Switch AMA with Alex Masmej, $ALEX — RECAP — 06/20
Introduction —
My name is $ALEX Masmej, as my name indicates I created my personal token $ALEX. A personal token is when you create a crypto currency directly tied to yourself.
I’ve done many things with that token:
- I raised $20,000 back in March selling 1M tokens to move to SF :us:
- I’m letting people vote on my daily habit in July 🗳
- I also have a private chat @ALEX_WHALE_BOT where a bot checks if you have $ALEX 🤖
- You can tweet from my account with $ALEX :bird:
- I also have a monthly newsletter on my life, unlimited access for 6,000 $ALEX alexmasmej.substack.com :e-mail:
Before that I built projets on Ethereum using many primitives, like DAO, DeFi, NFT, etc.
1st round —
Q1) As the first ever person to do a human token sale on Ethereum, I must commend you for such a unique idea. Can you tell us what inspired you to start this and what assured you that it will be a success?
Alex Masmej: Thank you!! What inspired me is ISA, or Income Sharing Agreements.
I actually didn’t know it would be so successful. It was very stressful when I first unveiled it, but fortunately the response was awesome! I sold 20k USD 5 days later :)
Q2) I am an experienced developer, how easy is it to create your own digital currency and have people speculate on it. What programming tools and languages are available to do this?
Alex Masmej: It’s super easy. It’s just a ERC-20. No frameworks has been created.
If you don’t code, tryroll.com can help you too. :)
Q3) How did you come with the concept (what are your sources and inspirations) and what encouraged you to start this journey, also how did you think it would have what it takes to be a successful one?
Alex Masmej: I thought being a bit popular was enough, and it proved to be true. If you have enough people willing to back you, it will work.
I’m not a superstar, so I’m a proof that you don’t need a big community to succeed.
Q4) Can you tell us what makes your concept different from that of Mike Merrill who did this back in 2008, with questions such as “Should I marry my girlfriend?” another, James Gallagher that let people choose his diet? They all seems somewhat similar to me
Alex Masmej: I like both of them! I got to meet them.
The difference is that I use crypto: it’s much less work to create my token versus what they had to do!
Q5) Apart from voting on life choices, which am not too keen on as an investors, what is the other profitable utility and real life use case and application of ALEX tokens, what are the incentives and benefits for me to invest
Alex Masmej: I can have 1:1 meetings with you, Do user testing, you can tweet from my account, I can advise you and I can do freelance work. These are some utility I can accept if I want.
Q6) Asides voting, what other things can $ALEX can be used for? And what do I get for voting with $ALEX token?
Alex Masmej: Voting was just a fun mechanism to get people who hold the token to decide on my life. They don’t get anything, but they don’t pay anything either: it’s free! All you do is sign a message proving you own $ALEX on Ethereum.
Q7) Why $Alex token will help in adoption of crypto especially in developing countries & what’s the main idea behind Alex token??
Alex Masmej: In developing countries, this could be great as there is a lack of capital. I’m French, which isn’t a developing country, but it still helped me: out of the $20,000 I raised, almost all the money was from outside France! Fundraising from anywhere when people believe in you will become a game changer.
Q8) On one of your Twitter post, you said “DeFi right now is almost a perfect blend of capitalism and altruism”. What do you mean by this, can you please expantiate further?
Alex Masmej: Sure! DeFi makes money when you create the protocol, like a startup. But then, you don’t sell it to another private company, you sell it to the public! So the public will keep the fees relatively cheap and everyone benefits, so it’s more altruist while still rewarding the creators!
Q9) As a $ALEX holder, what’s a good frequency of information/engagement?
Alex Masmej: I would say at least monthly for those who read my $ALEX newsletter ;)
Q10) According to your medium article, everyday you publish your daily tasks proof on your telegram channel. But Why it is only accessible for ALEX token Holder? Is it a technique of selling your token or there is another reason of putting such condition?
Alex Masmej: Because I want people to have skin in the game in my life! Don’t choose what I do if you don’t believe in me, or don’t want me to succeed!
Second round —
Q11) What is so special of your project compared to others? Why we have to hold your coin?
Alex Masmej: There’s almost no projects like me. The closest one are $KERMAN, which is a freelancer and not an entrepreneur, and $WHALE, who has a NFT collection. The ecosystem is still very nascent!
Q12) What types of ROLES can participants play in $ALEX project and how can they earn REPUTATION? Also is it possible to buy it?
Alex Masmej: No reputation possible, you either hold or not. The only difference is that 30 people participated in my token sale, so they will receive my income every quarter. But apart from those, everyone is the same :)
Q13) Adoption & Awareness about platform is very important for any creator as well as users! so what are your plans to attract more users as well as creators with non-crypto users too on #ALEX ?
Alex Masmej: I agree! Great question, I think we have to make this as easy as possible. Here are some things to improve on my token for future creators:
Private payments
Private transactions
Buy with $ and not $ETH
Make it user friendly and fun
Q14) How is alex income generated?
Alex Masmej: My income is currently generated from the $ALEX market makers, crypto speculation, and my freelance work. Eventually, my income will be generated with the salary of my venture/backed startup
Q15) Is there a way to choose the options ourselves or are they chosen in advance by you, Alex?
Alex Masmej: I choose in advance. When I say « Control my life », you control what I choose, And I think it’s just standard for every personal token that you have to AGREE. This is not slavery, even though people own my token I do what I want with it and I can refuse anything if I want to. It’s about creating more financial freedom, not less!
Round 3 —
Alex Masmej asked the Switch community “Would you do your own personal token, and what feature would you give to people who own it?”
The answer chosen by alex said —
I’d love to do my own token for education with some features such as:
- Go Abroad
- Transfer money from parents to their children abroad
- Discount fee for learning
That’s the recap of Alex Masmej’s AMA on Switch, if you liked his project and his answers you can follow him on his Twitter @AlexMasmej.
We also listed $ALEX as a default token on SwitchDex.ag! Check the market side of our decentralized exchange to trade $ALEX with no KYC or any restriction.
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