Intro
Hey everyone. I just wanted to make a quick article addressing recent (maybe even not so-recent) sentiment surrounding ICX. As always, this is not financial advice but just genuinely my own thoughts and opinion. Just wanted to get it out there that unlike my previous posts, this one’s less of an analysis and more of a short rant on perspective. Without further ado, lets dive right in.
Tempering Expectations
I hate to be that guy, but I do think the record needs to be set straight. I see many people in the community with a sense of entitlement because they put money into crypto and thus, that makes them “investors” to the project. This is certainly not the case at all and these individuals are at the end of the day, still speculators. This isn’t the stock market with clear regulatory and compliance oversight, where shareholders have legal protection for said company to do what’s best in their investors’ interests. You should let that sink in for a moment. You’re going to be much more vulnerable in this space and should tread carefully and accordingly. There’s a reason why there’s so much emphasis about cryptocurrency being a risky endeavor and you’re subject to heavy losses. Whatever happens, it’s all on you.
The ICON team isn’t looking at ICON via 3 month timeframe, they are looking at long term prospects of years. This means from the team’s perspective when making decisions, they have to make decisions that are best for ICON in the long term even if it may change their initial plans.
Marketing: The hero we deserve but not the one we need?
Marketing is yet another area we hear about the most and I have my mixed opinions on this matter. Do I think ICON should showcase more about their premise and the potential they offer? Absolutely! That being said, I do think it’s being used more as a scapegoat than anything. From what I’ve gathered, we just signed a huge contract with one of the biggest advertising powerhouses in the cryptocurrency world, so shouldn’t we be getting more excited than cynical at this point? This quote more or less sums up my philosophy regarding marketing:
ICX gains value as a network utility token. I cannot stress this enough. ICX will not have real value if a bunch of retail investors buys it. ICX may gain “bubble value” if a bunch of hedge funds buys it. ICX will only gain REAL value if the ICON platform is used to connect people, businesses, and institutions together to create new and unique connections that can be monetized.
I follow a handful of other projects outside ICON and they too, point fingers at marketing whenever they seem to be lagging price compared to other projects. If marketing is everything, I guess Tron should be #1 project in all of crypto, amirite? Good thing they’re only down about 94% or so from their all time high. By the time the next bull run surfaces, people will look back on the short term price fluctuations and reflect how it was all just noise at the end.
Crypto markets just don’t work the way you think
This goes hand in hand with my claim that the crypto markets are very irrational, but also for different reasons. In traditional equity markets, it’s a bit more straightforward where if actual earnings exceed the analysts’ forecast, that traded company’s share prices appreciate. That being said, there’s also a significant amount of instances where say, a macroeconomic statistic (unemployment rate, GDP, CPI, etc) is released that’s much more bullish than anticipated, yet many positively correlated traded products still end up tanking. It’s just not deterministic. Good luck trying to extend that logic to crypto land.
One example I hear people use a lot is “Crypto X is going to launch their mainnet at Date Y, therefore it’s going to moon!” Sure, you might see a spike or two at times, but it’s just not a reliable signal for the most part. Same thing can be said about product releases or other general announcements. Extending this to ICX, I get the impression many people were expecting a 3x+ spike in price once My-ID launched. It definitely can happen, but let me tell you this is the wrong mindset to have and you will end up disappointed more often than not.
So… what now?
You know why you’re here, and you know why you’re invested. Unless it’s something of SERIOUS concern (team losing money, can’t sustain business relations, people quitting, and so on), why should random guy’s opinion on the internet sway you from what you’re invested in? There’s a difference between expressing concern and bringing others down for their own gain.
I can’t tell you what to do and not do. If you think you’re right in that marketing’s holding us back, Min’s incompetent, ICX is a dead project, etc then simply sell your tokens and move on, what’s stopping you? I’ll tell you this — I’ve bought into some other shady projects in the past, sometimes got burned, sometimes got lucky but guess what? I owed up to it, took responsibility, and learned from it, so I could make better decisions going forward. What I didn’t do was go on Twitter and Tweet to the respective CEO’s about what a scam they were and launch a crusade attacking their project. To me, that’s not only petty but also just an extreme waste of energy and time. You’ll get a lot further in life if you focus on what’s in your control rather than shifting blame towards someone else.
You know what the best thing to invest in is? Yourself. Crypto’s fun and I respect those who have a genuine passion and spend their time on it, but there’s also more to life out there. In today’s age, information and resources are abundant and there’s so much you can be doing right now to better yourself. Try working out, or learn to code (I hear blockchain development is becoming a thing), take a class on public speaking, go volunteer. If anyone wants resources, I’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction. Do you think Mineable got to where he is today with his video making prowess by talking smack on Twitter? Was Markus able to orchestrate the Icon Hackathon by staring at charts all day and moaning about 5% dumps? If you’re unsatisfied with the state of how ICON is running things, instead of attacking people, why not step up, cultivate a skillset that can last a lifetime to your own benefit, and help build the community? It doesn’t even have to be anything remotely related to cryptocurrencies. I’m talking about skills that can improve your job prospects, your own well being, anything that’ll help you out later on in this long journey called life. In fact, it’s worthwhile to detox from crypto every now and then. Write a letter to a dear friend you haven’t spoken to in a long time. Check in on your aging parents and see how they’re doing. Go adopt a homeless puppy/kitty and give them a loving home :) World is full of possibilities outside of crypto, folks.
I wanted to make it clear that I don’t think the ICON Foundation is perfect: they have their flaws and areas that can see improvement. The overall takeaway message here isn’t to defend them from criticism necessarily, but to try and shift your point of view in such a way that you can still make the most out of a seemingly bad situation. At the end of the day, I can’t guarantee how ICX fares, no one can. Your opinion is just as valid as mine and should you feel that it’s not an investment to your liking, it’s best to move on.
Edit:
A number of people have been giving me flak for using TRX being down 94% example while ICX is down 99%. My takeaway point was that even marketing can do only do so much and that a hyped up project like Tron couldn’t avoid heavy losses either. If you want to get cute with numbers, ICX being down 94% is still around $0.75 or below. Do you really think people are going to be satisfied with that price/stop appealing for marketing? I don’t think so. My intention was to rationalize the overall state and provide general advice to the distressed. I’m sorry to say, but nitpicking at some trivial semantics and ignoring all my other points just goes to show how narrow minded some of you really are.
