I read an interesting article by William Mougayar regarding the three stages of ICO projects and token sales. He breaks it down into three evolutionary phases where crypto coin initiatives can grow stronger or die. The most promising will graduate from one phase, to the next.
Darkness Phase
This is a lot of talk, but not much to show for it. Characterized with idea sharing and promotion to garner support.
- No demonstrable product yet. Protocol or app are not deployed yet
- White paper may still be in draft/revision modes
- Team focused on a heavily promoted token sale with little attention on the product itself
- No indication of users, customers, networks usage
- Lots of social and blogging about what will be done, as the main activity, active Slack channels
Transition Phase
A major milestone where Alpha/Beta products become tangible assets to highlight feasibility, scalability, and key capabilities. External testers and users begin providing crucial input to the continuous-improvement-cycle.
- A working demo available, not just a mock-up or simulation
- Testnet or pre-production deployment for scalability testing and tuning
- A growing list of early beta/test users, customers, and developers
- Announced release date and signs/regular-updates the team is making progress
- Increased & regular Github activity
Reality Phase
Only the elite make it this far. Product is in production with a growing base of users and supporting ecosystem. The value proposition becomes truly meaningful.
- In production with visible, credible and tangible signs of users and a supporting ecosystem
- Transaction volumes and other real metrics available
- Real customer and user growth, driving value to the market
The article, which I recommend reading, can be found here: https://medium.com/@wmougayar/the-reality-quadrant-in-ico-projects-and-token-sales-part-ii-fee324274f93
Steemit in the Ranks!
I am happy to report that the author has ranked Steemit with the elite. Accompanied by other names such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Dash, Storj, and Siacoin, Steemit is firmly in the Reality phase. With more users, growth, interaction, and transitions, our community and platform is growing.
Image Source: https://medium.com/@wmougayar/the-reality-quadrant-in-ico-projects-and-token-sales-part-ii-fee324274f93