... and here we are with the last of the CoinList crowdsales for the year. This year saw quite a number of projects conduct their first public offerings on CoinList and it although all of them are decent multiples up on the purchase prices, time will tell if any of them are a huge hit. Past crowdsales in previous years have included FLOW and Solana... and those are doing pretty decently in comparison to their original public sale price! ... and despite the reputation for pretty poor customer service (don't expect a quick answer... I asked a simple question a few months ago and had no resolution yet... so, I'm thankful that I didn't have a really serious and urgent question!), they do list some pretty thoughtfully chosen and well-researched token projects. So, that long term sort of outlook is the thing that keeps drawing me back to participating in the token sales on CoinList.

The year closes out with a infrastructure style project named Agoric... these sorts of projects are my favourite types to back. I'm not particularly keen on backing specific dApp tokens... but projects that ease the transition to a blockchain future are the ones that I think will have lots of room for growth and usage. Of course, if you pick the right dApp token, you can definitely expect a much bigger return... but I still like the infrastructure type projects as a broader sort of investment.

So, the last year or so has seen the dearth of skilled programmers and developers in Solidity and other blockchain languages. Developers are in short supply in any case, and in the newer blockchain languages... well, this is even more pronounced. Agoric aims to alleviate this bottleneck by creating a system where developers can program smart contracts in a modified version of a more widely known language (Javascript).

This would allow for developers to program in a more familiar language, hopefully with gains in productivity and security. The Cosmos IBC allows the smart contracts to be easily ported and interact with other blockchains which has the effect of reducing the number of different types of languages that developers will need to proficient in.

Agoric will be a two token blockchain, with the the BLD token on the CoinList sale being the governance and security token, whilst the RUN token is the "gas" token for the Agoric blockchain. Staked and locked BLD generates RUN to enable transactions on Agoric.

For this CoinList sale, we have the familiar two round option. One round will be at hte lower price with a later start to the release. Both tokens rounds have the 12 month linear release that is characteristic of the CoinList sales and like the last round, there are now additional payment options in the form of ALGO and SOL.

One interesting thing to note is that locked tokens will be automatically staked, much like the FLOW tokens were done. This is pretty nice, as it allows you easily recover your initial outlay just from the staking rewards and not have to worry about a huge tank in price when the tokens finally unlock!

Another interesting thing to note is the fact that South Korea has joined the list of prohibited jurisdictions for taking part in the sale. Strange... South Korea seems to be a hotbed of crypto investment... or at least, that is what I had thought!

Now... looking at the token distribution. I'm not really that happy about this. There is a huge chunk of tokens that have already unlocked at the start of November 2021! Which is a good 8 months before the first unlock of the Round 1 tokens. Hmmm... not keen about that. Still, I do think that this is a worthwhile project and I will be putting money into this!

... however, these are the potential VC and private backers that will be dumping on us for the next half a year! Lots of familiar names there!

You know what... it has been a little bit of time since I saw such a reassuring team line-up! I mean, these are not random anons... or 20 year-olds with a slightly inflated resume. These seem to be older and more reliable team leads... and there is even some of the "soft" fields represented publicly (partner programs).... plus, they have listed economists and security leads! Wow... this might actually be the beginning of some serious-minded teams starting to approach development on blockchains and not just garage operations!

Colour me very interested in backing Agoric. It will be my first experience of the CoinList sales in the new Australian time zone. Hoepfully, they aren't too much at weird hours of the night!

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

Handy Crypto Tools

Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
Kucoin: My second choice in exchanges, many tokens listed here that you can't get on Binance!
FTX: Regulated US-based exchange with some pretty interesting and useful discounts on trading and withdrawal fees for FTT holders. Decent fiat on-ramp as well!
MXC: Listings of lots of interesting tokens that are usually only available on DEXs. Avoid high gas prices!
Huobi: One of the largest exchanges in the world, some very interesting listings and early access sales through Primelist.
Gate.io: If you are after some of the weirdest and strangest tokens, this is one of the easiest off-chain places to get them!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
Stoic: A USD maximisation bot trading on Binance using long-term long strategies, powered by the AI/human system of Cindicator.
StakeDAO: Decentralised pooled staking of PoS assets.
Poloniex: One of the older regulated exchanges that has come into new ownership. I used to use it quite a lot, but have since stopped.
Bitfinex: Ahhh... another oldie, but a goodie exchange. Most noted for the close affiliation with USDT and the Basic "no-KYC" tier!