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Blockchain Startups

Jun 24 2019

Playing the Long Game

Since *everyone* is jumping on the “IT’S A BULL MARKET” bandwagon of late, we thought we’d take a step back for a half-second.

Sure, the trappings of a bull market are there: the quick runs northward, the new entrants, the “OMG HODL” chants. And the $11,000 mark sure is nice.

SO – SHAMELESS PLUG – AND CLEARLY MARKED AFFILIATE LINK: get some crypto over at Coinbase, will ya?

But the real purpose of this here post is…playing the long game. Which means doing a couple things — beyond the HODL moments everyone will tell you about, or the “put 1% of your overall net worth into crypto” that the experts will hit you upside the head with — that might not payoff for months or even years. That’s okay. Time to play the long game with us.

**Let’s be as blatant as possible with this warning: do your own research. Your experience will vary. Not a substitute for investment advice or legal advice. You are on your own — we are just sharing information.**

Long Game Idea 1: Megacryptopolis

I shared my predictions with my buddy Von Likenstien from VRUoT. I was most curious about my timeline, as I said that Megacryptopolis (NOTE: THAT’S AN AFFILIATE LINK) was going to be huge BUT it’s going to take a year.

Did he agree? And how does Megacryptopolis compare with Decentraland — that other interesting land-grab style virtual world game that became rather large a couple years back?

“The big difference,” he told me, “is that, instead of depending on novice programmers to build the system, MCP3D is a complete, robust system. Plus, its economy is closer to that of the Sims.” Taxation is another element that is well thought out in MCP3D, according to Von.

#MCP3D
Here’s what it looks like in part of the MegaCryptoPolis.

From my perch: I am really new to the virtual world thing, and I never really played the Sims. Nor did I get on board with whatever that virtual world was several years back (must have been huge, right? I forget the name). But there’s something intuitive about the virtual world of Megacryptopolis. And the idea of millions of Chinese users having access to the game on their mobile phones this fall is extremely compelling.

Time Horizon: Probably a Year.

Long Game Idea 2: NFT Artwork and Collectibles

This idea isn’t just one site to visit, it’s an entire concept: Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Artwork and Collectibles.

This particular subject came up when Von and I were trading notes about CryptoSkulls — likely because he sent me a message and said “get on this, bro.” So I did, and ended up with my very own CryptoSkull.

CryptoSkull 1343

When I asked Von about my CryptoSkull, here was his response:

OpenSea is where a lot of these things get traded, and the fact that it’s a non-fungible token means that it’s really tough to counterfeit.

As always, with these types of things, you’ll use a tool like Metamask and your ETH will be safe (provided you keep track of your seed phrase and guard everything rather diligently).

Beyond CryptoSkulls, there are CryptoKitties and even the pets that come as part of your Citizen packs on Megacryptopolis.

Time Horizon: Immediate (ish*) to Two Years

*the reason we said “ish” up there is that, if you want to trade these things and try to make a buck or two, you most certainly can. OpenSea is one place to do trading — but it’s sorta thinly traded right now.

Long Game Idea 3: ENS

Ethereum Name Service is more than just a new top-level domain for the web. In fact, the TLD component is coming later — a year and a half away, according to Von — because the real reason behind ENS is to allow people to send crypto (Ethereum and ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens) to each other without having to type out a really long address.

Here’s a long address from one of my accounts:

0xD0f4c9280D87ae84c2590164FA089487615Fb1c8

And here’s an ENS “shortener” for it:

jaimedimon.eth

(Yes, I know that Jamie Dimon spells his name “Jamie,” this misspelling was done for a variety of reasons, mostly for humor.)

Some of the domains are already trading, and it’s highly possible that big banks will want their own ENS, for defensive reasons and also to get into the crypto game easily.

Time Horizon: Immediate (flipping/trading) to Two Years

Long Game Idea 4: Urbit

When Von told me about this one, he said “it might blow your mind.” Honestly, it kinda did.

The primer on the Urbit site will tell you more — and it is quite clever — but it’s likely you may not totally understand exactly what they are doing here. (I sure didn’t at first glance. Or at second glance. I’m getting there, though…)

TL;DR from the site: it’s a completely different network of computers, of the internet, of the web. It has the potential to change the world of the web as you know it.

Galaxies are the big hubs — there are a small number of them — then stars, then planets (the addresses on which you build what appears to be your own personal server and bot machine thing). (Again, I’m not a programmer — so I’m trying to translate this from technical into not-so-technical.)

(If you believe the naysayers: this whole idea has taken forever and hasn’t gone anywhere in a dozen-plus years, so why bother.)

Me? I figured (again thanks to Von) that the thing I should do is at least get one of these limited-edition planet things and see what happens. Because there won’t be a ton of them; and each one not only has its own unique name (ours is ~larwyn-tadlen) but its own SYMBOL.

One of those green things could control your toaster someday.

In any event, this one won’t take off for some time — but, in case it does, we’ve at least been part of one of the early land grabs. The network effect here might mean that we’re A FEW YEARS from these things taking hold and being used by the masses. Still, for what was an inexpensive investment for now (less than a cup of coffee), it’s possible that you could see one of those symbols on the cover of a magazine at an airport with the caption of “you could have bought this for two dollars in 2019, now it’s worth a million.” (That year could be 2049, though.)

Time Horizon: Five years, at least.

So there you have it: ideas for you to play the long game with. Some may seem out there, tougher to grasp than the “buy gold” or “have you heard about pork bellies?” ideas of yesteryear. A chance for you to start playing the long game.

Written by David Van de Walle · Categorized: Blockchain Startups, Investing, Uncategorized · Tagged: cryptoskulls, ENS, long game, NFT, NFT Artwork, Urbit

Mar 20 2018

How To Give Your Blockchain Startup A Chance

Blockchain StartupsWe’re well beyond the tipping point: blockchain startups are now everywhere, and ICOs are the new way to get funding for your product or service. We’re not going to talk you out of launching, then, but we will try, with this blog post, to give you at least a little tough love. We’re not going to discuss the price of bitcoin today, and we’re not going to dive in on which cryptocurrencies have the potential to go 10x. What we are going to do is this:

We’ll tell you how to give your blockchain startup a chance.

Before we start, a quick primer: “blockchain” refers to digital ledger technology that keeps a record of cryptocurrency transactions. Think of a network of computers that all have the same notebook, and when that notebook gets updated on one computer, and that update is verified as actually having happened by a couple more computers, the notebook’s contents are broadcast to a whole bunch of computers at once.

“Blocks” of transaction code is kept together in a “chain,” and that chain can’t be changed once it is verified. Thus, the blockchain.

Here at Metacoin, we’ve been blogging about bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and the blockchain for more than a year (!!!), and we recently started to consult with companies that are in this space on how best to communicate their message and market their product. So we decided it was time, maybe, to offer a little bit of advice – not just from the year-plus in this space, but from Dave’s 20-plus years in marketing and communications.

But…Why Today’s Post?

Being up front and honest with you, one thing “triggered” today’s post: the launch of a blockchain-enabled interface by Whenhub, the startup founded by the ubiquitous persuasion guru Scott Adams. Since his correct prediction of the election of Donald Trump in 2016, much more attention has been paid to Scott’s work as a prognosticator.

But it seems as if he’s been talking about Whenhub for a LONG time now – they’ve been solving problems for a while. Is this a case of “put it on the blockchain” – or a modern version of “we need a web strategy,” or “we need a cloud strategy”?

Digging around more than a little on the site this morning – it appears that the blockchain interface thingamajig is brand new – tells me that…NO, this is not just a blatant attempt to borrow the latest corporate buzzword and leverage crypto mania to get rich. This – and a couple others we’ll talk about – use the blockchain in ways for which it was designed, thus giving this particular blockchain startup a chance at success. Here’s our three-part sniff test:

1. Does It Solve An Actual Problem?

This is really almost stupid-simple: someone needs an expert to answer a problem, provide advice or counsel, of strategize with. As opposed to posting a project and looking for someone and wading through proposals, you just go to the site, find someone whose rates match your budget and whose experience matches what you’re after, and you transact business.

Whenhub answers the question that one of my business mentors used to ask all the time: “what business problem are you trying to solve?”

We’ve met others as we talk about helping them with their marketing and communications issues, and we can tell you that the above is likely the biggest question they should ask.

For instance, one group solving an actual problem is Medcredits – access to doctors and nurses globally can be tough; vetting those service providers and verifying their licensure is also pretty important. They’re solving an actual problem (or two or three, in fact), so their success – while not assured – is a lot more likely than a lot of others in this space.

2. Does It Use the Blockchain – And Use It Effectively?

One of the hurdles for bitcoin is that people are slow to actually use it. Go ask friends: “own any bitcoin?” Then ask them what they use it for. You’ll either get the “it’s an investment” answer, or you’ll get something like “it’s digital gold!” Few people will tell you that they pay their service providers with it.

But bitcoin is blockchain-enabled – more accurately, bitcoin invented the blockchain – so there’s where your focus should be with your ICO or blockchain startup. Blockchain(s) – there are many of them, but we’ll use the singular term to talk about the technology – are supposed to make life easier, and make transactions more secure, with the lack of a single point of failure.

Another term that’s an offshoot of this technology: Ethereum’s “smart contract” concept. It is just like it sounds: certain actions happen, certain conditions are met, a smart contract is executed, and a transaction takes place. (If A takes place then B takes place, C amount of money gets sent to account D.)

Whenhub uses smart contracts – and those smart contracts, coupled with what appear to be the “A” above (service provider is available) and the “B” (consumer purchases time with service provider discussing the issue or problem), ensure that the transaction takes place.

This is an effective use of blockchain technology – increasing this startup’s chances.

3. Does the Use of the Blockchain Decrease Friction?

Friction is a pain, and this is why people loved the Starbucks app when it launched, and love the pre-order and pickup functions just as much, if not more. Humans, sadly, cause friction just by being humans. (Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-hour Workweek, champions anything in business that “takes humans out of the equation.” There are issues with this long-term, but those issues can possibly be solved by a new batch of young, eager, humans developing frictionless computer programs and blockchain systems.)

The thought of a drive to a strip mall to sit down with an expert might give some hives; a frictionless meeting over the phone with a one-on-one conversation removes a good chunk of that friction.

Think of the other ways that the blockchain can potentially reduce friction: billing and payments are automatic and smart contract-enabled. Licensure or certifications can be verified in moments and the computer won’t go down (because there’s not one computer but potentially thousands, or tens of thousands, that verify the license and keep a record of it).

The possibilities are endless.

BONUS POINTS:

Don’t ignore whether or not your name and your own lingo help a lot or are barriers to your success.

Here’s where Whenhub’s use of alliteration and naming score some serious persuasion points, thus increasing their chance of success. Credits are called “WHEN” and the network – “Whenhub Interface Network” – is called “WIN.” When do you need it? Is it a win? You could go on and on and on, but just saying those words out loud either answer the question of how real-time effective it could be: “WHEN? RIGHT NOW!!!” or they tell you that the site is a “Win!”

Rivetz is another one we met somewhat recently – you may not care to know all the details behind how they do what they do, but if you imagine a rivet being tightened to secure something in place…hey, I wonder if they are involved in cybersecurity at all? (Do you have a mental image of rivets tightening something? Even better if it’s Rosie the Riveter in your head.)

One of the coins we work with at Metacoin is POW (that’s a REFERRAL LINK and you should get some, claim some free if you haven’t claimed some yet); cryptocurrency enthusiasts will note that POW stands for “proof of work” and will argue that POW isn’t really a proof of work coin. The masses – the real target for the business – will only say “hey, let me send you 5000 POW for yesterday’s coffee.” (And yes, the founders of POW are hoping that someday they’ll be talked about like the “Bitcoin Pizza” is talked about.) Alliteration does not hurt, easy to remember helps quite a bit – and you’ll find that a lot of consumers just want to know if your coin or token is worth something.

Can We Help?

Yes, we’re here to help. If you need help answering the above questions with your blockchain startup, let us know. If you have answered those questions but are currently stuck, let us know that, too.

Thanks for reading.

Written by David Van de Walle · Categorized: Blockchain Startups, POW Token, Rivetz, Whenhub

Apr 20 2017

Sikoba Launching as Peer-to-Peer IOU Platform

SikobaWelcome to the brave new world of blockchain startups, where ideas range from the straightforward to the esoteric to the “what IS that?” Different angles toward distributed ledger technology, different industries impacted, and different levels of buzz, all in one emerging, exciting, and sometimes downright crazy industry.

So we thought we’d talk about one of the ideas that falls into the “straightforward” category: a company called Sikoba, whose ICO we started tracking a couple weeks ago here on the site. (And, of course, if you’re part of an ICO or blockchain startup, reach out! We’d love to hear from you. Info – at metacoin – dot – co.)

Don’t Call it a “Lending Platform”

When we caught up with Sikoba CEO Aleksander Kampa over email, we were very quickly corrected on one point: Sikoba is not a peer-to-peer lending platform. Here’s more:

Metacoin: Please give us your elevator pitch.

Kampa: Sikoba is a decentralised money platform based on peer-to-peer IOUs and built on blockchain technology. Participants who know and trust each other in real life grant each other credit lines in the Sikoba system. They can then pay each other without using fiat money. These peer-to-peer credit relationships are governed by contracts with specific conditions, fee structures and repayment rules. Using credit conversion, a kind of configurable rippling, payments between participants who do not trust each other become possible. Fiat money or cryptocurrencies are used when there are no credit links between participants, or to repay outstanding balances when needed.

Metacoin: How is Sikoba different than btcjam or other peer-to-peer lending platforms?

Kampa: Sikoba is not a peer-to-peer lending platform! It is a peer-to-peer IOU platform, which allows payments to be made without having money (whether fiat, crypto or any other asset) to begin with. 

Metacoin: Why is blockchain technology needed?

Kampa: Sikoba is being designed as a decentralised system with the goal of eventually becoming independent and self-organising. Blockchain technology will make this possible.

Metacoin: What is the consensus model of your chain? (if applicable)

Kampa: We’re designing the Sikoba blockchain as a “federated blockchain”. This is a permissioned mining model where only authorized nodes add blocks to the blockchain. The Sikoba federation will be self-governing, meaning that members will be added or removed from the federation based on votes of the federation members themselves.

Metacoin: What are the tokens people get for participating?

Kampa: Following the presale, Sikoba presale tokens will be issued on the Ethereum blockchain. They will eventually become exchangeable into Sikoba (SKO) tokens, which will be used to pay for transaction fees on the Sikoba network.

Metacoin: When exactly does the sale start?

Kampa: The pre-allocation phase has started on 17 March 2017, the public presale will start on 25 April.

Metacoin: When will the token be released to participants?

Kampa: Sikoba presale tokens are expected to be released by the end of June 2017. Participants will receive usable Sikoba tokens when the Sikoba platform launches, which is expected in 3Q2018.

Metacoin: What is the current state of your project?

Kampa: We are a technical team of 3 people, plus several people providing support on a part-time basis (Ethereum coding, admin, legal). Sikoba is still at the concept stage, elements of technical documentation exist but are as yet incomplete. With the funds raised in the presale, we aim to expand the team, finalize a detailed white paper and develop a MVP before the end of the year.

Where to find info…

You can check out the Sikoba Presale Page to learn more. Sikoba is also on Twitter.

Kampa is pretty active on Medium, and you can see his take on “replacing banks” here.

Written by David Van de Walle · Categorized: Blockchain Startups, ICO · Tagged: ico, presale, sikoba

Mar 31 2017

Bitbond: It’s like Prosper, or LendingClub, but with Bitcoin

As we continue looking around the universe for Bitcoin and altcoin uses in the real world, we stumbled upon a site called Bitbond.

Bitbond(So if you think “Hey, I’ve got a great idea…” they’ve already checked that particular box.)

Peer-to-peer lending has been around for a little while, and two titans of this space are names you’ve likely heard of: Prosper and LendingClub.

Bitbond uses the same principle to let you use your Bitcoin as…principal. (That’s if you have Bitcoin to lend.) If you want to borrow, then there’s that, too – which the site says is ideally suited for folks like eBay power sellers.

If it sounds legit, well, it IS legit. Bitbond has been around since 2013 – see the complete write-up on Crunchbase – and they recently secured Series A funding north of 1000 BTC. (See what we did there?)

Is this better than the Shark Lady’s loan site?

This question is for the small business owners out there – and you know the site I’m talking about. The one that that lady from that show recommends. The only one she would use if she were looking for money.

Well, it quite possibly might be a process improvement. The Bitbond site walks you through what to expect once you’ve been funded. You have to work with an exchange, so you’re going to want to be sure it’s one that people have used for deposits and withdrawals and done so without fail.

And you’re subject to the credit check of Bitbond; given the fact this is a global and “bank-free” site, it’s still a question mark as to how that works.

Bitbond ScreenshotRates start at 7.7% and you can have your money in as little as five days.

Bitcoin and altcoin traders…

This also looks like a decent spot to put your coins to work, and – this could be big if you don’t have the stomach for wild mood swings – avoid the dips of your Bitcoin. (I mean, really, we’re talking about something that’s still rather volatile, right?)

The site tells us you can earn “13% interest.” That might sound too good to be true – or it might also sound paltry when compared to the day-trading gains you COULD make from trading the 100% gain du jour altcoin.

That’s up to you.

Other companies will follow…

Let’s think macro for a second. You’ve got the desire to move away from the traditional banking system, and you’ve got banks hustling to employ their own blockchain and cryptocurrency strategies. Plus you’ve got people thinking “OMG, the GOVERNMENT!!!!” or people worried about taxes or people worried about the trillions of dollars in derivatives that could implode any second now.

It makes sense, then, that borrrowing and lending will move this direction – outside the traditional brick-and-mortar, and traditional Central Bank mentality.

And if you look at this site – which is cool as heck – you’ll see that Bitcoin is just a small sliver of the overall pie.

Bottom line: more of this, please. Innovation in all stripes, thanks to blockchain technology.

Bitbond

Written by David Van de Walle · Categorized: Blockchain Startups, Lending · Tagged: Bitbond, Lending

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