What Goes Wrong With Altcoin Launches And How To Avoid The Problems
What Goes Wrong With Altcoin Launches And How To Avoid The ProblemsPosted By darren on Feb 18, 2014 | Macrocoin Had No Plan After LaunchThe good news is that there are a ton of altcoin launches taking place all the time. The bad news is that many of these launches are destined for failure – right from the very beginning. Most altcoin launches take place on Bitcointalk, in special threads reserved as announcements. These threads turn chaotic quickly, especially when ANYTHING at all goes wrong. If most altcoin developers were to take a few precautions, much of these issues could probably be avoided. Let’s take a look at what goes wrong with altcoin launches, and how it can be avoided. Having a relatively stress-free and successful launch is one of the easiest ways to make sure that your altcoin can succeed over the long run. Make Sure Your “Pre-mine’ Is For A Very Good ReasonMiners hate when developers pre-mine. They feel it cuts into their potential share of early profits. The practice tends to be tolerated when there’s a good explanation for why it’s happening. Generally, a small pre-mine that’s used to offer bounties for pools and faucets and development tasks is good. However, even a few small ‘test blocks‘ when not properly explained to the mob can be enough to cast a dark shadow over an entire launch. Best practice: thoroughly explain exactly HOW MUCH is being pre-mined and explain exactly FOR WHAT. Be As Detailed As Possible With Your Specifications And Technical InformationTechnical specs aren’t something that can be overlooked with altcoins. In fact, they’re very, very important. Threads that don’t list any of the basic information are doomed to failure because it sends a clear message to the audience that you’re not serious about your launch and may not even know many of the technical aspects of altcoin design. Best Practice: thoroughly outline every aspect of your altcoin’s specs. Don’t leave anything to imagination. List your target difficulty, block rewards, ports, and nodes. This details are crucial so making sure they’re correct will make all the difference. Cryptoapples Experienced A TakeoverDon’t Piss Everyone OffThe developers of CryptoApples experienced a rare takeover of their altcoin when they failed to deliver on several launch attempts. CryptoApples is now experience direct competition to their own coin with a fork of their code. Best Practice: don’t piss everyone off! Launch on time, with working code. Make Sure Your Github Source And Your Wallets All WorkA large number of altcoin launches bog down quickly when no wallets work. Linux, Mac, and Windows wallets should all be tested and working before launch. If the wallets don’t work, the coin has very little future. Even with the support of miners, wallets are needed to make people want the currency. Best practices: compile and test all wallets before release. Have A Plan To Keep Momentum Going At Launch And AfterMany altcoin devs don’t seem to have a plan for the coin once it’s been launched. They may be making coins out of curiosity and then hoping for the best. Without plans to spread the coin – only a few miners will be interested and they will quickly move on to other projects as soon as they get bored and the difficulty rises. It’s common for many altcoin miners to jump from launch to launch. In order for an altcoin to spread serious miners are needed. If they give up on right away, the next generation of users won’t materialize. It’s a delicate balance, but when developers get it right, their altcoin really springs to life. Life After LaunchingNo matter how bad a launch goes – or how well – it’s life after the launch that remains important. Altcoins are not going to become popular without a lot of support from community. Building a community is the number one skill that has to be accounted for after the initial launch. This is where most altcoins really go wrong. Best practices: have a detailed plan for your altcoin, including what happens after the launch. It’s All About CommunityOnce your altcoin has launched the most important skill is community building. Without a strong community there’s little chance that your altcoin will become a huge success. It’s up to the dev and early adopters to get behind the coin so it has a chance to grow. Community building cannot be overlooked or taken for granted. Certainly there is a huge pile of dead altcoins that prove that to be a bad idea. The people who use your cryptocurrency need to become impassioned brand builders. If they’re willing to tell their grandma about your coin then you have a winner on your hands! Altcoins are a fascinating phenomena. With the right launch and proper followup any one of them could grow to be very popular.
