In this video, the host examines Coinfluence’s recent decision to postpone its ICO launch to May 4, 2020, interpreting the delay as a sign that the project failed to meet its fundraising targets. He provides a historical overview of the ICO boom before 2017, highlighting numerous scams and the resulting loss of investor confidence, which he argues has made ICOs broadly viewed as risky. The speaker contrasts ICOs with alternative financing routes such as venture capital, crowdfunding, and DAO‑based models, suggesting that projects can succeed without public token sales. He then details Coinfluence’s token‑sale structure, noting its multi‑phase pricing model intended to protect early investors, and critiques the lack of uniqueness in its approach compared to other blockchain projects that already employ DAOs. The discussion moves to a side‑by‑side comparison with Pi Network, emphasizing Pi’s traditional venture‑backed funding, massive user acquisition via a mobile app, and ad‑revenue model that builds value before any token trading. A similar comparison is drawn with the speaker’s own project, BitcoinMYK, which was self‑funded, uses a social‑network app for revenue, and lets the market determine its token value. The host raises concerns about Coinfluence’s celebrity endorsements—specifically a disputed partnership with Rich the Kid—questioning their authenticity and potential use as marketing ploys. He concludes that while Coinfluence’s phased ICO design mitigates some early‑dump risks, the project lacks a distinctive value proposition, and the delayed launch may signal deeper issues. Overall, he advises caution, recommends securing development talent, and stresses the importance of genuine utility over hype.
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Welcome back to the channel. I hope you all are having a great day. So today we want to talk about Coinfluence has recently pushed up their ICO or their launch date rather to May 4th, 2020, right? So that's a long time from now. You're talking almost, you know, several months here. right, um, from the original date. I think that was here in November, um, and the reason that's happened, it's— it would seem from their communications is that, um, you know, I'm assuming that the funds that they're raising, um, you know, they weren't hitting their goals. And ICOs The first phases of cryptocurrency, or the first wave of cryptocurrency, I guess I may be talking about before 2017 or something like that. Um, that was a period of time where we were on this ICO craze, right? And there was a failed project after failed project, scam after scam. And what I believe happened is it made it very difficult for ICOs to be successful in cryptocurrency, right? The ICOs were cash grabs in the very beginning, and anybody who launched almost anything were probably becoming millionaires overnight with these projects. And then of course the projects wouldn't, you know, live up to, you know, what they were supposed to, and people would lose a lot of money, and these things would drop below the ICO price. Right? Put a real bad taste in people's mouths about ICOs. And after that, every— any company or project that launched the ICO was probably first viewed through the eyes of great potential for a scam. Right? And it just always— it made things negative. It also turned me against ICOs, even in my own project like Bitcoin NYC. I said, I'm never going to do one of these things because Never do an ICO because ICOs, they look like scams from the beginning. You know, I think one of the best approaches is probably doing something like if you can put together a development team. And whereas I don't like dealing with venture capitalists, if you, you know, if it's necessary, you're probably best to go through a venture capitalist than to go through— my view is go go through crowdfunding, right? And I know that part of the purpose is to change it, to make this so that more people, you know, can participate. And then these big institutional investors and the like don't control all of these great projects. So I get that and I understand that, but I think that these projects can be launched and done without the necessity of ICOs, right? I think creating these DAOs can exist in a sense where the mechanism can exist like with many other cryptocurrency projects where people can just come in. So whereas I was, I very much liked Coinfluence's approach from the beginning, I never felt it was unique what they were doing. You know, many blockchains and projects have these DAOs, or what they call decentralized autonomous organizations, so to speak. So, um, not only do they have them, but, uh, um, some have been quite successful at it, uh, launched on Ethereum, and they have a big jump on projects like what we can see in CoinFluent. So launching these things, um, you know, are very important. I think, you know, on a timely basis, right? So pushing it up, uh, whereas I understand, you know, why they probably need to do it because they need the funding to fund these, or what they believe will be good projects, which is kind of a problem because what it, what it seems to be suggested to me is that— oh, I'm sorry, or the people will get the vote on the project. So that part, it makes sense. But I do just feel like they could create this mechanism and do it anyway without— and then the funds be distributed at that point, you know, when the projects are presented, right? As opposed to them just being one kind of hub for— um, and so there are things I like about it. Like, I like how they're funding, um, you know, the, the, um Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, or rather, I like how the, uh, the ICO phases were done because what it means is that at certain levels they're only gonna— they're only gonna sell on the market at certain prices, right? Um, and what's that gonna do is it gives it a greater chance for the investors, the early stage investors, or no matter what stage you're at, to get a certain amount of returns, right? So, you know, in other words, what Coinfluence was It was kind of like the, the, um, uh, what was that project that did this first? Several have done it so far, but, um, when they launch, um, they're going to at these different phases put the cryptocurrencies on the market. Here it is right here. It is explained where they already raised over a million dollars. That's another thing I, I would think that raising over a million dollars They were saying something like they want to give each project $100,000 to get started. Well, here's the thing. I believe that with the funds raised, what they could have done is put it in certain phases where certain projects could be launching and we could get to see this play out to a certain degree and how successful it's going to be. And then that would, that would encourage more people to get in And then they can have phases to the ICOs where they're going to the next phase, the next phase, whilst using the funds available to build up the Coinfluence project. And this is similar to Pi Network, right? What Pi Network did was a little bit different, what Pi Network, but some of the things are very similar. All these projects are similar and they, they share something in common. Coinfluence, Pi Network, and our project BitcoinMYK, they're, they're just The approaches are a little bit different, but the idea is generally the same. So with Pi Network, they didn't raise funds from the community alike in that fashion. They went traditional means. And I believe as it came out like Silicon Valley, they raised about $500,000 to get started, right? Um, you know, from whether it was a venture capitalist or some private investors, uh, they were then able to Uh, you know, as many of you know, create something like 20+ million wallets, right? And they want to launch at 100 million, right? So they, they're, they want to be mega big. Now where they're smart in doing this is, um, um, by doing it this way, building up the value of the, of the project before trading starts. That way you don't see all these initial early dumps of people trying to— speculators trying to make a quick profit and get out, right? That's generally what happens, and that's why oftentimes projects don't want to do it that way. Um, it was a tough call for our project BitcoinMYK. I still think there are some mistakes we made and go ahead and start trading, right? But I thought that it was important that not only our project be transparent, but throughout all the phases, let the market decide the value of the project and not us. So by, you know, collecting all these funds early on, putting it in the project— excuse me— yes, it does fund these projects, but it also can create an opportunity for certain projects to kind of prop up their prices. Not saying CoinFluence is doing that or that Pi Network will do that, but it can create that. And so I think that could be a problem, right? I also think if you're creating a project of value, uh, at this stage in cryptocurrency with all the technology and development, you should bring something of value to the table. You should bring some type of, uh, uh, you know, already created project, right? Many developers create these projects and bring them, you know, bring them to the market, and they do it on their own dime, or they do it, uh, you know, with their own genius, right? And same thing with BitcoinNYK. We created our project. We didn't raise money to create it. We created ourselves, and then we brought it to the market. Now we're letting the market determine the value of it. Now Pi Network, kind of on a similar path, they um, um, have this working model through their, through their phone app, right? And where ads are shown, being shown to these 20 million plus, you know, active users, supposedly anyway. And in that, they're, they're, they're getting value and, and, and money from, right, the ads and stuff, right? So now they can turn around and take that money and support the project without an ICO. That's very similar to BitcoinNYK. BitcoinNYK uses a social network app to bring funds in to support the value of its project. Now, I think CoinFluences has made some issues here is they might need to get the development teams on board first, right? Um, also what was met with some skepticism is if you look at like these, you know, these celebrities supposedly are, you know, part of their project. Only evidence we've seen of one was Rich the Kid, and later it was some kind of dispute where he wasn't on board. So it's, it's caused some people I've spoken to in Crypto Curse to question the validity of these partnerships. Is it just you know, a way for them to get people to, to invest in the project. And overall, I think Coinfluence is probably an honest project. I don't, I don't think it's necessarily dishonest in that sense, but I, I do think that the project needs to understand that it's not bringing a great deal of uniqueness to cryptocurrency. And I'm not saying that there needs to be a certain limit to these type projects But there are projects who are not only have done this, but they are, um, you know, have had a certain amount of good success with it and, uh, are moving money over exchanges now, right? And so I kind of feel like the Coinfluence project, you know, whereas, uh, I like these type projects and I especially like the participation of everybody, uh, through affiliate marketing. I think that creates a more participatory economy and you know, and things like that. And I think that can be quite helpful. Uh, I still— I just don't, you know, feel there's anything unique about it. And by pushing the lunch dates up, I don't know if that's helping them, um, a great degree. I could be wrong, but, uh, it's something that's kind of, uh, you know, making me a little bit uneasy about that. Again, I do like the model of how they're, you know, doing the ICO, doing the phases that way. And I'll explain a little bit why I like this model is because what generally happens is in these ICO-based projects, people buy in at a certain price and they can spend a lot of money. And then what happens when the project goes to exchange, people start dumping it. Now all of the early stage investors, uh, you know, their, the value of their investments could be down 90% of what they paid for, right, overnight. And, and that's happened several times before with many projects, and, uh, it's not a good situation to be in. But, um, but again, Pi Network did it different, and Pi Network's not trading yet. It's still raising money, but not from the public. They are creating value from a working model, right? And that's that ad network. Let's take a look at BitcoinMYK.
