It's been a good four months since I first got my hands on some bitcoin. Since then, I've done a bit of trading for other crypto coins, learned about FUD and FOMO, went through a couple of pump-and-dumps, but most of all exercised the patience of hodling before the segwit in July. (You can read my previous Adventures in Cryptoland post.) At the same time, I've been watching videos and reading about lucrative strategies. It's really not all that complicated: find a genuinely unique idea that promises potential, and most importantly: get in early on it, way before the rest, ideally before that coin even makes it to the exchanges. This is where the ICO, or Initial Coin Offering comes in.
Deciding on a Coin
An ICO, easier said than done. Looking at something like Ethereum today, it seems like you had to be a fool not to buy as much of it as possible, when it came out. But how were you supposed to know back then that it would get so successful? On the other hand, there are a number of coins whose ICO doesn't take them anywhere, or whose price crashes immediately afterwards, never to come back to its initial value again. Of course, that's the nature of risk taking. You gotta look at the coin very carefully: what does it do, how does it do it, and what makes it different from the rest. A thorough technical knowledge is quite helpful in this regard.
The Best Hot-Dogs in Town (Just Like All the Rest)
Not wanting to rely on the hype around certain coins, I started looking at their white papers … before abandoning them just as quickly. Lots of times I literally had no idea what I was reading. And the few things I could discern were often times quite similar across the board: privacy, security, while at the same time transparency. Being relatively new to the whole concept of the blockchain, I refused to throw in the towel that quickly, and kept exposing myself to more information about individual coins as well as cryptocurencies in general. Looking back, I do feel that I've come quite a long way, still most coins don't seem too different from the rest.
The Unique Purpose of a Coin
I try to keep in mind that each currency is supposed to have a function, something that it was created for. Being a trade commodity, something to buy and hopefully sell for more later on, is merely a secondary function, even if that is what interests me first and foremost (and presumably most of my fellow traders). So I may still buy let's say Ripple, if I see that the price is low and wants to go up, even though that particular coin is a bit far from the decentralized ideal that makes the blockchain technology so interesting. Similarly, I don't need to be interested in buying shady stuff on the dark net, just because I bought Monero or Dash when the price seemed right.
For an ICO, however, I want to see more than just the same old stuff in a different color. The coin should have something unique about it, some purpose. Take the numerous marijuana coins out there. What are they good for again? Buying weed? In my experience most local dealers still prefer fiat cash, and I have yet to come across an online coffee-shop / dispensary, though that may actually change as cannabis is getting legalized in various places. So, for the most part I've been a bit careful with ICOs.
A Good Example
Now STEEM on the other hand, that is a coin with an amazing concept. After all, it's not just a coin, it's a blogging platform utilizing the blockchain technology. How neat is that? I would have bought into it gladly, had I known back when it had its ICO. I'm sure, even then I would have had a certain amount of doubt, but at least the idea offered something that seemed good enough to conceptualize more than just a means of exchange. But that boat sailed long before I even showed up in the harbor. So the only thing to do is to learn from it, keeping both eyes open, ready to jump on the chance when it presents itself.
Chance Ahoy, Straight Ahead!
So yesterday I found something that actually looked quite promising: authorship.com, a platform that wants to revolutionize the publishing of books. It is going to be a place where authors and readers, but also publishers and translators can offer their services in exchange for the soon-to-be launched ATS coin. The idea is to use the blockchain technology to decentralize the publishing and distribution of books, giving more bargaining power to the authors, as well as a greater surface for making themselves known. This is something I can see myself supporting even as a mere investor. But read it for yourself, here.
In this case, however, I would even be interested in getting involved otherwise, namely as a translator. Having done so in the past, I am aware of the rock and the hard place translators usually get caught between: having to face constantly improving translation softwares on one hand, and huge translation companies dominating the market on the other. Though I can't see how this new platform would respond to the former, I suspect a decentralized market would give the field more vibrancy. In any case, we'll have to see where it goes, but I'm quite excited to do so. And this amazing coin is having its ICO right now, ending next Thursday!
Taking the Leap of Risk
Once I came down from my head-over-heels enthusiasm, I went through authorship's information with great scrutiny, read its white paper, and since I had a couple of ETH lying around in my wallet, decided to take the chance by its horns, and send them one. Sure, there is always a possibility that the whole thing is a fake, the founders' experience in the publishing industry all phony, and in the end I'll never see an ATS for my ETH. But I guess that's the thing about risks: you never know till it's over. But as I've always been told not to invest any money I would regret losing, I feel okay about it. Sure, it's never nice to lose it, but I think I've made my peace with this possibility when I first got into bitcoin.
Free Coins Literally Up For Grabs !!!
But there is more: Authorship.com is actually giving away free coins in its Bounty Campaign, to anyone who simply signs up to their e-mail list. Oh, if I had a penny for every mailing list I signed up for... But this one could actually make up for it: 75 ATS is supposedly gonna be around 10 USD at first. No need to invest for it either, the only risk I'm taking is becoming a potential target for spam (in which case I'll just modify my spam filter). What's needed, in addition to your e-mail address, is an ERC-20 compatible ETH wallet, such as myetherwallet.com where the ATS will be sent to, once the ICO is finished on September 14th. If I got you interested in participating, please use my referral link: http://bounty.authorship.com/ref/D8829876/ That way both you and me can get our 75 ATS completely free.
