Hello and welcome to August edition of Valueplan the numbers. There is so much talk around DHF funding at the moment that I decided to do up some spread sheets to see exactly how the largest DHF funded project in charge of all the marketing for the Hive Blockchain was spending its funding.
I will break August into two posts as they contain an a large amount of info. If you want to look back at the last few months posts then the links are here.
Valueplan the Numbers July & YTD
Valueplan the Numbers June & YTD
Valueplan the Numbers May & YTD
How much is the Rally Car Costing YTD Valueplan the Numbers Jan - April Part I
Valueplan the Numbers part II: Payouts per user ranked from January 2024 - April 30th 2024
Valueplan the Numbers part III : Recipient Account Values
The aim of this post is to make people aware of the numbers involved in the projects that Hive is paying for marketing purposes. Now I am not against Valueplan. Hive does need a marketing arm and people running the marketing arm. God love them because their reputations are taking a hit. I am happy with some of the funding but what I am totally against is people taking the piss and making us look like complete fools. Not just the project managers but myself and yourself who are watching the Hive price tank.
In Ireland there is uproar over a bike shed at government buildings that cost €335,000 to build. There are talks of corruption and there will be a commission set up that will investigate why a bicycle shed cost this amount of money. The project managers are going up in front of a committee to explain how it wasted €335,000 public funds on a bicycle shed that should have cost €20,000 at the most. I would like to see a Discord meeting set up with the projects funded and even the project managers that approved them to answer questions on some of the spending. I think it is only fair in a decentralised environment that everyone can see clearly how their funds are being spent. Maybe we can arrange this?
The project managers of Valueplan have taken considerable flack especially around the rally car. Having look into the figures now, in my opinion the rally car costs too much but I am OK with it. I once was not but I have made my peace with it. I do not think the rally car guys are taking the piss. I think they are trying their best and doing what they are good at which is racing and generally the photos and videos coming back to us are good. This is how much it costs to be in the WRC unfortunately so the discussion around whether our blockchain benefits from it is the argument. The ROI from the rally car can be argued until the cows come home and whether we are benefitting from it at all.
I spoke in July around the Community Wells Project and asked some questions around why the price of building a well increased by 234% from well 1 to well 16 two years later but @mcsamm must have been too busy to come back to me. Also, the question is whether his travel from the UK to Africa is included in the wells building expenses?
Back to the Street Workout Funding
I asked the question in July around the considerable amount of merch that the @swc-oficial community were spending their funding on. Now some former members of the @swc-oficial came out and spoke out because they could see the amount of payouts that Valueplan were giving @swc-oficial. They basically claimed that an event could cost $900 easy and that the founder was pocketing the rest. They were put up in really bad accommodation at some events and had to pay for their own meals. They have set up a #stopswc tag on Hive to make people aware of what is going on. You can find the original posts here from @hecatonquirox.
A link to these posts:
NO MAS MENTIRAS Y PROBLEMAS || NO MORE LIES AND PROBLEMS. STOP SWC
SWC, we request a response: Was the money stolen or misappropriated? || Respondenos SWC
Most expensive arena in the history of Hive Blockchain. STOP SWC
This started off a number of follow up posts by a number of former members of the @swc-oficial
You will get the gist of these posts once you read them but what the basic allegations are that the money going to @swc-oficial for events are not actually going on the events.
I listened to the hour long video from @hecatonquirox and it was really interesting to get a grasp on the workings of SWC. He explained in the video that he had first met the founder of SWC Manuel Ramos in a luxury hotel to become a moderator of the Street Workout Crew. @hecatonquirox said he found it strange that Manuel was willing to travel a long distance and stay at a luxury hotel just to appoint him a moderator. He then allegedly went on to slag off the Hive Community as being mad and @hecatonquirox were surprised at this. He then alleged that Manuel did not have a job but was able to buy a new motorbike , go on trips etc.
Now point to note this is just one side of the story and I have yet to hear from the @swc-oficial guys from last month so at the moment it is only one side. When it comes to big money , arguments tend to happen which is what happened here but it is important to hear the other side of the story as well but for now it is silent and funding is still ongoing.
I was amazed to see in July this payment to the Street Workout Group which was paid out by Valueplan before the shit hit the proverbial fan.
The annual medical provisions bulk order for 2428.00 HBD which translates to the same amount in $USD.
Now @hecatonquirox filled me in around the price of various items in his country , I found that this payout seems enormous for what essentially is a first aid kit! What is included in these provisions?? Plasters? Bandages? Stretchers? An ambulance on standby?? A doctor on retainer?? A plastic surgeon maybe?
Could we get a description or a list of each product on this order please? Maybe an invoice around what the Hive Community paid for here so we can begin to comprehend what this payment is about. I think we deserve to know why we are spending $2348 in on medical provisions in a developing country where things are inexpensive compared to Europe and the States. In Europe while playing sport , a person can apply first aid if there is a small knock or injury to an injured athlete. I asked my neighbour who is a sports physiotherapist around this and she told me anything more a bump or a knock such as a bone break or tendon/ ligament damage and it is straight to the hospital for treatment. There is only so much first aid can do. A quick check on Amazon and a fair substantial first aid kit with 330 pieces is setting you back $45.99.
Source
I would put this into the "Absolutely Taking the piss" bracket but I would need to see the invoice or receipt around what was paid for here. I have tagged the Street Workout Community for a number of months now with questions and the silence is deafening. So unless there are answers I presume there are some grounds for the allegations linked above.
From the approval side it is hard to question the project managers as they have more information on the expense that I do not have the information so I would ask them why it was approved?, before anyone starts to point fingers. The project managers have taken a considerable knock to their reputation being associated with Valueplan but is the criticism warranted? Maybe if they gave out more info on some of these expenses we might get a clearer picture than to jump on the bandwagon claiming all sorts of things such as extreme naivety or funding their mates for approving such funding.
Augusts Numbers
So below are the totals by user in August. There was a total of 18 users paid out. The most being $68,998.85 to @lordbutterfly in August. There is a mixture of projects here such as Hivefest and 27,332.00 HBD for a blockchain expo in Santa Clara and Amsterdam, 141,243.00 Hive was used to pay the remainder of the venue for Hivefest also.
Blockchain summit take the Number 2 spot with $20,200 paid out to this account for a blockchain summit in Bogota Colombia. This account has 0 followers or 0 following and 0 account value so if you could let us know who is behind this it would be great but I have a feeling I know who it is. Lucky number....... in the rankings but you wil have to make that out yourself. Lets move on!!
We have @mcsamm at number 4 with his usual jet setting. There seems to be flight changes here or missed tickets. Not sure what is going on but what we do know is that the wells are now costing over $8,000.00 to complete. A dam sight more than your $4,525 for a well in April 2022. The joys of inflation.
In at number 4 is @blackheart1 who I have down for hackathons He is flying up the Valieplan rankings with the funding received. He spent most of August holding Investor Meetups which cost us a fair few bucks. How did these go @blackheart1 . We have not had a Hive post from you since February 2023. Would you care to enlighten us how these investor meetings went? Were you successful? How many investors actually invested? How is the Finfarm doing and what is the story with the Sinusoid sponsorship? What is it? We would be interested to know!
The rally car has its first funding since April. They have been funded $10,000 for the Greek WRC.
Then we have the Hivestudentshub and our friend @arlettemsalase (who was mentioned in one of those GYM Street Workout videos for some reason 🤔).
The rest are small enough under $5,000.
Below is the breakdown if you are interested. Don't mind the colour coding. It just makes it easier for me to add things up.
| Ranked | User | Project | Payout Hive | Hive Equivalent in $ | Payout HBD | Total $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | @lordbutterfly | Hivefest, Vibes, Videography | 141,243.00 | $25,776.85 | 43,222.00 | $68,998.85 |
| 2. | @blockchainsummit | Conference | 0 | 0 | 20,200.00 | $20,200.00 |
| 3. | @mcsamm | Community Wells Project | 0 | 0 | 12,320.00 | $12,320.00 |
| 4. | @blackheart1 | Hackathons | 0 | 0 | 10,585.5000 | $10,585.50 |
| 5. | @ssekulji | Rally Car | 54,845.23 | $10,009.25 | 0 | $10,009.05 |
| 6. | @hivestudentshub | Hive Student Hub | 0 | 0 | 6,524.00 | $6,524.00 |
| 7. | @arlettemsalase | Conferences | 0 | 0 | 5,246.51 | $5246.51 |
| 8. | @hivetalkproject | Hive Talk Project | 0 | 0 | 2,959.69 | $2,959.69 |
| 9. | @spiritsurge | Professional Services | 0 | 0 | 2,880.00 | $2,880.00 |
| 10. | @jonsnow1983 | Professional Services / Conferences | 0 | 0 | 2,745.11 | $2,745.11 |
| 11. | @sucrewallet | Hive Sucre | 0 | 0 | 2525.50 | $2,525.50 |
| 12. | @swc-oficial | GYM Street Workout | 0 | 0 | 2,428.00 | $2,428.00 |
| 13. | @wooconventions | Woo Wrestling | 0 | 0 | 1180.60 | $1180.60 |
| 14. | @hivecuba | Hive Cuba | 0 | 0 | 990.00 | $990.00 |
| 15. | @stakerz | Conferences | 0 | 0 | 931.00 | $931.00 |
| 16. | @hiverun | Hive Run | 0 | 0 | 790.00 | $790.00 |
| 17. | @edmundochauran | Conferences | 0 | 0 | 790.00 | $790.00 |
| 18. | @disregardfiat | Conferences | 0 | 0 | 327.00 | $327.00 |
| Total | 196,088.23 | 35,786.10 | 116,654.91 | $152,441.01 |
Breakdown
Point to note there was the old annual error paying the rally car guys HBD rather than Hive in August but it was refunded immediately which was good.
Also @hivecuba paid back funds not spent to valueplan which is a great sign of honesty in my opinion.
In total $152,441.01 was spent in August which is a huge amount of Hive being sold on the market. Thankfully the gang at Splinterlands DAO has been buying up a large amount of Hive so to not fall fowl of the old return proposal ever again so the effect on the price is not as bad but we are still sitting at around 16 cent at time of writing we maybe need to tighten our belts.
So there you have it. I will post the YTD in a separate post.