Episode 32: Regan | Astro Girls - Onboarding Women into Web3
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Status
Astro Girls founder (Regan) x Crypto Sapiens
Timestamps
00:00 - 00:44 - Crypto Sapiens Introduction
00:45 - 01:23 - Guest Introduction
01:32 - 09:22 - Regan Journey into web3
09:25 - 10:24 - Regan Journey into the DAO
10:26 - 16:00 - Why Index
16:02 - 18:12 - What are other projects missing out
18:13 - 21:05 - Why Astro Girls was created and how they onboard new members
21:07 - 26:19 - Web3 Application, soft skills, contribution, and coordination
26:23 - 31:07 Astro Girls' achievements with the onboarding cohorts
31:09 – 33:25 – Regan's advice to the newcomers and future expectations in the space
33:27 – Outro
Transcript
Humptycalderon: Welcome to crypto Sapiens a show that hosts lively discussions with innovative web3 builders. To help you learn about decentralized money systems, including Ethereum Bitcoin, and DeFi. The podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only, and it is not financial advice. Cryptos Sapiens is presented in partnership with Bankless DAO, a movement for pioneers seeking freedom from the limitations of the financial system. Bankless DAO will help the world go Bankless by creating user-friendly onramps for people to discover decentralized financial technologies through education, media, and culture.
Hello everyone. And welcome back to another episode of cryptos sapiens. And today we are talking with Regan, not Reagan. Let's make sure we get that right straight off the bat. Regan joins us to share her wonderful story of learning about crypto and falling deep down the rabbit. Coming out the other end as an influential figure, who is helping to break down barriers for new people to find their way into crypto particularly women, through Astro girls and an NFT project where she is a co-founder.
We talk about getting started in crypto, being mindful of our health and wellness opportunities and onboarding to DAO, and becoming a contributor. As she says, people add value by being people. Without further ado, let's get started
Regan: really excited to be here. I love Twitter spaces and, it's been great speaking to both you and Jaris, so I'm really, I'm really just excited to chat.
Humptycalderon: I'm excited to chat with you. So prior to, you know, jumping on here, I've just been aside from, you know, doing some reading ahead of time. I was listening to as many pods that you've recorded. It seems you've been pretty busy recently, we'll unpack all of that. you're a pro at this. But I, you know, it's funny, I was gonna say prior to you mentioning that you complained about getting up early.
I was like, well, if you don't have a toddler, you get to sleep in, but it doesn't sound like that's the case for me.
Regan: I know, I know no toddler, but I still find, I still find myself up kind of it's like, I go to bed really late and I'm waking up early. So I'm just, you know, it's like a college thing, I guess, you know,
Humptycalderon: Burning it at both ends is also a web3 thing. So we need to be mindful
Regan: yes, burning it at both ends is definitely also a web3 thing. Very good point
Humptycalderon: I remember back when I first started, I'm not gonna date myself too far back, but when I first started, I was just so excited for this space, just because it was so different. And again, we'll unpack that through your story, but, you know, I think it would, to me, it was like, oh my gosh, I just can't get enough of this. Like, what else can I do? And you see the impact you're making and it's, it's hard to turn it off and hard. Not to turn it on right as you wake up.
Regan: Absolutely. I, I would honestly say, like, I relate to that because at least for me, I never had Twitter before crypto, so, it's an especially cause you know, like an influencer, blah, blah, blah, micro-influencer, blah, blah, blah. Like I find myself. Pretty often almost like feeling like I'm working a little, even at like all hours of the day, interacting with DMS planning meetings.
And even though, when I was working in traditional finance, that was a lot of hours. But when I left the office, I left the office. Right. I would, I would do like 12 hours, but when I left the office, I left the office. So, I think there's like, definitely like a, I don't know. I hate calling it work-life balance even work-life integration, but I definitely think that web 3 can be a place, it can be really exciting and really great, but also like a really, a space that almost accelerates burnout, I think for a lot of people.
Humptycalderon: Oh man. Wow okay. So. You're probably gonna hear me say wow a lot because I think you're able to communicate things in such a nuanced, but accessible way like everything that I've heard you talking about, you know, whether it was an interview, about who you are, or, you know, talking about Astro girls, you just have a way in communicating that. So that was incredibly well said and thank you for that. And maybe we'll even explore some of today.
Regan: Thank you, I really thought that it really is an incredible compliment. thank you. That's really part of you. Thank you very much.
Humptycalderon: You're very welcome. let's get started. How did you come to learn about web3? And what were those first steps you took into the space of web 3?
Regan: I would say it really starts last fall. When my brother was at E Lisbon and ran my brother, I was studying in abroad, Indiana, and my brother. I didn't know what he was doing in Lisbon. He said a conference. For work. That's like kind, I guess, how people, a lot of people in crypto talked people who aren't like in crypto because we had said like Ethereum, you know, E Lisbon I would've been, my eyes would probably be glossed over, but he really wanted to see me.
And I wanted to see him. And Vienna had just announced a lockdown. And I booked a flight to London, heat throw, and begged him to come to meet me out there. And he did. And this because he had been staying in Lisbon for a bit longer, a couple of weeks after E Lisbon been. And just during that time, my brother's full-time into crypto and he had mentioned DAOs even on the first night, he'd mentioned DAOs to me, constitution DAO, and I kept asking him over and over, like, what does DAO mean?
I was really confused, but. Just like the, a big part of that trip, or maybe even a small part of that trip was him talking about crypto, but a big part of that trip for me was me realizing he has so much freedom, right? Like we were able to travel for two weeks together, all throughout, you know, London and all of Ireland.
And he was just so free to do that with me while sustaining himself, I think it was a bit envious because I had already signed full-time into a traditional finance job where I knew that that would never be the case and where I was just feeling like, even in those two months, when I had interned, at the bank I was at, I felt very burnt out and I sort of felt like, oh, well, I'm just gonna enjoy my senior year just to then get thrown into work.
But I don't know I didn't think about it much. And I returned to Vienna and then returned home. And I guess long story short, one day, I'm just sitting there. Because I have like five weeks off from school. I'm broke. I spent all my money abroad on traveling and maybe just more of that, that ruminating, Almost anxiety about like having to go to my job though.
I never expected this space to become a full-time gig, but I just remember thinking to myself, you know, my brother said you can like make some money and learn about this crypto stuff I'd always wanted to, but I had been avoiding it forever. long story short, he tells me to join the index. He's like, I don't know much about DAOS, but you should join the index.
You know, he's not a DAO contributor, but he's like, I know they're cool. And I know index is really cool and that married really well with the background of my structured product. long story short, I hop into the discord, and Crews and kindeagle, both make themselves available to me to meet one on one within the first day.
And that was incredible that both Crews and kindeagle just spoke to me and made the time for me, they both encouraged me to make a Twitter. And I had just 4 followers, went to bed that night and posted a really stupid tweet where it was like, Hey to my four Twitter followers. Like it's so weird and awkward posting on Twitter, for the first time.
But I'm just really glad that, you know, I'm like into web3. That is a very, very, very big paraphrase, but it was something I hope it was a bit more succinct than that and I remember, I went to like a business development meeting at 10:00 AM, Eastern standard time, the next day, and kindeagle messaged me on discord.
He's like, did you see, you have 300 followers on Twitter? And I go, and I had 312 followers. I'll never forget. I have it screenshotted. And like that night we got to like a thousand and that week, I think it almost got to like a little over 4k. Which was just so insane. It was so, surreal and it's just really been accelerated from there.
It's how I've gotten all my opportunities, how I've gotten all my jobs, and how I've made the bulk of my friends through my Twitter presence. I really owe it to the people in the index, but particularly Crews and kind Eagle for encouraging me. kindeagle was my first follower on Twitter. Crews really accelerated those network effects.
So I owe a lot to them and I think it's a big just ethos of how index operates as well.
Humptycalderon: That's an amazing story you know, I'll speak for myself personally, for someone who has been building this space for some time and trying to grow my own personal network here on Twitter, I can speak to the difficulty of doing that. I even know more about who you are, the influence and the impact that you had on the people you talked to, I think, the mindset that you came with into this space that allowed you to flourish so quickly. And really, I think it sounds like you had such wonderful supporters behind you that helped you grow, but more importantly, made you feel welcome.
Regan: That's a huge part of it. I remember I didn't even think to ask for a one-on-one session. I remember Eagle, we were messaging back and forth in the introduction channel because the whole reason they found me is that I just went right to the introduction channel on discord. And I had never really used discord and kindeagle was on it.
He saw me. I mentioned I go to USC; we bonded over that and then he said “Hey, you should reach out if you need any introductions”. And I was like these are like real people, these are real human beings, and I can reach out to them and have one-on-ones because I remember looking at the discord right before he applied and being really overwhelmed. Discord is like a kind of confusing interface; I think for someone who isn't used to it and let alone when an entire organization is functioning through it. So, I was really thankful for that.
Humptycalderon: That's great. Obviously, familiarity with index and with some of the folks over there and what they're working on, which is really incredible.
Why index was it, did it have to do with your background in finance, and that just made sense to you? Or was there another calling there that really drew you to that project?
Regan: I think so. The why index question for me is more like I love everyone there and why I stay, but, you know, it was actually a very random choice because of my brother. DAO is DAO and they are so hard to find. If you type in DAO on the internet, you will only find articles about DAOs, but nothing where you can find an actual DAO to contribute to, most likely I had no idea where to start, I didn't have a Twitter. I didn't really understand how to find it online so if it wasn't for my brother, I wouldn't have even found the index in the first place. My brother just had asked around on my behalf. He asked people in the ecosystem who had a lot of respect for the index, which then they told me about because they had a lot of respect for it. But I think for when it becomes, like, why index?
That question for me is more like why I stayed and why I contributed, even though it's like a very low-touch contribution, I always like joke around, like the biggest, like fake index contributor because I've been really busy, but all my friends are there is because the people there are so incredible.
The onboarding experience is really unique and really clear, which I think for a lot of DAOs that I sort of shopped around in wasn't the case. And for me, my why index is just because the people there are incredible, and yes, of course, like the background of my structured product, being able to understand indices really helps and was something that drew me to them at least to stay.
But I'll never forget my brother, I just texted him and he just wrote “the index coop or cooperative, however, you wanna call it”. So again, if it wasn't for that in-person connection, I wouldn't be here. So that's also something that, I'm really thankful for and that not a lot of people I have, of course.
Humptycalderon: You know, I'm gonna try to think back to my own personal experience and it feels like forever ago, but I agree with you. One of the things that to me was the most impactful were the people that were already in my life. The people that I got to connect with in, you know, in the real world, not necessarily in the virtual world. When I first got into the crypto space, I got in purely as a speculator, I was like, oh, Bitcoin, you asset class. Let's, let's see what that's about but it wasn't until several years ago after really just trying to be intentional about my own personal research and going to meetups that I got to meet people that made the topic of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and decentralization understandable.
Because I think you can fall into a rabbit hole and end up in a space that’s very complex. so, it's great to hear that you had people in your network of trust in your circle of trust, like your family, like your brother who was able to do the same for you. And then that your first experience, there were people that were willing to kind of continue that type of onboarding for you and that's just part of the course.
Regan: Absolutely. I would say that you know, my brother was the person that introduced me, but it was absolutely people in this space that kept me here. They taught me so much about what I know because I joined a DAO and I didn't really even know. I remember joining index and I like was like, I don't care about what's going on here. You know, I hadn't even really looked at what index is. I was just really interested in more of what a DAO was and maybe that's kinda a backward way of learning about it, but I think that, again, it's the people here that I think it's just so important.
I talk about visibility a lot. I talk about just people a lot. And I think the getting people here is still, even with my own NFT projects, like still the biggest question it's like, okay, well we can onboard women, but you know, we can help them get a metamask. But even having them like that crypto adjacent is so much more crypto adjacent than I was in my traditional finance structured products job.
And I have to ask myself, like if someone who knew so much about financial systems, at least in the traditional sense, you would think I'd be like the perfect silo into more like to centralized finance. And I wasn't, none of my friends were particularly none of my female friends. So, I definitely still struggle with that. How do we get more people to even know about what a DAO is or to know about, NFTs beyond the noise to break through the noise.
Humptycalderon: I'm going back to something you said earlier as well, but I do I think wanna connect it with what you're saying now, which is, you know the friction, I guess in understanding decentralized finance products, but also just decentralized technologies and communities as well.
You were talking about the difficulty in figuring out, first of all, what are DAOs and then trying to figure out what DAOs to join, you know, talking about if you Google DAOs, you probably wouldn't get anything that is meaningful or significant in someone's journey into joining a DAO or even just learning what it is to then make that choice to join a DAO.
What do you think we're missing? and, you know, what do you think you can do with the project Astro girls, is it something that needs to necessarily be, you know, more intentional in the way that we write in the way that we share content on social media?
Like what, what do you think we're missing here that we can improve just generally in the ecosystem to make under, you know, understanding this very complex topic easier for new members and anyone interested in this space?
Regan: I think on my end, the way I measure it is I actually use my sister as a gauge. I can't imagine trying to relearn all of this. I feel like my learning was so discombobulated. Although I had a lot of really great mentors. I never knew where to start because where do you start? So many of my mentors, you know, were we're there for defi summer or, even coders slash developers.
DAOs and NFTs became bigger, and they had this sort of linear learning model. I joined a DAO first before I even really understood anything about blockchain. I would probably even say I'm still taking a blockchain class at my school.
But I would say I didn't even understand the fun the day I joined probably for that week. I didn't understand the differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin and just what a smart contract is, etc. So. There's not really a great linear learning model. What I'm trying to say is there needs to be better infrastructure right now.
You still need to be quite technical and dedicate a ton of time to understanding it. Versus, you know, when I think about the internet like I always joke around, I have no idea what, HTML stands for, and I have no idea how the internet actually works. You know, sometimes I think maybe I try to understand it a little bit more now.
But I was using the internet. At like 10 years old, I had no idea how it works, but the interface and infrastructure were well built. It didn't matter. It just worked. And I obviously think web3 is a bit different. You probably have to understand a bit more about DAOs, even when we get to a higher more mass adoption level.
But with that said, I think that when I brought up my sister when I think about how would I teach her. I always struggle with, and I don't even know where to start, which is kind of why we created Astro girls because it's like taking people through a cohort. I think at least now you need to be handheld through this process unless you're really a self-starter with a lot of time.
Most people have jobs, and families, especially when we're trying to onboard more diverse folks. They don't have time. I think where people who have a lot of time and are really self-motivated and are okay with maybe not dedicating time and not making money, it can be figured out, but we have to take out that really high cost of emotion as it’s laborious to try and figure out where to start. I mean, I advocate a lot with like, starting with, you know, defi because that's where I started, but I always try to challenge that like what's best for other people. How am I biased as someone with a finance background?
The TLDR of that is I think people, I think the infrastructure's still very poor. I think we still need to be incredibly technical to understand this space, which is a big blocker to a lot of people who are just telling themselves they're non-technical and are afraid of those technicalities. Like I was, and probably still I’m a bit.
So, I think that's a huge barrier in blocker hence I guess to connect it a bit more to my project, why we are trying to have a cohort style. We're trying to see, what's the best way that we can foster this participation in a way that is safe and a way that is communicative, and in a way that is effective.
Humptycalderon: I guess what I'd like to unpack here is you talked about the infrastructure, I think chase Chapman is one of the people that has said this, at least that I've seen him saying this more regularly, and “we need to stop talking about the protocol, worrying how the internet works, just know that it works”.
We don't need to know how HTML works. We just know that it works, and we can use it. we need to start building, the application layer on top of web 3, and these applications come in many different ways, you know, whether they be NFT projects that, you know, people, have some sort of affinity for, or just really like, the designer or the project's intention, or just anything else, just really allowing for a much more, friendly user experience when you're coming in versus start talking about, you know, things that are very complicated that may dis-way some people from participating.
What are some of the examples that you've seen, that would be considered, really good applications of web 3 that don't necessarily get so deep into the nuts and bolts of web 3?
Regan: I hope I'm not misunderstanding the question, but I would even say writing or even tweeting. I mean, maybe this is also very skewed because of how I started, but I mean, I was learning and talking to people before I had any idea what was going on, I was just an advocate of learning in public because. There's this saying, “if you say something, no one really gonna interact with it. But if you say something wrong, everyone's gonna jump on it, and really go into like, they might even write a thread just to explain to you why you're wrong”. And I think that for better, for worse, I had a lot of that, so I think for me, a lot of great applications of web3 are not even necessary working or maybe it's just even learning. There are a lot of really great applications of web3, even just being on crypto Twitter, and listening to spaces. People get bounties and people getting paid because that's something I really advocate for which is not well done yet.
I think that's why we've lost so many incredible people in the space because payment is often not clear people will attend meetings, and then not get paid.
I would say it was under-appreciation for just even, maybe lazy is not the word. More passive ways of learning more passive ways of contributing and adding value, commenting, getting to know people, and even attending a conference and not I attended a couple of a conference like Eth Denver.
I don't think I walked into the main event once. Actually, I did once for open, but, that was because one of my co-founders was speaking. I think this is so many incredible ways to add value. And I think that I try to emphasize that a lot because I think I add a lot of like, non-technical value per se, but I think communicating being kind and compassionate onboarding, there's a lot of these softer skills that I think are underappreciated.
I think they are just really great ways to add value. People add value by being people. And I think that that's just a huge thing to emphasize. You don't need to be inherently building or developing to be learning and contributing immensely to the space
Humptycalderon: That's a great point. I mean, I think, you know, to the point of Eth Denver, one of the things that I really like about that community and that project is the way that they distribute ownership to that event. And I think one of the things that web 3 is what makes it very different from the traditional web 2 kinds of way of operating is ownership, right? And to your point, finding ways for people to more easily, contribute and earn, not just, get getting better at, aligning incentives, but also, sharing equity to those individuals.
So, they have a piece of the pie of the project so that they can, become owners of the projects, and not just necessarily incentives. I think I agree with you it doesn't have to be completely technical, but definitely, there needs to be a better alignment, both between the projects and their contributors, but also, in terms of the incentives and just making it easy and fair, and equitable that we're not necessarily just, getting free labor because that's the opposite of what we're trying to be building here.
Regan: It's so important because sometimes I think that some of these like web3 initiatives or are there kind of like web 2 initiatives like cloaking themselves as web 3.
They're not, they're not being equitable. They're not distributing ownership. It's more so like, oh, they're like paying people for work which is good. We should, people should be getting paid, but you said, I think there is at least a lot of a disconnect. And even I sometimes ask myself what even is really a DAO and do a lot of people who help start at DAOs or even need a DAO.
Is that an oxymoron? What even isn't DAO? I think that there's still a lot of confusion in the space, in the people who have been a part of this for a while, with some of the people who are trailblazers. I think there's still a lot of confusion as to like what constitutes a well-functioning DAO. I think that that also contributes to onboarding because it isn't even that clear.
Personally, I mean, I can definitionally go through what a DAO is. I mean, I wrote about it, but. Sometimes even in practice, I think sometimes we get lost, and we find ourselves behaving in a very like web 2 traditional way. So, there are definitely some organizations out there that really just feel like a digital organization, but without, you know, a lot of that ethos of web3 and which is really about, equity, transparency, and shared community collective ownership.
Humptycalderon: Let's touch on you on something you just shared now, which was the way that Astro girls seek to onboard, you know your people are into the space, So you're talking about cohorts. Can you walk us through, you know, how that's been developed, you know, the intention behind that, and where you are at today with those cohorts?
Regan: Absolutely. In full transparency that actually wasn't the initial idea, or maybe, maybe it was, but we didn't exactly know how to execute it. And I think that's also something that I've been really thankful for is the community that we've curated. Whenever we make pivots or adjustments, it's always in, it's always discussed with them, and their feedback is appreciated because we want it to be in a sort of way where they are a part of this community.
long story. We realized we wanna do something where we onboard more women into web3. And something I say is people say well, there are tons of women onboarding projects. And I say, who cares? I say good. I hope there's more, I hope another one is created today. And then tomorrow. And then next week
I think that this kind of NFT space, like I'm personally in so many different women's communities. I don't think that's a negative. I think it's a positive. So, I liked our approach because we were just trying to, we weren't like sitting here, well, how do we differentiate? It was more so how do we learn from the people that have done tremendous things and then optimize on mistakes that they share with us, pivots that they wish they had taken. You know, I remember speaking to the she-256 co-founders and I think that they're incredible and asked them about their mentorship program and being like, what was great. What was not great. What was something you wish you knew when you were starting? And these honest conversations have really contributed so much to our project, but really what we're trying to do is we decided we're gonna make ideally cohorts where we're starting with the first one and we are trying to make it so that there's a lot of information out there, but people are having trouble finding that information but also having the infrastructure and community to process that information. So, we're doing it in a very kind of social way, a social learning model. If you will, as a cohort where we're connecting people with each other, pairing them with other mentees to make friends, pairing them with a mentor, either in or within AGS or maybe even not, who is willing to teach them and help them. And our end goal is that they can be either employed or making money through web3. If they have no interest in that, that's fine. It's to kind of participate how you feel type of cohort vibe. And we just wanna make ourselves available.
You know, like this week I'm leaving with two other, people who are helping contribute with me, we're leading a, you know, welcome to web3 session where we're gonna be sharing slides and we're gonna just be talking. It's gonna be a conversation. People can come up and ask questions because.
At least form, I'm not a big reader. I never have been. I try to get more into it, but I'm a listener and I like to interact. So, we're trying to make it interactive and then that we're also having layer3 bounties that pair with our education contents that people can, you know, make a little bit of money, but also, deploying our treasury, but also that they are using a really great platform, and actually applying their knowledge.
And we have a few other things coming up, which we're super excited to share. So, this week is week one. It's, it's gonna be 10 weeks. We're probably gonna even add more. And then it's the question of, well, how do we keep fostering community even after that? How do we keep onboarding more women? So, there are still some questions that I wouldn't say are unanswered, but more so that we are figuring out as we go. And we've just been really blessed to have such a supportive community. And it's a great way that I spend my time. I'm so thankful that it's a big part of how I spend my time. And so far, there’s been no regrets and, I'm excited to see in the ways that we strive and also in the ways that we fail, how we can improve for the next cohort.
Humptycalderon: That's great. And I'm excited to see the Astro girls project continue to flourish, as well as your kind of platform continue to grow, not just on Twitter, but across the web3 space. I think it's inspirational to see different types of people represented in this space really taking ownership in these conversations and facilitating the space to just more people that, maybe more aligned to someone like yourself than maybe someone like me. And then the next person that learns from you or me taking that message and just continues to propagate that, you know, based on, you know, our own little nuanced way of interacting with the information and with the technology and the projects that we continue to grow in this space.
I'm very excited about all of that. If there were a few parting words on your end, in terms of what you've learned and what you hope to see in this space to continue to, grow and innovate. What would, what would that be?
Regan: I would say, I even mentioned this in a tweet, not everyone has to be dedicated to onboarding, but, if the goal is a mass option, if the goal is to get more people in here, onboarding has to be effortful and onboarding has to be diverse.
And that includes men. That includes women. It includes everyone. So, I think my biggest advice is you don't need to necessarily contribute or start an onboarding project, but I think the effort is important and it's always like be the change they wish to see maybe see like a diverse project, and you maybe don't fit that particular community model, maybe it's like more targeted for women or people of color.
I still think trying to show support, or offer, or mentorship, etc, if you're able to do something really instrumental because I think, it's incredibly helpful. We've had a lot of people offer, to help us and be really instrumental mentors for us. And so, I am really thankful for that.
So, I guess my parting words are, if you are in this space and you wanna see more people in this space, It takes effort, but the effort is worth it. And I also think that just keep also at the same time, just keep doing you. I think sometimes we take things so seriously and a lot of things are serious, and a lot of things are really important, but there can be a lot of stress sometimes that we put on ourselves, especially, people who post a lot on Twitter, micro-influencers like myself, or even people who are building and constantly trying to meet deadlines.
I think things are working out. I think things are panning out really well. And so I think, just also be easy on yourself and just keep enjoying it because I think also natural joy and our success will also bring more people here as well. So I guess that's my parting words. Like if you’re enjoying it, be honest and if you're not enjoying it, be honest.
It's how we make things better. It's how we improve. If you can be the change that you wish to see, and if you want to see more people in the space, it does require a conscious effort. And there are people that you can team up with who are already making that conscious effort.
Humptycalderon: That's a wrap. I hope you've enjoyed this conversation as much as I did. If you'd like to learn more about Regan and to connect with her, follow her on Twitter @regan and not Reagan. And to learn more about astrogirls go to https://www.astrogirls.wtf and on Twitter @astrogirls_NFT. Thanks for listening to crypto sapiens.
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