Either/or could damage a coin, Judge. I've been in the crypto game for over 3 years and personally know a number of wealthy individuals and organized investment groups that would not touch a coin with over a 4% premine. Like I said - fair or not, most seasoned traders will never give it a chance. These guys base everything on data and specifications and they control 90% of the capital in this market.
I see your point and the majority of use cases support premines being abused. My point is that when they deliver on the eco system and wallet innovations the UTILITY of the coin will over ride any of the notions of the premine. If the eco system was out today we would not even be having this discussion. The money would be pouring in by the truckloads.
To me the premine is irrelevant. Initial investors who use the premine as an investment measure are irrelevant to the long term growth of the coin. What will matter is getting the eco system up and running. If they use part of the premine to help with coding the eco system then it is money well spent.
This is not to disparage the investors who think premines are bad. In many cases they are. In most cases they are. Silk coin is not any shit coin. They have delivered so far and will continue to do so. If the investors who view premines are bad choose not to invest then I say respectfully that is your choice. You are missing out on an opportunity but you have to go with your trading rules. Having those investors would prop the price now but it would only be a prop since the ultimate value of the coin is the eco system and not the investors who value a no premine.
Judge Crypto
You may be correct that delivery of the proposed eco-system will negate the premine - it is an unprecedented scenario wherein a developer of a currency also innovates to that degree so it's difficult to say for sure if that would be the case. Unfortunately, there is an extended history of developers promising big things and not following through. Whether the SilkCoin developer will or will not follow through on their promises is yet to be seen and, in reality, nobody other than the developer themselves can claim the developer's intentions. I've seen people assuring everybody he will deliver and I've seen posts from people certain he's a scammer - both claims are equally ridiculous at this stage. The actions of previous developers can not be used as a tool to accurately assess this developer. While it's always smart to be cautious when banking on such a major unknown, it's still a calculated gamble just like any other investment.
My entire point remains that, at least until the eco-system is complete and implemented (as a developer myself this is a major task that should not and cannot be rushed - quality takes time) we're looking at a continued slide in value with nothing to stop it. Right now, major investors (the people you need to keep a coin's market cap above even $100k) will never invest in this coin and smaller investors will grow impatient and continue to jump ship to the next hyped up coin. By the time the eco-system is market-ready, the market cap would be so low it would render the premine irrelevant anyway (as the dev could have bought up all of the coins in circulation for a few thousand dollars anyway).
I would never classify a coin as doomed until it takes it's last breath but, unless there is another major release on the horizon to keep people intrigued, there isn't enough money to go around here - the value of SilkCoin will crash. Opinions, feelings, intuition, and trust can always be factors in the investments you make but this particular situation can be reduced down to an equation. If the value completely crashes, it's possible nothing will be able to recover it. Also, a depressed market destroys motivation from the developer's perspective. Something needs to be done beyond the promise of the upcoming eco-system - everybody is already aware of that and we're fresh off the release of the whitepaper yet the value continues to slide due to the factors I have laid out.
From my perspective, there are very few options here. The easiest option would be destroyed the extra premined coins to bring down the percentage to the original specification - this would help attract a new class of investors that may be interested in getting involved. While the premine still may be too high for some of the really big players, people like myself would be willing to consider making a play at that point. Another option is that the eco-system is production-ready and released before the end of the month. While I find this to be highly unlikely due to the obvious complexity of such a project, perhaps the developer has been working on it for some time and it's release is close. This may be enough to overshadow the premine and would also lay to rest any lingering doubts regarding the developer's intentions and capabilities. Without seeing any of his previous work or knowing who he is, it's difficult to feel confident (as is typically the case).
We're in a market where too many people have been burned far too many times. People have a hard time trusting developers - that's just a fact. Just because you trust him doesn't mean everybody does or even should. There just isn't enough here, Judge, to continue to support the current value (let alone raise the value) - I'm just telling you what I know. If there are other suggestions I would certainly be interested in hearing them - I'm just not sure what they would be. Like I mentioned earlier, if SilkCoin just continues down the current path it will crash down to nothing and grind to a halt. Again, this would be a shame because it's clear a lot of dedication has gone into this project from both the developer and the community.