Overview
- Token Valuation Mini-series #04: The Team.
- Bitcoin: Weekend Pump or Dump?
- Insider report on Celsius.
- Usain Bolt teams up with “Move-to-Earn” fitness platform.
Good morning Banter Fam,
Crypto allows the average Joe access to thousands of projects, but with that power comes a lot of responsibility. The bear market left many uneducated (in crypto) degens holding bags of now worthless tokens.
Crypto is a journey, and education is a significant part of that journey. The wanderer faces a barrage of traps, hype, and scammers.
And the best weapon against debauchery? RESEARCH!
Today we cover the 4th installment of the Token Valuation Model, which covers how to research the backbone of any crypto project, its team.
Token Valuation Mini-Series #04: The Team
This is the 4th installment of the Token Valuation Mini-series. We recommend you check out the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd installments before diving in.
Researching a crypto project’s team can be more burdensome than exploring other aspects of a project for a variety of reasons which sometimes result in little information. Typically, the larger the project, the easier the research. Example: – Cardano (Charles Hokison), Ethereum (Vitalik Buterin), or Solana (Anatoly Yakovenko). But where do you begin with smaller projects?
Project homepage.
To find the website of any project worth researching, find your way to CoinGecko.com, type in the project’s name in the search bar, and voila, a plethora of information appears. On the right-hand side are links to the project’s official website.
Once you’ve reached the official page, locate the ABOUT or TEAM tab. From there, you should have links to team members, bios, and sometimes their LinkedIn profiles. If it doesn’t, that constitutes an immediate red flag! For example, check out the difference between the Hedera team page and the Samoyedcoin homepage with no team portal.
What constitutes a good team? Past Experience!
Good projects draw in important players. Using Hedera as an example, past team member experiences include IMB, Boeing, Servicenow, and Standard Bank Group. Those are some big company names! The experience range for the Hedera team is impressive. Plus, Important players tend to encompass essential connections.
Venture Capital Investors
All Venture capital firms provide project startup funds; the best ones help with networking and offer expertise. As a result, they’re crucial players in the game. Without significant backing or large networks, it becomes challenging for a project to grow.
A project will typically showcase its major investors on the homepage as a way to advertise. In many cases, it’s likely written in their contracts. There are hundreds of crypto venture investment firms. Some top-notch crypto-based venture capital firms:
- a16z
- Alameda Research
- Arrington Capital
- Paradigm
- Sequoia Capital
- Coinbase Ventures
- Fenbushi Capital
- Hashed
- Dragonfly Capital Partners
- Pantera Capital
- Binance Labs
- Digital Currency Group
This list is NOT all-inclusive. When in doubt, search for the firm’s webpage, where they typically list their investments for public viewing.
Anon teams.
There are cases where the team is anonymous, but if you dig deep enough, you usually can find some hints to who it may be. If the team remained anonymous, always find out WHY. For example, GMX is an excellent protocol with a team that chose to remain anonymous for regulatory purposes. Regardless, consider many of these projects high risk.
Wrap-up.
Now that the analyst possesses the names of the team members and the capital venture firms, it’s up to the analyst to dig deep into their history. Become an online detective! (Discord, Twitter, Google, Telegram, blogs). You’ll be surprised at what you find. Join communities and share your research with crypto Twitter to gain followers and input.
Complete your research by ranking the team. Below is the grading scale I use, but I recommend creating one based on your ingenuity and research.
A – Large teams with big names. Variety of experiences. Big venture firm backers.
B – Smaller projects with young entrepreneurs. Big venture firm backers.
C – Any sized team with good experience but no major backers.
D – Small team with little experience, no large name investors.
F – Anonymous or no team information.
Market update 🌍
BTC/USD
Bitcoin experienced sideways action yesterday, reaching a low of $22,340 in the early hours only to be repurchased by the US trading session. The 4H chart shows price testing an uptrend on decreasing volume. The Relative Strength Indicators (RSI), coming out of an oversold range, offers the possibility of continuation. Bitcoin completed the daily session down -0.19% to $23,163.
High-resolution chart
ETH/BTC
Ether (ETH) continues to gain on Bitcoin (BTC), increasing 3.84% on “big orange” for the day and 26% in the previous eight days. The setup will make for an interesting trading session in the US markets, which could influence price direction over the weekend.
High-resolution chart
| US markets close | Gain |
| S&P 500 | +0.99% |
| Nasdaq | +2.93% |
| Dow | -2.19% |
| VIX | -3.23% |
Notable Gainers (24h):
| Protocol (Coin) | Price ($) | Gain (%) |
| Curve DAO (CRV) | 1.40 | +26 |
| ApeCoin (APE) | 6.72 | +18 |
| Synthetic Network (SNX) | 3.27 | +17 |
| Ethereum Classic (ETC) | 26.00 | +16 |
| THORChain (RUNE) | 2.95 | +15 |
| Near Protocol (NEAR) | 4.58 | +13 |
| Polygon (MATIC) | 0.90 | +12 |
| Convex Finance (CVX) | 7.81 | +11 |
| Bitcoin Gold (BTG) | 22.97 | +28 |
| Ethereum Name Ser. (ENS) | 12.97 | +14 |
| Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index | 33 Fear |
| “Crypto” Google Trends 90d | 17 |
| “Bitcoin” Google Trends 90d | 35 |
Newswatch 📰
EU interest rate hike. After 11 years of 0% interest rates and eight years of negative interest rates policy, the European Central Bank has raised rates by 0.50% to combat inflation.
Celsius disorganization. Former Celsius employees spoke with CNBC reporters and “painted a picture of risk-taking, disorganization, and market manipulation” long before the firm went bust. The employees claimed the firm invested in high-risk crypto projects, lent money to hedge funds, and pumped up to $350m worth of CEL tokens with minimal regard to risk. The report digs further into the risky strategies engaged by the firm and founder Alex Mashinsky.
Korean Crypto Tax postponement. Korean Government officials have announced the delay of crypto taxes in the country and instead plan tax implementation beginning in 2025 through a 2022 tax reform plan released yesterday. Initially, the government had planned a 20% tax on crypto gains exceeding $1,900 starting next year.
News Tidbits:
- Kucoin secures a $10m strategic investment.
- Blockchain.com lays off 25% of its workforce and closes Argentina offices.
- Galaxy Digital bought $75m ETH ahead of The Merge.
- SEC names 9 coins securities in Coinbase Insider trading. Coinbase disagrees.
NFT & metaverse update 🐵
Usain Bolt + Step App. Usain Bolt has teamed up with Step App, a “Move-to-Earn” fitness platform that recently launched a private beta version. Public access will soon be available for Apple iOS and Android devices.
Minecraft refuses NFT integration. After receiving feedback from the community, the team behind the open-world Minecraft game decided to update usage guidelines to reject NFT integration.
Banter’s take
It’s the bear market, and the chit-chat has quieted. The hype is gone. But not all is still. While most people are waiting for the hype train, the best researchers are out seeking the next cycle’s 100x tokens while prices are depressed.
We can still be degens, but let’s transform into EDUCATED degens. A great satisfaction follows the discovery of an amazing crypto project before the crowd. They’re out there waiting to be unearthed. Now that you have some research tools, it might just be YOU!
Happy hunting!
Gabri
Follow me on Twitter for daily updates!
Disclaimer
Good Morning crypto (issued by Crypto Banter) is a newsletter for entertainment purposes only. All opinions expressed by the publisher, writers, and chartists should not be construed as financial advice, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Crypto Banter. The publisher, writers, and chartists may hold positions in the tokens and assets discussed. Readers are encouraged to do their own research.
