How I Am Trying To Evaluate Crypto/Blockchain Projects

in #investment7 years ago



Hello Fellow Steemians,

I like to communicate how I  am viewing this strange new world of investing in Crypto.  The reason I share my view is I am still learning, so every comment that disagrees is a part of my education.  Thank you all for helping to be a part of my experience as I try to understand Crypto-World 2017.  My working background is also start-up technology, but healthcare and corporate as a focus.  My former Due Diligence (vetting) criteria doesn't work well in this environment.

Also, if I knew I was a running a crypto project with the eyes of a developer working with mostly other developers, I would appreciate feedback from other types of people.  


Here is my list of the criteria I have started to build for myself regarding evaluating crypto projects.  (I wouldn't have made it this far if not for asking a lot of annoying questions in SteemSpeak and on the Blockchain.)


List for Evaluating Crypto for investment:

  • Do they have a vision or user-case?  
  • Do they have a funding source, such as fees or some income?
  • Do they have a management strategy that is functional and working? (how do they make decisions)
  • Do they have solid technology - (I do not have the skills to evaluate, but I know some people I trust)
  • What is their story? What do they say about themselves on their sites, marketing, etc.  Is it written by developers for developers and only understood by developers?  (Crypto People are already in the space, mainstream is where you get new money, IMO)
  • Besides trading do they have a user-case or vision on why that coin needed to be created. (Market Need)  Nice if you can make a new coffee pot, but does the market need one?
  • Do they have an active Development Team that is funded in some way.
  • Do they have easy to read technical sheets or white papers?   (Current?)
  • Who are the active "Execs" and how did their last project go?
  • Does their timeline make sense?  This isn't a tiny niche anymore.  


Bitcoin is likely to be the last coin able to take 9 years to make a story.


Okay, shred me up, teach me something please.  What's missing and what do you think doesn't matter?  





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For long term investment, fundamentals are key. You've hit the nail on the head with that one. I'd also like to suggest for anyone having a hard time finding some information, try to contact the team of Slack or Telegram and you can talk to them directly. Of course, they may be biased, but it's a great way to find out answers straight from the horse's mouth.

Nods, excellent advice and completely off my radar.

Agree. Alternatively, you can take a virtual shotgun full of money and blast it at all the cryptocurrencies and see which live through it like Wolverine and which die off like that Xmen who can learn lots of languages but has no powers whatsoever.

These are all correct sir whatsup. Something I'd probably like to add is if they have slack channels or other means of communicating and updating their community regularly such as Steemit. Another is for the traders. Maybe the price chart as well as the market cap to evaluate the performance.

open and fair communication to shareholders ?

Market cap for sure. Excellent point. (Edits my real list)

I'm glad to have some contribution to your list sir! :)

I like it. Good advice

IS the coin minable or has it been pre mined ?, How much percentage of the coin, if premined, goes to the creators? And did it had an ICO ?

Those are three questions that I use when evaluating a project , I'd add these ones too :D

I completely forgot to add anything about the launch. Good reminder.

Agree with every point. How and where they wanna commercialize and advertise their product to the target audience ? And later onto the mainstream ?

Unfortunately it is human nature to judge and it is also human nature to follow others like sheep. These two combined= censorship.

"For long term investment, fundamentals are key" -golden words.

I Am Also still learning, and I guess the best way to learn is to take advise from people who know their stuff.. there is a lot going on on steemit and a lot of information te find, read read read and get the best info out of it, just for yourself, that is the way i do it.

This is excellent list. Add two more items. Is project live? And do they provide data for anyone to analyze like blockchain.info.

Excellent thought.

Cool list of questions to check before any investment... I am newbie and have not inverted anything yet (beside steems of course), this list will be useful :D

It is a work in progress. Keep that in mind.

Sorry, I have to comment on the comic. :)

The "crypto nerd" would be concerned with strongly encrypting data on their personal machine. This would conceivably come in handy when "villains" attempt to steal information on his computer. The crypto nerd imagines that due to his advanced encryption, the crackers will be ultimately defeated. Randall suggests that in the real world, people with the desire to access this information would simply use torture to coerce the nerd to give them the password. Both panels also reference the amount of money used to access the data. In the first the villain is willing to use millions of dollars to construct a super computer, while in the second, he simply uses a $5 wrench. The comic effectively states, completely accurately, that the weakest part of computer security is not the computer, but the user.

RSA is a commonly used, public key encryption method. Current standards typically use 1024, 2048, and (more recently) 4096 bit keys. These encryption methods are not yet (feasibly) breakable. A 4096-bit key will remain unbreakable for the foreseeable future.

The title text pokes fun at typical users, who do not have data that would be worth anything to anyone but themselves. Therefore, it is unlikely that the above situation would ever occur. Additionally, the wrench used in the second panel is large, and presumably more than the $5 referenced by the thug.

Source: explainxkcd.com

Once this problem becomes a credible threat to enough people, security developers could address it by adding an alternate password. If the user enters the alternate password, it opens a wallet with only $300 or something. Maybe a third alternate password would even destroy the funds.

So the villain never knows for sure if they've actually compromised the account.

lol, I thought it was a great comic. I tried to work it into the title. (however, the point made in it to me, is yikes, I barely understood that.)

Great evaluation. I would add strength of the name of the coin/blockchain. Names are very powerful, but not the most important thing.

Also, do they have have active news feed. or have they been in the news recently?

All good points that need to be considered when evaluating. The hardest factor to evaluate for me is the quality of the management. That has the most 'gut feel' to it.

Any tips you have learned along the way?

I have similar point of view. But as a healthcare provider, it is difficult to me to find use cases for doctors (so I can evaluate them with more accuracy)

i like it. it is necessery. Greetings from emonandels. Thank you for visiting me

I like it!

For long term investments your pretty much on point. If your trying to be a "crypto-trader" then you need to get an automated trader and look for coins with low supply. They tend to be the most volitile.

Github.. Always check the codes on Github, or at least let your technical friends that you trust check the code on Github and see what they have to say.

Very comprehensive checklist for an investor thinking to trade in the cryptocurrency market. Makes it easier to avoid emotional buys and sells.

Thanks for providing your insight especially from your experience in Healthcare and corporate industry. We need people like you to provide fresh different perspective from what will be otherwise mostly IT and "make money online" background people.

Point taken

Thanks for sharing your views.

I need to learn more here..

And just following,

i am a newbie and i am learning it ......i will keep an eye on you...

Great! Thanks..

Thanks for voting my post. Good luck. You are mybest friend

Thanks for your advise

A Good analysis. Very informative in understanding about the cryptocurrencies before investing in them. Please provide more such analytical data posts.

thank you @whatsup ... i really appreciate this.