A Case for MADANA

I’d like to start off by saying that this is not investment advice. This is purely my opinion as a cryptocurrency investor, enthusiast, and supporter. Having been in the space for quite some time now, I have had the great benefit of learning from some amazing people in this space, and found great value in looking for projects that have intelligent token models which have a clear plan for supply and demand. Let’s be honest, not every project needs a token in this space. We’ve seen a large number of “cash-grabs” lately with ICOs, and while it’s no secret I am a fan of the Lisk ecosystem, it’s not “just loyalty” that has me excited about MADANA, the first major ICO on the Lisk Network.

A Utility Token?

Before I even consider owning a utility token, I will often ask myself several questions. Starting with, what will this token be used for? Will I use this token for its intended purpose, and is there any value to holding this outside of the network use? In order to answer these questions, a keen understanding of the token economics is required. We often hear the acronym DYOR (do your own research), and as cliché as it sounds, one must take the time to really dig in and understand exactly what is going on under the hood. If available, a tokenomics paper is a great place to start to be able to determine important factors, such as supply and demand.

Here is a link to the MADANA Tokenonmics Paper, which I will be referencing for this article.

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The Problem

“MADANA is tackling the problems of modern digital society in the means of personal data control and privacy. More specifically, MADANA addresses the related discrepancy of fair revenue generation and distribution of the created data for the data originator (herein called data producer). In addition, the heavily monopolized data market lacks open platform alternatives that provide data analysis specialists (institutional or private, herein called plug-in provider) with a way to offer and monetize their knowledge to a broader pool of parties interested in data analysis insights (herein referred to as data analysis buyer). Generally speaking, there is no system that allows for insights into data without giving it away. And certainly, there is no solution for monetizing the data on micro transaction scale for the originator.” Page 2 MADANA Tokenomics Paper

Simply put: there is a problem with the way our data is procured and sold, and there is no current solution to pay the very people who create this valuable asset. Right now, we have a system where data is bought and sold with little regard to privacy. Additionally, there are no incentives in place to pay the data producers any of their share for the estimated 42 billion dollars in revenue they will create this year. (Source: Statista)

Why MADANA?

On page 3 of the Tokenomics paper, the economy is outlined in great detail. One of the most beautiful things about blockchain and cryptocurrencies, is that most of them are decentralized, borderless, and permissionless. No longer does infrastructure that plagues so many traditional companies inhibit the ability for innovative ideas to flourish, thanks to blockchain. MADANA is creating an open marketplace where data producers (us), plug-in providers (data scientists), and data buyers (businesses) can come together and transact safely, efficiently, and directly with one another. Not only does MADANA enable regular people like you or I to monetize our valuable data, but because of their patented technology, our data can now be processed with no risk to our privacy. All of our private and sensitive information is destroyed inside the “trusted execution environment” (TEE) after the data is processed.

I believe in open markets, as competition tends to drive down prices. Now, we see a new dynamic to the way data is bought and sold, only this time, the “little guy” isn’t being left behind.

Why PAX?

PAX is simply the payment vehicle in which the services will be bought and sold with. It is the only cryptocurrency this ecosystem is designed to run on, and will be the sole form of payment within the MADANA ecosystem.

“The usage of PAX can be described pretty simply as mentioned above. PAX is the only cryptocurrency that executes the smart contracts on the MADANA platform. It is used as the main payment vehicle in the ecosystem as well as to vote on data models.” Page 5 MADANA Tokenomics Paper

What about demand though?

I mentioned demand before, and I wanted to point out, that just because something is a “cool” idea doesn’t make it a wise business model. It has to make sense. Why would I want to hold a utility token? Where’s the incentive? That’s the key, and in my opinion, is what sets the best apart from the rest. The MADANA team is comprised of veterans in this space who have thought things through and through, and its something I deeply respect about them. Experience goes a long way in this space as you come to learn what works, and what doesn’t.

Token Velocity

MADANA has some very interesting techniques to incentivize holding their tokens. The first one is a concept called token velocity. On a simple, fundamental level, this just is a way to attract everyone that uses the ecosystem into holding their tokens longer in order to reduce sell pressure. As we know, when demands outweighs supply, generally the price is reflected and the market cap grows, thus creating positive exposure for the platform.

“Token velocity means nothing other than the frequency of transactions resulting in a sell pressure situation for the cryptocurrency. It is preferred to keep the velocity low to have the demand overweighting the supply on exchanges. Therefore the HT (Hold Time) of the ecosystem participants who are the primary PAX input forces to exchanges (data producer, plug-in provider, APE) must increase. In the following, we examine the HT incentives of these participants.” Page 8 MADANA Tokenomics Paper

In addition to having the tokens in their wallet longer, participants who have larger balances will be considered first. This is a great method for creating scarcity within the ecosystem, as it incentivizes large numbers of tokens to be locked up and out of circulation. Supply and demand.

“Those who have a higher balance will be prioritized, meaning that as long as the data producer accumulates PAX in his wallet, he will participate in more analysis requests and earn even more PAX — in contrast to those who liquidate their PAX immediately after receiving it. This mechanism reduces the overall token velocity, as the data producer is incentivized to hold on his earning to improve his match probability.” Page 9 MADANA Tokenomics Paper

Utility working for you

Utility has to make sense, and something I look for is if the actual utility of the token drives the economy to be used. Nodes and incentives are a great way to do so when they’re done intelligently. In order to even participate in the MADANA economy, you automatically benefit from having and using PAX tokens. For example:

PAX can be utilized as another deposit measure. Data producers are rewarded by an incentive system when they provide quality datasets. The incentive system allows the data producer to nearly double the revenue from a particular dataset as compared to a respective lower reputated dataset. The data producer would need to make a small deposit on every dataset he connects to the MADANA platform.

You have to spend money to make money! Not only does this weed out some of the lower quality participants from spamming the ecosystem, but it also keeps tokens off the sell side of the order books. The more tokens out of circulation, the better. Well played.

It will also cost plug-in providers to create the plug-ins for the data processing. This is considered an investment, as these plugins have the potential to generate revenue, but is another demand factor in the ecosystem (see top of page 11).

Lock them up!

This is probably my favorite way to create scarcity because not only does this create an ecosystem I want to be a part of, it also helps secure the network, creates a stream of revenue, and creates demand. NODES. MADANA’s potential plan is to allow nodes to give their processing power to the network in return for PAX. In order to even run a node, you have to lock up a large number of tokens. Additionally, this is where token velocity will come into play as well, because the nodes who’ve held the largest number of coins, for the longest amount of time will be selected first. This will create competition, thus keeping large amounts of coins out of circulation. I personally will support this strategy, and if you agree, then join the MADANA Telegram and let the team know!

“APEs could be regulated by letting them deposit a considerable amount of PAX and putting it at stake. If the APE fails to deliver the correct processing of the analysis, it would, as a result, lose its deposit to successful APEs. This way, more and more PAX get locked up as the network grows and the demand for analysis processing rises. To participate in more valuable analyses (which may require a larger deposit), the APE therefore is assumed to have a constant need in PAX to process more or more valuable work. This increases the HT in his earnings and thus reduces token velocity” Page 11 MADANA Tokenomics Paper

Final Thoughts

In an effort to keep this blog as concise as I can, I’ve tried to keep this as short as possible. I encourage you to read the paper for yourself and get a deeper understanding of why I feel this platform is a gem, and has immense potential to grow in use and market cap. There are numerous factors at play, and I have not listed them all here. The team has the expertise and experience to truly build something spectacular here. Don’t take my word for it. Do your homework!

Lisk is an epicenter of innovation, and MADANA is just one of the fantastic ideas to come from it. I believe supporting projects like MADANA will only benefit the entire ecosystem as a whole, so remember to spread the word!

Cheers! —

William Ryan — MADANA USA Ambassador