Disclaimer: Coins or Tokens will be reffered to as "Coins" as it makes it a lot easier to drag the whole lot of them on to the same cutting block.

START RANT

Shitcoins

With the recent increase in general hype surrounding cryptocurrency it has become apparent that companies are resorting to the basics when it comes to promoting their product. So much so, that it feels like time to step away from crypto, since it's turning into a pile of commercials with no actual product.

In essence, this is what crypto is. A product that isn't really anything. So, they make ads, campaigns and patreon pages to get your support for.. what, really?

I'm not here to tell you which coins are shit and which have an amazing future. Partly because you wouldn't believe me and partly because I wouldn't know. No one knows. What I can do, is tell you what my red flags are.
These red flags are abundant and spotted in most crypto, but how and when can play a part too.

Red flags

Sadly, I can't just put a simple list down. But I will explain what most red flags are based on.
Centralization, ownership, support and transparancy.

Most coins advertise. Which is normal. But the way the advertise matters and in recent days/weeks there has been an increase in "free" coins as a way of advertising.

Companies give you coins to tweet about them, follow them, share their link, etc..
Other companies give you a discount if you buy their coin early.
And yet other companies do not hand out early coins, nor do they have a stockpile of them to sell at the ready.
But what does this mean for the coin?

Marketcap

Here comes the most important thing to look at. The Marketcap.
When I launch my new coin called GARBAGE(GRB) I don't have a marketcap yet. This will be formed as soon as it is on the exchanges and people can buy/sell it.

Now comes the tricky part. When I allow people to buy my coin in advance (Before it's launched) I will see how interested people are. I will raise money. That total amount is my marketcap at launch, but when I sell each coin for 1ETH, I force a price on my product. A price that I just made up. Who's to say that my GRB is worth 1Eth each? You? Me?
The market does.
I could sell 100GRB for 1ETH and as soon as I launch, the price will plummet into the ground. (Ever notice a big red candle on charts at the start of the coins history?)

Those candles come from an overvalued coin, but they are overvalued because of all the tricks they use to get you to buy them early.
The only way, to prevent this from happening, is if you sell all your coins at launch. Meaning, when a company pre-mines or has a total supply before they launch, they let people donate money. Then they take the total supply and divide it among the money donated.

Ex: Total supply is 1000. 7 people donated 50, 3 people donated 150. Total donation is 800.
Donation/total supply=price, 800/1000= 0,8 Price for 1GRB = 0,8
Thus, the people who donated 50 get 62.5GRB/each and those with 150 get 187,5GRB/each.
If more people donated because they like the project and the donation reaches 5000, 1GRB will be worth 5

This is the only fair way to distribute a coin/token. Anything else, can be seen as abuse of the market and an attempt at manipulation of the price.

Centralization, ownership, support and transparancy

To come back to the red flags.. Any company setting a price or manipulating the price before launch, I see as untrustworthy. Sure, there have been coins doing this that are big at this very moment, but keep in mind that if you get a bonus because you are early, everyone who comes after you feels like they've been cheated.

Centralization and ownership:

-When they control the coins price at pre-sale (Setting 1ETH/1000SHITCOIN). How do they even know it's worth that much?
-When they keep control of part of the supply
-When their "blockchain, wirechain, crappy server backup, whatever" is controlled by them and only them

Support:

-When it's more important for them that you tweet about them, but they can't keep their website running
-When they advertise the launch, or pre-sale, but they fail to provide any of the crucial information. "GO FIND IT YOURSELF, YOU LAZY FUCK" is a very common reaction. (I'm paraphrasing)

Transparancy:

-"You'll see when we launch"
-"We have something amazing planned"
-"This will be huge"
-Think about what they say.. Really think about it. Most of them don't really say anything. How can you trust that, when you don't trust coins that have working products and are in development of more?

If anything, it would be great if I can get at least one person to stop following the masses and start thinking for himself to make smart choices.

END RANT

For anyone getting to the end, congratulations! I know I'm an awfull writer. Be sure to comment on both cryptocurrency and my lack in writing skills. Any pointers are appriciated.