David Van de Walle

Apr 07 2019

How to Get Started with MegaCryptoPolis…

…AND will it be the next big thing in virtual worlds and non-fungible tokens?

I’ve been playing around more than a little with a site called MegaCryptoPolis, and, so far, I like what I see. The creators have taken the Sims, ratcheted up the look and feel, built virtual cities, thrown in economic incentives like scarcity and supply and demand, and…well, we’re thinking this one could take off. BTW, that up there is AN AFFILIATE LINK – so if you do sign up and buy stuff, we’ll get free stuff for referring you.

And it hasn’t really even launched yet: presale mode means you can still be one of the early adopters.

It will be interesting to see how this site answers a couple questions:

Can it take hold – like Decentraland once did – and will it bring scores of Chinese game players with it?
Will it explain to the world what people mean when they say “#NFT” in a way that doesn’t make people look at them funny?
Is the timing close to perfect – in that people are getting back into crypto after last year’s…uh…questionable performance of pretty much every coin?

So we’re going to come at this with a simple two-step plan – this will help you get started and dive in if you’re so inclined. Later – watch this space for more – we’re going to be a little more analytical: what parts of the game might take hold? Where should you be focusing your time? Does anyone with an “Astronaut” want to show their face just yet?

Let’s Take a Closer Look…

First up, though, ANOTHER AFFILIATE LINK: if you HAVEN’T gotten your free crypto from Coinbase, what are you waiting for? And, if you have already gotten it, maybe you’ll want to learn about Stellar Lumens and get more free crypto?

Okay, back to #MCP3D. It’s a game that has been around for a year or so, and appeared to be in build mode during last year’s Crypto Winter. Now that the world has warmed up to the concept of real projects and has thumbed its collective noses at scams and s**tcoins, projects like MegaCryptoPolis have a real chance of getting it right – and leveraging things like Chinese users (!!!) and virtual worlds (Fortnite without the fighting) to create real economies.

You buy real estate and, when the game launches, you get your Citizens to manage that real estate. Our sense, a couple weeks in to our experiment, is that both are pretty important. But you can’t even get started in the game without Citizens, so let’s begin there.

Step One: Get Started in MCP3D with a Citizen Pack

MCP3D Packs — Four packs from #MCP3D – you need Citizens to play the game

You’re going to get at least three things in a pack – one is a Citizen, and that’s someone with scores in the big six properties (Strength, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck) on which citizens are graded. If you luck out, as I did in my first pack, you’ll end up with a Professional.

You’ll also get a couple other things in your pack. The basic 3-pack includes a citizen and a couple random items, but if you buy the higher-priced packs, the guarantees make it more worthwhile; my last purchase was a Mayor pack, and here’s what it guaranteed me.

And here’s my pet:

Anyway, the key here is that without citizens, you’re not in the game. Once you have citizens, you can get real estate. [EDITOR’S NOTE (APRIL 29): We’ve been told on the Discord Channel that you DO NOT NEED Citizens to buy real estate.] The other big thing: these are “Generation A Citizens,” so they are rarer. “Generation A Citizens have maximum stamina,” per the website. So there you go – if you’re going to get Citizens to make your time in MegaCryptopolis worthwhile, you’re probably going to want to get them now.

Pro Tip: Use Airdrops That You Forgot About to Get ETH.

I spent about a week, off and on, going to various sites like Poloniex, COSS, Binance, and ForkDelta to find some of the really random coins that were sitting there unused. It paid off: I’m not out of pocket more than a few bucks from my actual wallet.

In other words, I can build a house with house money. Which brings us to Step Two.

Step Two: Buy Real Estate

Time to become a Real Estate Equity Baron!

Let’s look at a house in one of the Districts in the game: this one is District 43 and it’s a high-tax District – so properties here pay more into the tax revenues; those revenues then pay more into owners’ pockets.

The owner of this particular lot – it’s not me, by the way – has a pretty good location, near a lot of green space and what looks like a public reflector pool or some such.

Here are the particulars on this property:

Here’s a smart game player, we think: he acquired this property for less than 0.02 ETH (around a latte in the States) and he’s looking to sell it to make a profit. So there could be a little “pump and dump” here – or he could be looking to move the proceeds into another district of strategic importance.

Where Should You Acquire Property?

Great question: we don’t know yet. District 43 looks smart for the tax-friendly reasons we talked about above. Other districts may have better location, some of them could make sense if they’re cheaper but you can acquire more property. We don’t know.

We do know that property seems to be acquired rather regularly in a District called “Bounty Island.” And if you enter the Bounty Campaign, you could end up with some of that property for free – or you could take it off the hands of a willing seller.

And…WHAT NEXT?

We’d invite you to study the White Paper – there’s much more to come from this game. But the big things are these, from our vantage point.

The game itself hasn’t really launched. So acquiring assets NOW gives you a potential strategic advantage for when it does.
The 3D game, on mobile phones, being used by millions of Chinese players, could make it REALLY interesting.

Watch This Space for More

We’ve had some fun interacting with others who are early adopters in this game – and it is, for now, just that: a game.

But the potential is rather large. So MegaCryptoPolis might just take off.

May 30 2018

BRED Portfolio 2018 – Is It A Good Idea?

Behold, today’s update on the BRED Portfolio – a combination of Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum, and Dash and all their forks. When we first talked about it, the idea was an index fund of sorts – set it and forget it – with the goal of spreading out your risk and exposing your portfolio to four of the biggest coins.

Spreadsheet time: here’s what it all looked like moments ago. Note that we took $10,000 and divided it among each coin/token equally; in the case of the forked coins, weighting it based on market cap of each on 1/1/18. (That’s how you arrive at a negligible amount of Bitcoin Gold.)

Not very flattering, huh. Especially when you compare it to all the hubbub here around this ground-breaking (yet simple) portfolio idea and how it performed in 2017. You can read about that over here.

But, Should We Stick With It?

I think part of the theory here is that the market as a whole will move up and down, and these coins will track with the market per se. So it’s highly unlikely that 2018 would bring jaw-dropping returns like 2017 did, unless there’s some huge shift in sentiment. And it’s also unlikely that any of these coins will “go out of business” in 2018; though a huge pullback in any one of them COULD happen (if there’s a “black swan” type of event, maybe).

What probably makes sense – and, again, DYOR stands for “Do Your Own Research, so we’re not responsible here for successes or failures in your investments; please consult your advisors and don’t forget to pay your taxes! – might be a couple of portfolio approaches, spreading the risk out a little more but also taking advantage of some fire-sale coins that still have potential. (And having some flexibility to do ICOs, too.)

Maybe An Alt Portfolio, Too?

We talked about these earlier in the year – and all but TRX are down, with some down considerably.

There are two ways of looking at this: one is that they’re mostly duds. The other? Gems that pulled back with the rest of the market and are (at least right now) deeply discounted.

But Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin, Either

What makes for a good “basket” approach? 10 coins? 20? 40? That’s up to you – 40 probably sounds a bit much; but there’s also a need to be able to put a little of your portfolio into coins that are new, unproven, “fliers.”

In any event, given where we are now vs. where we were last year, there’s probably some time to look around and see what’s actually out there and prepare your portfolio for any sort of froth by diversifying.

Good luck!

May 28 2018

Get Ready for a Wild Week

Here’s why you’ll see some interesting things happening on the crypto markets.

EOS – June 2 Election of Block Producers

It’s a process that we’ve endeavored to understand here and we’re not totally there yet; but, suffice it to say, there’s about to be a whole lot of interest in what happens with EOS.

Why? Well, the crypto project that Dan Larimer is behind has a unique process where its users vote for the “Premier League” of 21 companies that become “block producers.” These “BPs” are incentivized with EOS tokens to keep the system running. (We’ve met a couple of the BP candidates in our crypto journey. If you want to learn more, suggested sites to check out include Block.one, EOS42, EOS New York, and EOS Canada. (Heck, there’s even a BP candidate in Oklahoma.)

The election – voting is also rather complicated – takes place on June 2, though the votes won’t be tabulated for a few days. Then, the continued jockeying begins – those that are in the top 21 need to stay in the good graces – so their systems can’t fail. If they do, 100 backups are ready to take their place.

It’s the culmination of a year-long EOS ICO: and it’s probably going to mean some serious movement – up, down, and sideways – in the cost of the EOS token.

(Thanks to CoinMarketCap.com for the above chart.) Right now, we’re looking at a 30-day price range of $10.77 to $19, with the price holding steady around $12 or $13 the past couple days. But the math behind (1) becoming a block producer and (2) the ecosystem and the apps being worked on will probably drive speculators into the market this week. And next. And beyond.

No price predictions here – and DYOR, we don’t provide legal or investment advice – but don’t be surprised to see some extremes.

EON – Exscudo Could FINALLY Launch

Delays in projects are inevitable, and the Exscudo ICO didn’t raise a TON of money, so it’s not completely surprising to have seen this one stall a couple times. However, the developers shared the latest update on their Slack channel and…

It appears that the Exscudo exchange will launch by the end of the month. Which gives them a few days. We’re holding on.

We got interested in this project a year ago, invested a tiny amount in the ICO, and helped out with the bounty program. So we’re a little invested in its success. Fingers crossed.

ADA – Cardano Has Been AWFULLY Quiet

Here’s the all-time chart.

On January 3, ADA traded at $1.22. It’s now trading at 18 cents. That could mean that the market was frothy at the beginning of the year, and now it’s a lot less so. It could also mean…well, it was a new project then – launched last fall – and maybe it’s still getting its sea legs.

Could it be the Ethereum killer? Maybe, maybe not.

Is it trading at a deep discount? Quite possibly.

And Two Projects We Helped/Are Helping With…

Quick update on both POW and Empowr.

First, POW – they put the brakes on their latest developments to fix some system issues. So it’s thinly traded and the “bridge” that will let those who claimed tokens using their Facebook credentials move them over to the Ethereum blockchain was paused while they worked in the background. There’s confidence from the developers, though.

While we’re still bullish on the possibilities, we did pause our firm’s work with them in the interim.

Empowr is currently trading on an exchange called Token.store. The price has stabilized as of late; but, like POW, it’s still really thinly traded.

With the downward movement this past week of Ethereum shares – dropping into a low-$500 range – each Empowr coin (EMPR) is worth about $1.30.

You earn coins on their system by engaging with other users on a site that looks a little like Facebook; but, it’s less intuitive, so if you do sign up, take advantage of the tutoring on the site from the “Success Coaches.”

Dave from Metacoin remains on the advisory board of Empowr. A project with some potential.

We predict a wild couple weeks on the crypto markets. Buckle up!

Apr 17 2018

UPDATED INFO on POW

Editor’s Note: POW has released an announcement via Twitter and Facebook today. Here’s the text:

POW dev team has made the decision today to temporarily pause the development of our “bridge” functionality in order to address core architectural weaknesses to the POWtoken.com site and service. All access and functionality has been suspended for a period of no less than six weeks, in order to allow this to take place.

We’ll keep the original post intact, and we can refer back to it later…

Original title was “Still Time to Score Some Free POW.”

Hi, crypto fans! We’re working with POW on their token launch – we were calling it “The World’s Largest Airdrop” a couple months ago, and we’ll stick with that until someone trademarks the phrase – and efforts continue to get that token (or coin) to the next phase of its development. But, if you’re not a user or not aware of the coin, here’s more info on it, what they’re up to, and how you can get some for your very own. (AND we’ll even tell you how you can use POW.)

DISCLOSURES: We are linking from our affiliate code – so we’ll be compensated in POW tokens if you use the link to sign up. (We are also compensated by the team for our marketing and communications work with the token.)

POW introduction

POW – pronounce it “pow,” like Batman is hitting a bad guy – is a cryptocurrency that decided, from the get go, to be different. No ICO. Ever. Instead, the idea was to take the very first user to claim tokens at the launch 10 BILLION TOKENS. The next person would get 5 BILLION TOKENS, which was 10 billion divided by their place in line (2). You can see where this goes…the calculation will continue like that, dividing 10 billion by your place in line until all the 231 BILLION TOKENS are gone.

That, you might say, is one healthy supply.

But…but…but…Note in the screengrab above how much of this token is still left! That’s right, only 56 percent of the tokens have been claimed. And if 10,000 people were to claim their POW, if you add in the referral fees, that would only ratchet up the claimed total to 133.4 billion tokens.

They’re playing the long game at POW.

Why It’s Cheaper Now Than It May Ever Be Again

The POW team has been working diligently on something they call “the bridge,” and they’ve been up front on Facebook and Telegram in discussing what that will do and how it’s progressing. The tokens are claimed through the web, and you need to use a Facebook or Twitter account to claim them. (You can do both – here’s that POW link again.) The bridge will let users move those tokens off of the POW website and onto the blockchain. The maximum amount any one user will be able to move is 1 million a day; the maximum the system will release is 1 billion per day. This will help solve the liquidity issue (since traders don’t have many to buy and sell right now on the exchanges), but it won’t create a glut.

Right now, the coin, frankly, is thinly traded. When the bridge launches and people move their coins over from the website to the blockchain, it is expected that there will be some wild swings for a bit, then the price will stabilize, and the next question will likely be…

Can You Use It “In the Wild?”

That has already been happening – but, in all candor, the number of transactions appears to have subsided quite a bit during the past few days, likely due to anticipation of the bridge launch.

We’ve seen days with thousands of transactions – and, since we’ve worked with them (first as “validators,” making sure that users weren’t bots), we’ve seen at least anecdotal evidence of people paying for services with POW (especially in places like Vietnam and parts of Africa).

We’ve thrown some back and forth between friends to test the web-based system, and we even did a little bit of work to help out someone in the cryptosphere and were paid in POW.

Where we think this will grow, though, is in places where phones have leapfrogged other banking services – and where there’s a need for micro-payments for things.

Do Your Own Research, But…

We’re not going to hazard a guess on the price front – that would be reckless, and, since we’re working with them, we don’t want to be seen as “pumping” the value of a coin.

We do like what POW can potentially do to level the playing field globally. It’s not the only solution, but, if you’re unbanked, under-banked, or in an economy with onerous capital controls (like Venezuela), is there value in taking advantage of a crypto like POW? There very well may be.

Again, here’s that POW link. Go get some.

Finally…The McAfee Factor

If you’re not familiar with John McAfee, Google him. He signed up as Chief Advisor at POW at the tail end of 2017.

https://t.co/7IqE8ATVJN is thrilled to welcome @officialmcafee to the team as Chief Adviser! #Crypto #ETH #Bitcoin #Legend pic.twitter.com/Qw5DtjhPu2

— POW (@POWtoken) December 20, 2017

He travels the world, proselytizing about crypto just about everywhere, so getting his imprimatur was a big score for the POW team. His tweets move markets in crypto and he’s had to fight Twitter to keep from the fake tweets and bots making the rounds.

But suffice it to say that if he finds POW compelling, maybe it’s worth looking into?

Soapbox

We’ll get off our soapbox here at HQ, but, really…do you need another excuse to get some POW? Go. Get some.

Apr 13 2018

How To Take Advantage of the Empowr Airdrop

While the crypto universe seems to be wondering why the price of Bitcoin and its brethren are going higher and higher during the past week, perhaps it’s time to take a break from BTC and the core coins and go after some sweet airdrop action. This one is courtesy of our friends at empowr.

Note that Dave from Metacoin is part of the empowr Advisory Board; however, no affiliate commissions will be generated from this blog post.

How to Get Your empowr Coins

This is pretty simple, actually – which we like; some of the airdrops we’ve seen have had more onerous restrictions, so simple is best. Step one: You need an actual empowr account. That’s free – but you will need a PayPal account to confirm your identity.

Next, once you’re on the system, go to the Settings page and input your Ethereum address – and it must be one from a non-Coinbase wallet, like MyEtherWallet or Metamask.

And…You’re All Set…Provided That…

It looks like the date is Sunday, April 15 for this big airdrop. So you need to have 0.1 ETH in your wallet by 07:00 PST in the US by then.

Of course we’ll be watching this one closely…

The Other Airdrop We’ve Talked About

POW is a digital token and client of Metacoin; their airdrop continues until 1 billion users have taken advantage. So go there…and go there soon, as the team is putting finishing touches on the “bridge” between the web-based token and the ERC20 that is tradable on exchanges. (That link is an affiliate link, so we will get some tokens if you sign up.

A Presentation We’re Working On

Finally, we can present to your team on Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and the blockchain. This is our first draft of the deck we’re working on.

Very funny, I know. But yes, we can come talk to your group. Reach out if you want more info.

Cheers!