangolin Exchange

5 min readJul 19, 2022

Role:

Business Development Manager & Culture Cultivatooooor

Location:

Ireland

What do you do at Pangolin?

I build relationships that seed the growth of strong partnerships. This means I am at the forefront of B2B negotiations that can create mutually beneficial solutions which lead to improving our user experience as a whole.

What’s your favorite song(s) right now?

Warrior by Public Image Ltd.

What did you do before working in crypto?

Well my first ‘crypto job’ was as a Sales & Marketing manager back in 2018 with a project called Cheddur which was aiming to be The Social Media of Crypto. Before and after that, most of my jobs were in sales across an array of industries. My most passionate work though was centred around educational events that were intended to teach attendees about holistic health, much of which included mushrooms like Reishi, Shiitake, Cordyceps and Lions Mane for improving nutrition (thus the Shiitake pseudonym). For about 3 years, myself and a friend ran holistic community gatherings for cold sea swims and breathwork meditations. We also organised ceremonies with the shamans of Ireland for people to come and release emotions to experience a level of healing that they may have not found from the ‘white-coats’. I had a keen interest in crypto and blockchain since 2016 though, so I also ran a class every Tuesday and Wednesday since June 2020 to teach people about it all. That class was created initially as a mastermind for personal development back in 2019, but I decided that its probably worthwhile that everybody in there also understood how to manage their finances optimally for a well-rounded personal development program.

What originally got you into crypto? What were some of your first investments?

I heard about Bitcoin first in 2011. Did I invest? Nope. Why? Because I had no clue that there was such a deep philosophy behind it. My second exposure came in 2013 after my cousin and I were curious about the dark web. Again, I didn’t invest (I didn’t see it as an investment) but I did notice the price went up. Finally, in 2016, after seeing Bitcoin rise above $1000, I started to research why and it led me to the whitepaper — that changed everything for me. Bitcoin was first. Ethereum was second.

What types of projects most excite you in the space (outside of Pangolin, of course)?

Honestly, I am so excited to see what comes with Music NFTs. Music is my number one love and passion. I have some personal work but also group work that I would love to find a way to distribute fairly. Web2 platforms like Spotify take advantage of artists where the lion share is taken by the streaming service, so I am curious to see if Music NFT projects can solve that. Aside from that, I’m excited to see more public good chains and networks that can solve supply chain issues and/or improve ways of tracking successful cultivation techniques. I don’t have any specific project in mind, but I want to see more work done on this. Regen Network on Cosmos looks cool though. Also, I am excited for what ZKPs will bring to the space. I like the idea of ZKID as a way to prove you are a certain age or are a unique person without your data being held in a database and having your privacy invaded. They could bring a lot more fairness to the space because they will prevent the gaming of permissionless airdrops and launchpads where one person can create an infinite amount of wallets, but we will see.

If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice the day you started investing in crypto, what would it be?

I mean I wish I could go back to 2011 and tell myself to research into Bitcoin properly instead of being skeptical of what my friend was telling me. But if we just talking about the day I started investing into crypto, then my advice would have been to sell at Christmas in 2017 and then reinvest after everything fell 80%+ LOL but on a serious note, I probably would have told myself to learn solidity back then. I really wish I had done that.

What led to you working at Pangolin?

I guess coming onto the C-Chain as an early adopter and building the Avalanche community early on led me to making lots of friends in the ecosystem, so its rather who — not what — that led to me working at Pangolin. That who is our favourite UI/UX designer and now Product Owner, Abdullah. After he had just secured his role as UI/UX designer, he came to me and said that he thought I would be perfect as Head of People & Culture. What was funny is that I saw the role advertised on Twitter a week before, and I actually didn’t apply because — and this will sound cheesy — I thought that if it was meant for me, there would be a sign. A week later, Abdullah approaches me. Now I’ve been here 10 months and I absolutely love it. It’s my favourite job I have ever had and everybody on the team is amazing. I count my lucky stars every day. Life is funny.

Which part of our 2022 Roadmap are you most excited for? And why?

Well I actually can’t answer this because what I am most excited about is still under wraps. That said, I will share what I am most excited about that is not completely under wraps, and that is something called Sunshine & Rainbows. Sunshine & Rainbows is going to change farming and staking forever. That’s all I need to say.

To know more about Christos

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About Pangolin Exchange

Pangolin is a multichain decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX) on the Avalanche Network. Through advanced tooling, deep liquidity, and smooth onboarding, Pangolin offers easy swaps and a great experience for projects and traders alike.