How to Still Yourself When the Bulls Rush
Written for friends new to the crypto markets.
Everything is going to go up now.
In a bull market, it’s easy to win. Buy some coins from the list of DeFi projects, check your portfolio every few days, and smile.
What’s more fun, educational, exciting — and, perhaps most importantly, lets you sleep well at night — is finding the right projects. The ones that are worthwhile regardless of the bull market, that would provide use even outside of the craziness, and that will still go up — and possibly much more than all the other shitcoins — with the rush.
The questions I’d love for us all to consider and research are:
1) Which of these projects have real fundamentals? A team pushing then to succeed as businesses and not just as hype-machines? A product-market fit? User adoption and growth? Put on your VC hat and do some research.
2) Which of these tokens are tied to the performance of the project? Does the token provide any commitment or promise of future value? Does it grow directly based on the success of the product (ala NXM, SNX, BNT, LEND, YFI) and its network effects? Is the token essentially a share, signifying a slice of revenue? (and bonus: a say in the way the project manages itself?)
3) Are the tokenomics sound? Are you being used to allow the first investors and the team to exit without ever creating anything beyond a whitepaper or a storefront, or do the percentages and vesting schedules look fair, promising years of dedication to the project?
4) Lastly,
A few of these tokens are going to be valued at tens of $billions in terms of marketcap as the bull cycle reaches its crescendo. How do we identify these projects and come along for the ride? Which are the most important, vision-filled, impactful, space-defining, projects available? Which are just elaborate ponzi schemes and money-chicken games?
It’s easy to throw money at a bunch of buzz-y tokens and have them grow, but it’s much more dangerous — both in terms of the downside ( — losing _everything_ when it turns out to be a scam, the team fizzles out, or the bull market runs out of juice and everything crashes) and in missing out on the real upside as the market weeds these worthless projects out.
Perhaps more importantly, the mental and emotional quietness this attitude provides is priceless. It leaves precious space available for continuing to play the game right… and to rest well outside of it.
We want to hold the tokens that are going to increase in value sustainably, with less risk, and built on strong foundations.
Further, if we all support the projects that answer these criteria, the entire space benefits. Real innovation happens, scams don’t get headlines, and everybody wins — even those who haven’t invested, when these new technologies are made available for all.
