Decentralization is THE crown jewel that blockchain has. Otherwise, you can do almost everything that crypto does with an Excel spreadsheet, and at a fraction of the price
Once we lose decentralization it rarely (if ever) recovers
4/ Reason 2: Sunk-Cost Fallacy
Big projects occasionally come across some obstacle that they can’t defeat
Leaders make it a point of pride to overcome them and waste a lot of effort on these crusades. This often leads them to overcommit and put what they’ve built in jeopardy
5/ Napoleon in Russia
If I sense Cardano has entered into a huge fight it can’t possibly win, while throwing good money after bad, trying to win the war, I’ll exit
For example, if Cardano antagonizes China over data management solutions in Africa
6/ Reason 3: Change in Culture
Cardano is one of the few projects that understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’s a painstakingly long process that needs care and deliberation at every step.
If the community values short term gains over results & tech, that’s a red flag!
7/ Reason 4: Token Shenanigans
I don’t want things like token burning, “taxes” designed to limit transaction numbers or sales, punishing lockup periods or any sneaky token sleight of hand to pump up the TVL (looking at you Luna)
If Cardano starts with any such nonsense, I’m out
8/ Why token shenanigans are bad
These are all measures meant to artificially increase the token price, or stop it from falling too much.
If ADA wants any hope of becoming a widely accepted currency, then it must not impose artificial boundaries on people’s transactions
9/ Reason 5: It Becomes Overly Political
A recent trend, especially in Catalyst proposals, is to make measures overly political statements instead of focusing on utility and practicality
If this becomes normal, it will result in infighting which will constantly undercut Cardano
10/ Reason 6: IOHK doesn’t relinquish the crown
IOHK calls the shots but they’re supposed to let go of the reins and let the community take charge in the near future
If this doesn’t happen within the next few years, it’s a cause for some concern
11/Reason 7: Institutions gain control of Cardano
Whether it’s huge financial players taking a dominant ADA stake, or outright buying critical Cardano infrastructure, it’s not good news
Since we’re not their shareholders, we’re seen as disposable and exploitable resources
12/Reason 8: Something better appears
In a space as fast-moving as crypto, there may be something that is objectively better and more exciting than Cardano
Cardano's code and research are open source after all, and thus competitors can learn lessons without incurring great cost
13/ Reason 9: Regulatory and tax landscape makes it impossible to hold
I won’t risk jail or incur tremendous costs when dealing with my investments. So while perhaps the protocols would survive, I’ll take the coward’s way out and not have to deal with severe punishments.
14/ Reason 10: I hit my price targets
I might not sell everything, but if 2/3 of my portfolio can produce a high enough dividend yield when put into a boring broad stock market index to be able to support me, I’ll sell 66% of my portfolio, and leave the other third riding on ADA
15/Taking Profits
I don’t believe in bagholding to the moon. If you’ve hit your targets, take profits, even if we’ve barely left the stratosphere
Remember crypto is VERY speculative
Index funds will protect your wealth, and give an expected yearly ROI of 8% with 3% dividends
16/Conclusion
Cardano is an investment, not a religion. I’m willing to sell if there’s enough cause to do so
Don’t let others pressure you into keeping something you’re no longer comfortable with. But don’t sell in the face of every bad news
Know the worth of your investments!
17/Addendum
To borrow a phrase by the Poet John Keats, these investment rules are “writ in water.”
There may be mitigating circumstances if/when these circumstances occur, but they will serve as major red flags for me to consider whether I ought to finally sell.
18/Shilling
If you liked this, please consider giving a follow. I write one large thread a week, which looks at crypto from a completely different POV
I then convert these threads to full-blown articles with greater depth and evidence on Medium
At the time of writing, the crypto markets look worse than they have looked in a while. Crypto is likely, for the first time in its history, to experience an economic recession and increasing interest rates.
This has prompted critics to say that “crypto is dead!”
2/ The Apocalypse is happening
Now, I’m not gonna bullshit you, the markets are nuking and we’re in for a world of hurt. But the logical inference that because the price is lower it’s over for crypto, is a fundamental misunderstanding of the tech and its role in the economy.
Catalyst is often jokingly referred to as Cardano’s VC, as it aims to collect a portion of fees generated from each transaction and use that money to fund projects that are beneficial to the community.
A funding round for Project Catalyst happens around every 6 weeks.
2/ Purpose
Catalyst is still in an experimental phase where its operating procedure is subject to change considerably
But it ultimately seeks to be a means by which to fund projects that help the Cardano ecosystem, irrespective of whether or not they’re necessarily profitable
Sorry to the people I tagged on the thread, I don’t mean you specifically, or anyone else in the audience.
I’m sure you’re all lovely and smart people😳
I’m referring to the average Joe and his habits, how despite his best intentions, he might be destined to fail
2/ Intro
If you’re under 40 you have likely never been invested during a deep recession.
We all collectively believe we’re much better at making money than we really are, it’s just that until recently we’ve had the longest bull-run in recorded history.
Sitting Tight - February 2022 Crypto On-Chain Digest
This report is an analysis of various on-chain metrics for #Bitcoin, #Ethereum and #Cardano which show a bearish trend for the markets and what its ongoing effects might be 0/6
Most important info 1/X
Throughout February, Crypto was going out of exchanges, which would imply people intended to HODL. Now though, exchanges are minorly receiving more crypto than is leaving, so people are more likely to sell their holdings. However, this trend is lessening with each passing day 2/X
Over 90% of my net worth is in ADA at the time of writing. I believe in the project enough to more or less work full-time on it.
That said, I believe anyone that invests in an asset should be able to play devil’s advocate against it if they really understand it.
2⃣ASS COVERING
I am going to be uncharitable in my assessment of both Cardano and its community. I don’t do this out of malice, but out of an attempt to temper some of the over-optimism native to Twitter that I’m sure has led people to overleverage and go bankrupt