So, I just thought I'd come in here to share my experience with Vericoin.
In short, I was new to crypto, bought in to VRC during the big pump at around 30k, as it looked like it had real promise as becoming a real currency.
During that time the devs were posting here nearly every day with updates, deadlines, road maps, the works.
Then the rollback happened.. I still believe that the devs made the best decision at the time and handled it well with the rollback etc. They did the best they could.
Since then though, they've been almost entirely absent. Very few posts, and the posts they have made have been vague at best. It really seems to me like they have given up on the coin and are just not wanting to go public with the fact as yet. Socal here has basically been the only person giving any updates at all on new developments, and even still they have been vague. So many things "nearly finished" for so long?? Where's the website? It's not hard to make a website like that. It should take maximum one day to completely rewrite the Vericoin website. iOS wallet? Yeah a but harder so I can understand it taking longer, but still it was "nearly done" weeks ago..
I honestly now believe that the devs have been stringing this out as long as they can while they unload their coins. Stringing along Socal in the process (or perhaps he is in on it and doing the same?).
If I was a betting man, and I am, I would bet that we will never see any more updates to VRC. The devs are done with it, they're gone. The only new stuff is coming from desperate bagholders trying to hold things together, and doing at least an ok job I'll admit.
One last question I have here which has puzzled me the whole time is this:
Why did pnosker transfer 200k VRC from his wallet to exchanges right after the rollback? Apparently this was to somehow protect the coin? But you would meet BTC on the exchanges to do that right? So why then? Where are the coins now? Have the devs released their wallet addresses recently to show they are still holding? Again, I'd bet that they have not.
Call it you favorite word "FUD", call it what you like. This has been my experience with Vericoin.
I wish you all the best of luck in your futures!
I fully understand your concerns as I share some as well. Just like you I am an investor and active member of the Vericoin community.
Now some points that need to be made clear.
I know there are tons of Alt coins out there and I make a point not to trash them, however I would exercise caution to some friends whom likewise have invested in various coins in the past few months, needless to say have lost a lot. Something clearly is wrong with the crypto market. We all want to succeed and back up a great projects yet to my disbelief most of these alt coins were just that fly by night projects. Dev here one day, gone the next. Hence my initial interest in Vericoin as this was the first time I saw active devs openly chatting and communicating with the public, via twitter, Google hang out and even show up in person at Shows.
I reached out the Pat / Doug and worked with them on various projects, branding, website of Vericoin. It does not take 1 day to make a site, it is a process. You see what's wrong, you research, you design comps, you get feedback, you make changes, you get team involved, more tweaks, then code, then QA. etc.
I personally met Pat / Doug and have worked with them, these guys are pros. They have wives/girlfriend they have lives and supporting family. From my initial impression they share one quality I love about creative people, they are passionate about what they do and I respect them for that. These guys are not going to pack up and leave as you put it.
The Hack on Mintpal clearly was a major blow which affected not only the coin but so many upcoming projects as they had to shift gears to repair the damages as well as some other attack on their servers. Clearly there are those who wish this coin not to succeed.
It is natural to worry about your investment as you should be, understand that with the amount of FUD that took place here past few weeks after the hack, I fully understand the concern. I did my best not to judge one initial investor who made tons of promises, promos, major parties, celebrities etc. I am not easily impressed, put up or shut up is my take. otherwise its BS.
As far as upcoming projects: I am sure these guys are working on upcoming features, Doug has voiced his desire for Decentralized aspect of this coin, and some projects they won't reveal yet.
For the past few days a few members have contributed in Major ways, promoting the coin on Radio, Bitcoin meet up groups, Launching supporting website, offering feedback/ ideas - This coin has a bright future, as a community we need to be patient, help and respect each other. No need for name calling, the last thing we need is to turn on each other.
Thanks Shinraven for breaking this down so well, I appreciate it man. This guy is doing wonders for VeriCoin, all the wonderful designs for the website, the logo, the new UI coming. It's fantastic work, kudos to him.
To address Monkeys concerns:
Listen guys I understand that in crypto the knee jerk reaction is to claim scam/dump, this is NOT the case here and we would prefer you honestly ask yourself if we are those type of people. You would actually be shocked how many times we have to convince people this is not a scam, even after doing all the things Shinraven mentioned.
Rule of thumb, if the devs are showing their face and names, they are generally not scammers/dumpers. If we wanted to have some big plot to dump or whatever we would have never revealed our names because we would know there would people after us essentially. It doesn't make any sense.
I'm probably not going to say this again because we have already moved forward but to be clear. The hack screwed up our timelines. The rollback took a couple days, getting the network stable took a few more, combating the FUD and conspiracy theories took a few more and is ongoing. The supernodes were DDOSed multiple times, which isn't really that big of a problem, but it is when your network is new like it was post rollback. We are beyond all this now so it's all ok.
However we did realize a few things:
1. ETA's usually cause more problems than they solve. The reason being, as you can see from the mintpal fiasco we cannot predict certain scenarios especially more extreme ones, and in crypto if you miss a deadline or the release is incomplete on the deadline, there is typically a dump. This is not because we didn't work but because we set deadlines that we were not able to meet for many reasons usually. Honestly there were multiple nights that I was up till 5am trying to meet a deadline, it's not a good approach.
2. So if you need a strict ETA for investment reasons you are not going to get it here. With the help of Socal and Scott Allyn we have devised a new system for being clear with everyone about where we are, but without setting ourselves up for something we cannot always predict.
http://vericoinnews.info/vericoin-roadmap/3. See it from our eyes for a moment. We put blood and sweat into VeriCoin and nearly watched it get killed by some hacker. Thankfully they were not successful and we hacked the hacker essentially. It's also now not possible to hack that much coin. However aside from the draining aftermath we had to recover ourselves, physically and emotionally. In addition Pat's grandfather passed away, Dave moved into a new house and so on. You add all these things up and yeah our schedule fell behind and we have been less active in the forums, but that is nothing compared to everything else.
4. Now we are coming back and stronger than ever! Our network is stronger than it ever has been, 22 million staking today! Our community and coin persevered one of the most devastating attacks in crypto history! The community has rallied in a major price trough to build a news site devoted to VeriCoin, VRC Radio has a third DJ, the new website is out (big collaborative effort). All promised projects are very actively being developed in addition to totally new ones that move the ball forward even more! We need a strong community to build a strong currency and we have that! I say if you think you have what it takes, join us!
