It’s been a long year of development and reach out, where our community has grown steadily and surely. We are proud of our community, and we are proud of our achievements to date. With this stated, we have taken a rather long and rocky road to reach where we are now, and there are a few more rocks to overcome before we reach our summit. This article looks at image, and community, and how the two interact. Here is a review of 5 elements in a crypto related project that we would like to share with you.
Fast Gainers vs. HODLers
This is the first and most classic example of a split community in all crypto projects. The success of the project in its initial stages are based on the balance between the fast gainers and the HODLers, which basically means the people who got tokens for free and want to cash out immediately vs the people that actually invested time and in some cases money to build up a portfolio of tokens for investment purposes. The ratio between these two is roughly 50:50 in terms of tokens, but around 90:10 in terms of individuals. Any and all projects before listing should expect on the day of listing an immediate dump of 50% of all the freely distributed tokens. The remaining 50% will be held and sold based on market performance.
Note that the psychology of the fast gainers is to invest small amounts in as many projects and then bombard the project with complaints to urge them to list quickly.
The Singular Shout vs. The Mass Silence
What is perhaps the most exasperating issue to deal with is that individual that knows more than everyone else, is a negative person and has an opinion that needs to be voiced without providing evidence or facts to back up their trolling statements. Every project has its fair share of trolls. It wouldn’t really matter if everyone would ignore them, but unfortunately the majority remain silent. Some do react, following the troll like sheep to the slaughter, whilst others, only a small number of positive minded individuals do fight back. The best option we have always found is to ban then, block them, delete them and erase them.
With this stated, we have found that one voice, one negative comment, causes everyone to stand up and listen. Without bothering to check the facts, or to check who the individual is. In fact you will find 90% of all negative speakers are hidden behind a wall of anonymity. The other 10% are offering constructive criticism, but doing so in a negative manner.
Shill vs. PR
A shill, by definition, is a person who helps a criminal/tout to get victims to lose their money. PR is public relations, it is where you “market” the product. The use of Shill has become mainstay in the crypto world by the individuals who had no idea that they were being fooled by the original coiners of the terminology, the individuals who hate the crypto world. What better way to help undermine a concept then by teaching the users to call themselves criminals without them even knowing or caring what the word means.
FYI, in the US “Shilling is illegal in many circumstances and under many jurisdictions because of the potential for fraud and damage“ So, if you are marketing your crypto project in the US and you use the word “Shill” you are publicly acknowledging that you are committing a crime and open yourself for prosecution for shilling!
Evolution vs. Mass Extinction
“Eth Killer”, this is what goes around with every new smart contract project that pops up. Solana, Polkadot, Cardano and others have all been called “Eth killers” but in reality, they are just another evolutionary chain in a growing mass of chains. Just like real life, there is room for many different creatures, there is no need to “kill” another chain, there is no need to be an “Eth killer”. All you need to be is another project that aims to provide a service to a planet with 7.8 billion people living on it.
The bottom line is this, competition is good, it creates friction that requires you overcome and improve your services. This constant competition leads to improvements. If you don’t adapt, don’t change, then you don’t evolve. Projects kill themselves by not being able to change.
Business Model vs. Technology
One of the most frequent questions we are asked is what is original about our technology? Our answer is always the same; Nothing. We use technology as a tool, it is a hammer, a spanner, a trowel. New and innovative technology is being developed daily across hundreds of R&D sites and labs. We are not an R&D lab we are a business. What we develop is a business model that harnesses technologies in a new and innovative way. We do not need to say that blockchain is the answer to everything; it is not. Blockchain, just like any technology, has its purposes and can be used in collaboration with other technologies to deliver a comprehensive and robust service. The business model is always going to be the most important element of the project.
Conclusions
Image is a big thing in every walk of life. At first most people do not bother to look deeply into a project. The look at the glitz, the lights, the moving pictures, they coo over the site and the forums. They get hot thinking about the Airdrop freebies and how they can make a billion dollars overnight.
In reality, a project, any project requires focus, dedication, vision and determination as well as the ability to adjust, adapt and change in order to evolve and flourish.
Image is important, because it is the first view that creates an immediate sub conscious response of the viewer. It is then up to the viewer to analyze the subject in more detail, peel away the makeup, the mask, the glitz and look at the team, the business model, and only at the end consider the technology. Technology is never the issue, it is the team leading the project and the business model that provides the projects economic and tokenomic stability.
