So the price is going up, which is great. I'd like though to ask a question that another person has asked on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BitcoinRed1/posts/162452044497618): who's behind this currency project and what are its details?
I think it's great that there obviously are people on this forum that are a part of the project & committed helping the nascent community. But here's the thing: the entire story looks quite hastily put together, and there are red (yes
) flags from which I can see why there are posters who say the entire thing is hype. Here they are, in my view:* The site http://bitcoinred.io is extremely vague. The only pieces of substance that I see are, first, the information about supply, which mostly just reflects bitcoin & is a more-or-less arbitrary decision; and the shorter block time & smaller transaction fee, which is great but I suspect these attributes are inherited from Ethereum rather than some terribly new features.
* The rest is either standard optimistic verbiage for a new product that does not give any actual specifics (strong brand identity; appeal to the young generation; three steps to market integration; "if BTCRED is ever mainstreamed, it could easily become a medium of exchange"; "Our long-term goal is to have BTCRED accepted EVERYWHERE", and so on)
* The description of the project's goals fluctuated: first it was "use colored coins to express how you feel," now it is "it's time for Bitcoin to retire". Which is it? In fact, the first makes little sense from a monetary POV (what if a person I'm paying feels blue and doesn't want to accept my angry red coins?), while the second is a fine sentiment but there's a whole lot more substance that needs to gel for the goal to be realistic.
* Perhaps most alarmingly, when asked who was behind the token, the user Kirra95 responded with links https://twitter.com/hashtag/redteam?f=users&vertical=default&src=hash and https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedTeam?src=hash. This says very little -- there are a bunch of uses for the #RedTeam hashtag, and among the first that come up are a software company and a cyber security company, mutually unrelated, neither of which says anything about developing a cryptocurrency. Quite clever, since if one doesn't pay attention one can easily think there is something more there.
* Similarly, the only google hit on "BTCRED Foundation" is the BTCRED website.
* Finally, as another poster noted, the website and the currency look like an imperfect copy of eBTC (https://ebitcoin.org/).
So the project does seem like it truly is largely hype, aimed to attract n00bs and speculators (I'm both) rather than people who want to use the currency for commercial transactions. It is quite intelligently managed hype, though -- and I could ascribe it to the need to establish a basis for the project in the current competitive market while the details are still under development. However, if I wanted to start a scam/copycat crypto I would proceed quite similarly. If this is true, I'd predict that any answer to this post will be optimistically vague, or that the question will be ignored like the one on Facebook has been for the last three days.
Anyways, I've invested a bit and if I lose my money I don't mind. I'm still learning how cryptos work & whoever is behind this knows more than I do, so I'll learn enough following the fate of this token that I can write it off as tuition. Indeed, seeing the latest jump I may even be able to turn a profit. But I'd rather profit from a product that's useful to people rather than just to speculators.
In short, need more details, more exchanges, and above all potential merchants, and I wish you (us) all the best of luck.
