Recently, I was contacted by a member of the board of ApeCoin, which is the BAYC token’s equivalent of a board of directors I guess. They asked for some feedback on some proposal and I offered my thoughts on a call. I wanted to write about some of the things discussed openly, since I thought they were interesting topics, but particularly because they were topics that “coin voting governance” is extremely poorly suited to properly solving.
It seems somewhat akin to the tf2bp inflation debacle. A change from centralized to decentralized voting (majority being retail traders) severely crippled the TF2 economy, increasing key price from 2.33 refined to over 60 refined. The inflation decimated the market; everything else was basically valued as worthless. What once sold for 30 grand now sits on virtual shelves for 2000 or less.
The easiest and fastest way to get there was through voting the key prices skyward; long term inflation be damned (or thought out). It's far easier to cheat off of the smartest person in class and get the same grade, right? Instead of working hard to become a learned and scrupulous trader, I can just natively increase my inventory's worth!
The unlearned person will be initially successful, but in a room where the majority didn't DTOR, the class average falls heavily. A lack of knowledge, foresight, experience, and equanimous (etc.) thought guides people to the easiest, fastest solution possible, which wreaks havoc long term. Is this the fault of retail, or rather the lack of foresight of the owners, who allowed such a system to be introduced in the first place? Is everyone catering to those core emotions, most systems set in place to gain the easiest and most effective solution aligned to their goals? Is it just gross incompetency of a multi billion dollar company? It's truly depressing either way.
Only those who are far beyond "made it" (don't need anything from you) and have a big heart can or will tell you the truth.
The people who 'vote' for the "free money" coins will see their nominal holdings rise while their dollar holdings fall once insiders can dump. Somebody credible set it out in black and white, in advance, so no tears when they get the predicted outcome.
Question: why do you let them do it to you? Is it emotional (greed / vice), or cognitive (can't work out the proposal seems to benefit you while enriching others)?
Anyone marvel that when the masses are given the tools to build a free financial system their defects empower a new ruling class to financially rape them, perhaps worse than in TradFi? Pretty depressing tbh
Anyway, I appreciate the people with the heart and courage to speak up even though it falls on deaf ears, cheers mate
Interesting thought provoking read on staking. My 2 sats as a total outsider. I think staking should be an operation of performing DAO functions. Wanna vote? Stake for the session and get tokens. Wanna submit and AIP? Stake until reviewed and get tokens. Wanna do nothing? don't stake and don't get rewarded.
I guess YugaLabs are clever marketers, but less clever crypto natives
Their token has been issued and designed by HorizenLabs, therefore I guess they did not focus on the use cases for NFT holders, but only on the incentives behind the Ape token
I hereby nominate Cobie for Alpha Ape, awarding him sole governance rights over all the Bored Ape DAOs. He will take us to a boring moon, at least a moon and not this shit for brains Zoo we are in.
P.S. I will be in line to scratch his back by staking before all the other apes and get to whispet in his ear.
Uncommon common sense, thanks for expressing it so eloquently
harambe didn't die for this
It seems somewhat akin to the tf2bp inflation debacle. A change from centralized to decentralized voting (majority being retail traders) severely crippled the TF2 economy, increasing key price from 2.33 refined to over 60 refined. The inflation decimated the market; everything else was basically valued as worthless. What once sold for 30 grand now sits on virtual shelves for 2000 or less.
The easiest and fastest way to get there was through voting the key prices skyward; long term inflation be damned (or thought out). It's far easier to cheat off of the smartest person in class and get the same grade, right? Instead of working hard to become a learned and scrupulous trader, I can just natively increase my inventory's worth!
The unlearned person will be initially successful, but in a room where the majority didn't DTOR, the class average falls heavily. A lack of knowledge, foresight, experience, and equanimous (etc.) thought guides people to the easiest, fastest solution possible, which wreaks havoc long term. Is this the fault of retail, or rather the lack of foresight of the owners, who allowed such a system to be introduced in the first place? Is everyone catering to those core emotions, most systems set in place to gain the easiest and most effective solution aligned to their goals? Is it just gross incompetency of a multi billion dollar company? It's truly depressing either way.
This is bullish (for McDonald's)
Only those who are far beyond "made it" (don't need anything from you) and have a big heart can or will tell you the truth.
The people who 'vote' for the "free money" coins will see their nominal holdings rise while their dollar holdings fall once insiders can dump. Somebody credible set it out in black and white, in advance, so no tears when they get the predicted outcome.
Question: why do you let them do it to you? Is it emotional (greed / vice), or cognitive (can't work out the proposal seems to benefit you while enriching others)?
Anyone marvel that when the masses are given the tools to build a free financial system their defects empower a new ruling class to financially rape them, perhaps worse than in TradFi? Pretty depressing tbh
Anyway, I appreciate the people with the heart and courage to speak up even though it falls on deaf ears, cheers mate
Interesting thought provoking read on staking. My 2 sats as a total outsider. I think staking should be an operation of performing DAO functions. Wanna vote? Stake for the session and get tokens. Wanna submit and AIP? Stake until reviewed and get tokens. Wanna do nothing? don't stake and don't get rewarded.
I guess YugaLabs are clever marketers, but less clever crypto natives
Their token has been issued and designed by HorizenLabs, therefore I guess they did not focus on the use cases for NFT holders, but only on the incentives behind the Ape token
Quite sad to see it unroll in this way
Great point of view and great content as always
Thx cobie
Its genius, yet it feels like a slap in the face!
Every article you write makes me rethink about my own crypto investments. What a genius idiot!
I hereby nominate Cobie for Alpha Ape, awarding him sole governance rights over all the Bored Ape DAOs. He will take us to a boring moon, at least a moon and not this shit for brains Zoo we are in.
P.S. I will be in line to scratch his back by staking before all the other apes and get to whispet in his ear.
You are brave! hahah Thanks for sharing your hones view!
*angry ape noises*
great piece, spot-on analysis! It's a pity that the word 'staking' means so much (and so little) in 2022.
As always, it's a pleasure to read anything you write.
amazing writeup, commenting for clout from these left curved apes who only read comments
Thanks for taking the time to put these thoughts in writing. It’s really helpful to have your voice in this space.