I have recently had a recurring daydream of establishing my own cryptocurrency.
I can see it all now. Hilarity ensues. Not to mention huge capital.
I’d like some feedback as to what would be involved.
I’ll share this, at the risk of sounding terrible. One idea was to establish a currency, though decentralized, that would be made to appeal especially to persons of color. Something titled as, say, Black Cash.
The idea is that Blacks would be interested in getting in on the ground floor of something that would not only enrich themselves as an individual women/men, but benefit Blacks as a group (in particular) and promote long overdue economic justice for them. My rationale is that I don’t want to trick or exploit AAs and other non-whites, but genuinely believe in economic justice and that many of us in America and worldwide have been at the short end of the stick… but non-whites in particular. (Maybe many poor whites like myself would also see it as a great opportunity. Careful marketing should make the difference.)
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Okay, I have given this some thought and wondered how the promotion would go. As a white guy (2nd generation Italian-American) I would have considerable trouble trying to sell the idea of making investment to the largest target audience. I would no doubt be suspected of some sort of (non-cinematic) “blackploitation”. Even if I established a partnership with someone of dark complexion, that might be viewed as some sort of manipulation.
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So let’s keep it general. How do you get a decentralized cryptocurrency off the ground?
(I’m starting this of in IMHO because it doesn’t seem to fit something as straightforward in target response as General Questions.)
Unless you are an expert in cryptographic engineering (and if you are you already know you are), you should probably not attempt to design such things from scratch. Too much that can go wrong, all the more so if you neglect peer review, simulations, etc.
Wanting to help the community is a laudable goal, however. IMHO I would suggest something like a local currency, if your town does not already have one. The key there is that you need to guarantee that participating businesses will accept it; you may need to take steps like offering to convert it to dollars at a premium. Then you need to present your idea to an organization such as, in your case, the Black Business Association.
There are hundreds of crytpocurrencies out there, most are more or less Bitcoin knockoffs. That is, they’re just like Bitcoin, only with a different name. Those cryptocurrencies are all pretty much worthless. The only reason Bitcoin is a going concern is because Bitcoin value has been rising, which entices speculators to buy Bitcoins, which increases the price, which brings in more suckers, which increases the price.
Anyway, setting up a new alternative to Bitcoin that’s just like Bitcoin except for X, Y, or Z is pretty easy, people do it all the time. So go right ahead.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah had a segment last week on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and during the segment, the reporter used a website that apparently lets you set up a new cryptocurrency very easily. I don’t know what the site is, though.
No offense, but the OP sounds like a pitch for a comedy. Actually if written well, it could be a pretty funny comedy with a better chance of making money than a new cryptocurrency.
That is a hard path because:
a) establishing a new cryptocurrency is technologically demanding
b)There is a lot of existing competition
c) It’s still far from clear there is an actual business case for cryptocurrencies. Libertarian fantasies aside, major global currencies work pretty well and have seen low and stable inflation for decades. There are enormous network effects which make it difficult to displaces these currencies. If cryptocurrencies actually became popular as a medium of exchange, it’s quite likely governments will target them for quite legitimate reasons.
Then no offense is taken. I realized that I was both rambling and sharing quite a bit of personal matters. I could have decided against posting what I had in order to start over. Or just deleted everything up to the question at the end. But I was in a mood to think: Aw, what the heck?
Maybe with enough money I could hire a qualified comedy writer and then share all my odd thoughts and angry rants, with the expectation that these could be packaged in a way that could entertain crowds. I did once come across a book on stand-up that claimed that most of the really successful ones were brave enough to open themselves up.
