I don't know why, but I've always had a thing for the underdog.
Protip: That's not an attitude that gets you too far when investing in crypto. Forget about the underdog in web3; follow the biggest influencoors and stack all cash in the biggest plays with the right connections. I'll do that as well — to pull enough profits out this bull run so that I never have to do it again.
But my nature won't allow me to overlook what I see as a good project that just isn't getting any respect right now. Maybe they don't have the right connections to market properly. Maybe they have a personal aversion to the sliminess of web3 marketing. Either way, I don't care. I'm actually here for the tech even as I fight my own greed demons that tell me it's all about money and that's it.
Mysterium is a $5M mcap dVPN project that isn't even listed on Coingecko as a DePIN project. This is true even though $MYST has been around for much longer than many of the projects on the list. Many Coingecko DePIN projects don't even have a working product, while Mysterium has a suite of VPNs for you to choose from! It's insane to me.
I have tried every dVPN I can find, and Mysterium is the only one with a good UX/UI combo. The runner up Sentinel failed because of its confusing interface and the fact it couldn't keep a connection. Like, when I say Mysterium is number one by a longshot, it's not even close. Yet Sentinel and other half-baked projects are promoted by my price aggregator of choice, Coingecko.
With all of the advice to buy red, sell green, it's still hard to buy a project that no one has verified is legit. What if Mysterium never gets its marketing legs under it? It could very well just poke along, providing good service but eating me up in opportunity cost because the idiot traders in crypto won't allow product performance to equate to project performance. Sure, I made it to 7 figures last bull. But in case you haven't noticed, 7 figures ain't shit these days. I have to keep making successful trades.
After a bit of mind bowling I say fuck it and put my bid in regardless. Isn't that exactly what crypto is all about anyway — freedom of expression? The financial equivalent of being able to say screw you to every system and make a living doing exactly what you wanted as long as you learned the tech? The literal embodiment of "voting with your wallet"?
So yea, I'll be doing the DCA thing into $MYST during the bull run. At bull's end, I'll take those tokens into BTC and USD, regardless of how many Xs I get. That's conviction.
Now let's talk about why I love this project so much. Maybe we won't need any big influencoor to pump it if enough people see its value legitimately.
Why I Like Mysterium
First of all, because I use Mysterium and it works.
Mysterium is a dVPN, or a VPN service with decentralization of its nodes built into the system. This way, if some big brother agency comes to the company wanting information about an IP, the company legitimately can't give it to them. The nodes are not in one place; information is directed through your Swiss-based laptop and my Burundi-based iPhone and her Nigerian-based Android.
Customer information is protected, and ideally, there's no one to arrest or blackmail to get it. This is the future of privacy.
Mysterium isn't the only project that does dVPN, but it's the only one I've found that actually works. As mentioned above, other projects can't connect for extended periods and/or have a clunky experience, like you have to get a comp sci degree just to use the shit.
Second, Mysterium accepts crypto.
For those who want to dox themselves to big brother by using a credit card, that option is available. For those who want a AAA VPN experience without the useless experience of thinking you're protected when you're not because you paid with a damn credit card, Mysterium has that option, too. You can pay in $MYST or $ETH. As long as you pay from a siloed wallet, you are truly anonymous for all but the absolute top tier of hacker.
Third, Mysterium has been around for a while, through bear markets and bull markets.
We know this isn't a project that's just here for the pump. The devs aren't larps. They may actually believe in the mission of web3 to protect the average person. There's no way to know, but their actions have shown this for as long as web3 has been a real thing.
Fourth, the community in Mysterium socials is fully organic and committed to the idea of privacy in web3.
Fifth, the project is sustainable. The entire max supply is already deployed and you earn $MYST from letting the network use your unused bandwidth.
A Perfect DCA Candidate
At a low market cap ≈ $5M, sustainable tokenomics and a passionate community, $MYST is actually the perfect candidate for a slow DCA. I keep forgetting that I don't have to make big, singular buys all at once. Damn influencoors and accident rich tradoors — I can't help but be affected by their loser mindset even though I try to ignore it and stick to fundamentals.
I can't help but hope this underdog project will see the light of day from a price perspective, but if it doesn't, that's ok. The entirety of crypto, scams and all, are being held up on the shoulders of the few devs who are building legit products in the space. Without them, there would be nothing but scams and no one would come here, because sports betting is way easier and at least you have a shot of a fair outcome.
Bow down to the actual builders in the space. Underdogs? Not for long.
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