On May 14, 2018 a survey was generated for Masarians to provide their feedback of the project. The goal was 100 responses as that total represented 15% of the r/masari sub. When the survey closed a week later, there were over 200 respondents. The sample size is more than sufficient to represent the entire MSR population. Thank you to everyone who participated!
In the business world, a survey such as the one produced is called primary market research. In the crypto world, it is called an opportunity to troll. Fortunately for Masari fans, the trolls left the survey alone. The data gathered was legitimate, valuable, and unique. In a commitment to being an open-source and transparent project, the findings will be published for all to see. This report will display the survey results, provide the author’s analysis, and encourage a new initiative that can spur Masari’s growth.
Q1
86% of respondents have been a part of Masari’s journey for less than 6 months. The distribution within the 6 month time frame is a good indicator of when people started to learn about MSR. Within the last two months Masari has seen a significant jump in market price, nethash, and social growth. So it’s not surprising to see <2M as the largest body of Masarians.
The 41% 2–6M population supports the idea that people find Masari, then stay to be a part of its growth. Understanding the reasoning behind supporting the project through the recent large price swing would allow for greater investor/miner retention. Some of the following questions aim to glean that information.
6 months ago the cryptosphere was in the greatest bull run the market has ever seen. It’s hard to make a name for oneself when investors can throw darts at CoinLib and see 20% nightly gains. Having less than 15% of the population in MSR for >6M should be expected. Particularly after a no-ICO, no hype launch in September 2017.
Q2
If you are currently involved with Masari, you or the person next to you came via social media. Factoring in the BTC Talk [ANN], seven out of ten respondents originate from those channels. These are the two most important drivers of growth, on the surface at least. Proponents of Masari should look to increase their retweets, likes, upvotes, and sharing of Masari information. On average, a Masari tweet gets 3% likes and less than 1% retweets from the follower base. The highest upvoted post in r/masari has 47 upvotes. Which amounts to 6% of the subscribers upvoting. Masari social media activity will never be driven by paid shills or influencers. The onus of increasing social media activity resides with the community — and there is plenty of room to grow without adding another follower/sub.
Masari social media channels produce 3,380 followers:
Discord: 42% — Reddit: 22.2% — Twitter — 21.8% — Telegram: 13%
It should be understood that crypto is a new-age, global marketplace with roots in modern business. That’s why TA sometimes works, and why fundamental analysis can be overshadowed. The reason you see the same “successful” coins being shilled incessantly is illustrated by the survey results. Ask yourself, have you ever seen an ad on CMC and clicked it on purpose? No, you haven’t. Have you looked into a coin you saw mentioned on a reddit thread? Most likely. Social media will be the main driver of Masari traffic, but it is the most competitive field.
This leads into the value of word of mouth. In what is seemingly a paltry third place, friend or recommended is actually a powerful proponent of Masari’s growth. The value of a personal recommendation has been constant in all marketplaces spanning all time frames. It’s invaluable in some cases. In a sea of meme coins, ICO’s and gigantic premines, putting a friend onto a legitimate coin that can be easily mined with a CPU is how you stimulate organic growth. It’s the cow patty on top of the crop. If more marketing is desired, along with a growing community, you can pitch in without shilling on a forum.
The mining calculator site referrals also offer an opportunity. Masari is currently listed on crypto is me, which is a widely-used CN mining reference site. But it is not listed on the most popular mining reference site — what to mine. The following exchanges are required to be listed on what to mine: Binance, Bitfinex, Bittrex, CryptoBridge, Cryptopia, HitBTC, Poloniex or YoBit. As exchange listing efforts increase, targeting one of these exchanges could result in a positive two-fold impact for global Masari activity.
Q3
Three of the top four answers relate to the technology surrounding Masari. In total percentage of responses, Masari’s foundation and developments account for 71%. The value of developer activity is well seen with Masari. Recently Masari has seen a move from v4 to v6, a web wallet, and a new windows GUI. The crowd pleasing developments will continue with forthcoming uncle mining, bulletproofs, and an addition to Cake Wallet.
Notable messages from other can be seen below. For a full list of written responses, visit the #announcements channel in the Masari Discord.
Upstream efforts, straight-forward project setup without frills (no ICO cash-grab, modest premise). It’s really an admirable approach and a breath of fresh air in this broader ecosystem. Thanks.
5/17/2018 6:22 AM
Community felt approachable when researching coins
5/15/2018 9:55 AM
Fair announcement, small premine, transparent and helpful devs, contribution back to Monero, uncle mining (sic) in future
Q4
The bar graph above represents the weighted average of the answers. Similar to an ERA in baseball, the differences between #1 and #5 seems small, but the average indicates a large gap between #1/2 and the rest of the field. Undoubtedly the community feels the single most important next step is to increase exchange listings, but let’s dive deeper into the responses.
There were three subjects that received >100 total med-high + high priority votes. Those were exchanges (134), white/yellow paper (126), and advertising (113). In assessing the results, these areas would represent the three greatest priorities for total project development as seen by the community. Exchange additions are well underway, with Trade Satoshi offering MSR in the next couple weeks. Also, Octaex is being targeted by the community funding effort. The white paper is not scheduled to be released until Q1 2019, but lead developer Thaer has stated he would explore publishing a topical overview of Blocktree (on-chain sharding) design sometime in the near future. While this is not a white or yellow paper, it would provide insights on Masari’s most prized technological advancement. An opportunity to organically increase advertising was addressed in the analysis of Q2; and if Masarians decide to allocate community funds to advertisements, then opportunities can be explored and pursued. Be them in the form of traditional ads on websites, creating merchandise to distribute (think stickers or wristbands), giveaways, or whatever the creative minds within the project come up with.
Increasing advertising with community funds would mesh well with the creation of a funding system. A funding system was the highest scoring medium priority with 81 votes. Second was learning about the team with 74 votes, and the third medium priority was better communication about the project with 71 votes.
On the low end of the scale, two of the three areas were close in priority and one was hands down the lowest according to respondents. With 86 total votes between med-low and low, overhauling the website is of little concern to Masarians. Increasing payment acceptance and partnerships were very close, with 48 and 47 total med-low and low votes respectively. But, increasing partnerships registered 69 medium priority votes while payment acceptance only gained 51. That indicates on the low end of the scale, increasing partnerships is seen as more valuable than payment acceptance.
Based on the analysis written above, an alternative matrix can be produced:
Q5
The responses to this question had a similar theme. Keep in mind the question asked what would be presented to a friend. So these statements are largely phrased in a concise matter that implies knowledge of crypto.
Of the 177 responses, each of the following keywords showed up >10% of the time.
- #1 — Monero (77 @ 44%)
- #2 — Dev/Development (41 @ 23%)
- #3a — Privacy (24 @ 14%)
- #3b — Litecoin/LTC (24 @ 14%)
- #4 — Community (18 @ 10%)
Other notable mentions include: Active (15), Brother (9), Secure (6), Fungible (4), and Sharding (3).
Notable exclusions would include no-ICO and RingCT. Ring CT can be accounted for under the umbrella of Privacy, but no-ICO does not come up when introducing MSR.
The clearest message presented by these answers is how Masari is tied to Monero in sentiment. The comments about the MSR-XMR relationship varied in the message, but nearly half of the statements to a friend included Monero in some fashion. One of the most common was a variation of “Monero’s Litecoin.” This rises from the goal of pushing developments upstream and providing a test bed for CN/RCT technologies. Masari developers and contributors have made it clear they aim to have a benevolent relationship with Monero and it is reflected in how people communicate what Masari is.
A full list of all written replies is provided in the Discord #announcement channel. Below is a peek at typical responses:
XMR testnet, good terms with XMR devs, sharding coming, LTC to BTC style relationship with XMR,C7 algo, not currently in use, new coin
5/19/2018 3:33 AMMasari is an anonymous, fungible concurrency with an active development team.
5/16/2018 4:47 PMIt’s an actual fungible and secure cryptocurrency still in early stages of development which aims to innovate atop Monero’s outstanding platform.
5/15/2018 12:18 PMLitecoin to Monero
5/14/2018 6:29 PMSmall cap CryptoNote coin with a small premine, mandatory 13 ring size, transparent and active devs, and one of the best difficulty algos that is actively contributing back to Monero and has exciting future goals such as block tree sharding and uncle mining.
5/14/2018 6:12 PMMasari: Monero’s Litecoin. Fight me.
5/14/2018 3:09 PMMonero-lite
5/14/2018 2:54 PMMasari will become to Monero what Litecoin is to Bitcoin.
5/14/2018 2:26 PMPrivacy project with a focus on innovation and responsive devs that communicate well
5/14/2018 1:48 PMLitecoin and Bitcoin, Masari and Monero
5/14/2018 12:57 PM
Q6
The results highlight the reasonable nature of the Masari community. There have never been moonbois around MSR. Having 89% of predictions fall within $1-$20 reflects a grounded approach to the project. $5-$10 as the highest vote represents community sentiment well. A common number tossed around long term for Masari price prediction is 5–10% of Monero. As of writing Monero was trading at $180, with Masari at $.68.
5% of $180 = $8.
If there is another EOY run, and Monero goes back to ATH of $470 on New Year’s Eve, then 5% = $23.50.
Q7
86% of mining respondents are in favor of contributing their hash power to fund Masari. Parameters of a potential program are currently being worked on; which include wallet generation/management, recognition for contributors, miner walk-throughs, and a potential one click miner. The rollout of the program will be announced on all social media channels. When the program is live, recognition and assistance will be found in the Masari Discord. The preliminary concept asks miners to join forces one day a week for at least one hour, but longer contributions will be welcomed.
Another interesting take away from this question is the distribution of miners v traders. It is nearly even, which is an odd allocation for a young CN coin. Most early adopters are miners and one would expect a 3:1 split at this stage in Masari. The disproportionate amount of traders would indicate Masari is attractive as a speculative asset just as much as it is a mineable one.
Additionally, with a near half distribution of miners v traders, an estimate on miner participation in the program can be provided. Currently the Masari discord has 1500 members. 49.5% of 1500 = 735. If the survey values are extrapolated against the discord population, then a conservative estimate of participation would yield around 700 miners.
The table below shows the potential value of the program based on estimates, scaled up and down:
If the new initiative is successful, at current prices the program could provide over $1,000/week in project funding. These funds will then be used to expand exchange listings, bounties & development, advertising/marketing, partnerships, or any other community supported idea.
Q8
Based on these results, the core team and contributors should look to create a chat schedule. A medium/hosting service will need to be identified, as well as creation of an agenda, and finally a designated emcee could help to keep conversation on track. These chats can be recorded and distributed online to encourage new entrants in the project.
Q9
Similar to the results of Q5, certain keywords stood out in the answers. The most popular word used was “work,” with 57 total mentions. Under the work heading, good/great work were mentioned 29 & 10 times respectively. Dev was another popular term with 22 mentions. Other keywords include:
Monero ( 18) — Community (16) — Team (15) — Marketing (12)
The theme of responses was keep up the good work and continue on the path you’re on while focusing on improvements. As mentioned earlier, an entire transcript of written responses is available on the Masari Discord. Here are some highlights:
Keep doing what you do. Focus on the tech to prove (sic) masari is the coin to use. Recognition will follow upon its own then.
5/20/2018 6:56 AMkeep up the good work
5/18/2018 7:18 AMappreciate the work that everyone has done so far, keep being open, honest and professional.
5/17/2018 4:24 AMAn active development team is the lifeblood of any crypto. Masari has all the key features to be a serious and useful player in the crypto space, but the project has to continually move forward and look to improve/innovate if it is going to succeed. The Monero Research Lab has set the bar for the type of knowledge and skill needed to progress privacy coins in this space forward. Masari would be well suited to follow in Moneros footsteps with regards to cultivating talented developers and innovative approaches to the privacy/fungibility/scalability problems that must ultimately be solved if this project is to succeed.
5/15/2018 1:13 PMThank you for your hard work and transparency! Very excited about Masari’s future.
5/15/2018 12:18 PMKeep up the good work! I’ve been mining since the network was 500KH, and I still hold everything i have ever earned. I look forward to seeing this project 5 years from now, good luck!
5/15/2018 1:23 AMDon’t hesitate to ask for donations to further the progress of the project. Personally I’m happy to donate. I like the idea of a community managed wallet, it’s nothing for me to direct some hashing power once a week. Also, it doesn’t hurt to dumb down future plans so some one like me can have a better picture of what Masari will look like as it matures.
5/14/2018 10:24 PMThaer and all the devs, fairplay to you all. You’ve turned what I initially presumed was a Monero shitfork into a solid privacy coin in its own right. Can’t wait to see where Masari goes from here, I’ve been doing lots of graphics to try and help Masari as I’m no coder:)
5/14/2018 3:34 PGreat work, keep up the actual work of developing, that’s most important of all. If the thing has liquidity and it has good code updates, people will come and market it through word of mouth themselves.
5/14/2018 12:57 PM
Conclusion
This type of research provides important insights to the Masari project. It gives consensus to the direction of a decentralized project, encourages community participation, and opens doors for new processes. The results also show that the Masari community is technologically driven — concerned more with development than anything else. Whether this is a reflection of the type of people attracted to Masari, or a by-product of disdain for the vaporware permeating crypto, development is the foundation of the Masari project and community.
Contributors to all facets of the Masari project are welcomed and encouraged. Please visit the Masari GitHub, Discord, or Reddit to start up a conversation about how you can help.
If you enjoyed reading this report, you can tip the author at the following addresses:
MSR —
5hfrpg7mf71Rdb1EYszWJQHmtamnkNwyeiDrXCHNrBaLWQz4pgR4pMTBnrrZyq6wNpTkscb1ozgNv5FgJ4y1jYFdM9qLQdr
XMR —
4533ZKaxS3fZYdUymppjTfY93DMwFai8wihYRYrvKBpz2KprjbVjM97FFLgA28N9S2T97zhLQChTFSWfBjgzeKxW6ZJ8cG1
