Crypto Haystack combs through the plethora of newly created or recently updated altcoins that fly under the radar for one reason or another, picking out the good, the bad, and the insane. This week’s collection looks at advertising, groundbreaking technologies, and dining on the blockchain.
Absolute Coin
This coin is a community takeover, meaning that the original coin, launched in 2018, has been abandoned by the creators and a group of volunteers has decided to revive it. Absolute aims to verify advertising through Proof of View (PoV) algorithm. Their aim is to replace the traditional advertising model with something called programmatic advert buying, where smart contracts match the needs of companies seeking to advertise with the right medium. Their PoV smart contract rewards people for viewing adverts and verifies how many people has actually seen the advert on the blockchain. Absolute states that they have 52% of the 7.5 million ABS coins available locked in masternodes, with each masternode receiving network fees as rewards.
This is a nice idea, and Heaven knows the traditional advertising model is broken, but whether it really needs a blockchain is debatable. The main benefit of the blockchain seems to be that viewer data will be immutable and publicly viewable, but is that really solving an existing problem? Are agencies lying to companies about how much their adverts are being viewed? Rewarding viewers in tokens is actually putting a middleman in the way rather than removing one, unless a genuine use case can be found for the tokens except for selling them, such as discounts on the products being advertised, which doesn’t seem to be the case.
ABS tokens are currently available from Graviex and STEX.
TecraCoin
TecraCoin is looking to commercialize scientific breakthroughs by creating a new technology investment fund. Beginning with graphene, the world’s strongest material, the group will invest in “the most daring, high technologies [sic]” and their applications, turning scientific creations into real-world applications and, eventually, profitable businesses. Through choosing “the right business partners”, the TecraCoin team claim that their investments will grow to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and that the company can be one of the few to rival Google or Facebook “in the next few years”.
TecraCoin holders will invest in technologies selected by the TeraCoin team using the TCR token. The money raised will then be used to commercialize the selected projects, including filing patents, with token holders rewarded as the project, ideally, makes money.
This is very much a high-risk, high-return project. It could well be that 99 of the 100 projects funded by TCR holders are absolute duds, but the one that makes it changes an aspect of engineering or industry forever. The focus is heavily, and we mean heavily, on graphene in the TecraCoin literature, to the point where it seems to be all they care about, or know about.
There’s much more about graphene than blockchain, and, apart from the TCR token, the purpose of a blockchain and its necessity to the project is not really explored. This isn’t one to go sinking your life savings into, but it might be worth a few bucks should graphene become the next carbon fiber.
TCR tokens are available through a public sale which is currently ongoing, priced at $1.50 per token.
GastroAdvisor
GastroAdvisor is trying to be Yelp on the blockchain, except without the fake reviews. GastroAdvisor connects participating restaurants with diners looking to eat out, allowing them to book tables on the platform and share the details with friends. After their visit, diners are then encouraged to leave certified reviews on the platform (and therefore the Ethereum blockchain) for which they receive FORK tokens. These tokens can then be spent on the platform in the manner of meals, products, discounts, or priority booking.
GastroAdvisor is actually a simple and effective idea that tackles a serious problem for both restaurateurs and diners – fake reviews. By only allowing diners who GastroAdvisor can certify visited an establishment to leave reviews, they will be able to ensure that only those who actually experienced the restaurant can comment on it.
If GastroAdvisor can convince enough restaurateurs to register with the platform, the prospect of receiving tokens for reviews which you can then spend immediately will be enticing. This proves the utility of the token, while the reviews being on the blockchain, as long as they are properly certified, ensures that companies cannot tamper with or bury bad ones.
The GastroAdvisor ICO starts on March 17 from their website, with the price TBC.
Food for Thought
We hope you enjoyed this week’s dig around the altcoin haystack in search of golden needles. If any of the above caught your eye, please make sure you conduct thorough research before throwing your hard earned money at them. One thing’s for sure, some of them will require hands made of graphene to hold on over the years.
