Giveaway as a Token Distribution strategy

in #token8 years ago

A recent phenomena emerged, where new projects sell tokens within seconds of a crowdsale launch - and most of those tokens end up in hands of a few whales.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a couple of strong hands holding onto a large stake, however a narrow distribution might not be optimal for a project where the token serves as utility, or life blood if you will, of the network.

A hypothetical example of such network would be a platform for content creators, where the token is used as a social currency, as well as a mean to pay for things like storage. A good initial distribution would help with bootstrapping user adoption, increase potential monetary velocity and hopefully accelerate growth.

This post proposes token giveaway as a potential vehicle for widening of the initial token distribution, and explores some synergies in doing so.

Without a doubt, one of the most valuable assets Steem has is the community. If we are to give tokens away, we should gift them to you.

Who gets the tokens?

We would like to reach out as many people as possible, while avoiding spammers and inactive users. We also need to be mindful of the wealth inequality. It is hard to distribute the token fairly, as we need to rely on quantifiable metrics. The simplest proposal is to use Steem Power holdings as a proxy.

First, we need to set some constraints, on which users to exclude from the distribution.

Having a min threshold eliminates bot-created accounts, and accounts that haven't contributed to Steem in a meaningful way (either trough posting or as stakeholders). It also dis-incentivizes spammers from creating more accounts, and causing further damage to Steem's account creation faucet. As a bonus, it might also have some positive market pressure, when people buy some Steem and power it up to reach the min threshold.

We should also impose an upper cap on SP > Token conversions. If we don't do this, the whales will end up with most of the tokens, which defeats the purpose of the giveaway.

And lastly, we should exclude all accounts that haven't been active in the past few months.

Example:

SP$ value
Min100$200
Max50k$50,000

This yields a distribution that includes nearly 10,000 Steemians.

newplot.png

You can play with the chart interactively here. The output data is also available on GitHub.

Multiple Snapshots

One improvement over the existing model, is to have multiple snapshot events, and then take aggregate (avg) results. For example, we could have 3 snapshots taken, one in the past, and 2 in the future (at unannounced dates).

By doing so, we would expand the distribution to users that join in the future, as well as incentivize people to hold Steem Power long term.

Feedback Welcome

Does this model make sense?
How can we improve it?
Do you have any ideas for alternate models?

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Lots of good ideas here. Im all for some type of reward for those in between a certain threeshold it helps make people stay invested in the platform. Though yes probably better of we can go on based on activity amount of steem vs reputation. I think this is a great idea.

We must create incentives for holding not just based on the huge upsurge in steem price over the past few months. Saying that the economics of sbd sp and steem should ensure this anyways. This hf has been awesome and I thank the people who developed this hf to a form of platform based egalitarianism

First of all, I agree one of the stipulations should be that the account is active over the last N days/ weeks/ months.

From there, tie the distribution algorithm to the number of "unique upvotes" that an account receives from accounts above X rep that are still active (over the last Y months), multiplied by the weighted account SP (with a cap at Z SP).

Better yet, give unique votes that came from longer ago more weight (12 months ago could be weighted at 1.0, 11 months at 0.95, 10 at 0.9, etc.), so that it's harder to game it by creating new accounts to upvote oneself and also rewards people who've shown dedication to the platform.

Speaking of which, ENGAGEMENT with the platform should also be rewarded, so # of posts for the account could also be factored into the formula.

What does this all measure in the end?

The highest scoring accounts will be those that have had the most engagement with the platform, who've had the most unique accounts upvote them, and have stuck it out the longest with the platform. It's hard to game because of the "time since vote" weighting (an alternative solution is to only count votes from accounts that are N days old as a "unique vote") and the required rep (let's say something like 45, or so) to qualify as a "unique vote".

It should be obvious if an account gets hundreds of upvotes from hundreds of newly created accounts with 45+ reps (presumably from a few whale upvotes) that someone is trying to game it -- these could be flagged (either automatically or manually) and counted out of the distribution algorithm.

hi @james..like your intro about yourself "...market trader by day and party animal at night" in Nigerian cliche,we say "body no be firewood" just followed,joined recently...i need guys like you with influence ..feel free to follow back sir.

Thanks @arizonawise.

I gave you a follow and I'll make sure to check out what ya got :)

Great idea.
Reward should be every month.
So even you have few SP you know you can earn something every month by participating.

I like the sound of this, seems like a positive step in encouraging and rewarding people on this platform. Hopefully this can be implemented!

This is actually a proven concept in the world of business called 'Endowed Progress.' It basically shows that if you give someone something for free - they will use that free inertia to go on and make a purchase that they never would have done before. Say a coffee company has those 'Buy 5-
Get 1 free stamp cards, well Marketing studies have shown that if they stamp 2 holes for your first purchase then you are 60% more likely to buy the extra 3 to fill out the card. In another instance - if a waitress brings you a small chocolate with your bill then you tend to tip her 20% more if she would not have done so. This concept is also called reciprocity - and generally mean that those given free coins will in turn pay for more in the future - and the flow of good karma continues :)

Why not create a token where there's a maximum amount of money an individual can put into it. Not sure if that'd be too tough on creators raising enough money, but it sure would help with volatility!

Because then that individual will just send crypto from multiple addresses :P

good posting

You can release the tokens like they telecast episode. Also you can create riddles and let participents win it . This would also ignite curiousity and let the best win. Just a thought.

Follow me at @honeychum

A lottery. With qualifications to enter. Leave it up to chance who gets what.

Excellent post and suggestions in there. I really appreciate the thought relating to the SP thresholds, it totally makes sense to me as the role of our platform is on some levels to share the token and amplify its tradability. This model has the potential to greatly improve the situation.

Golding Steem Power is really essential for all of us and for the platform to succeed on the long run. Thanks a bunch for sharing your precious thoughts with us. Great call.

Namaste :)

Similar to what @ak892n says on views.

Doing it based on rep seems unfair with cases as mentioned above. Doing on steem will just replicate the whale 1%.

Views cannot be accurately measured by a blockchain, and thus cannot be used to allocate rewards.

We already have giveaway strategy. We vote everyday to determine how reward pool should be distributed.

I prefer give those money to authors who put some effort, and produced something valuable for the platform. Otherwise, that would turn into another SteemSports.

Interesting idea. Instead of stake (how much vests someone has), we could look at how many vests someone earned. This would limit the distribution to successful content creators, which might be just what we want.

So screw the investors who are the very reason steem is worth anything at all ?

I think the winning solution would be to make investors happy, as well as genuine creators. Those bring sparkle and diamonds to all. Unfortunately I still see so many absolutely neglectable posts done with no effort at all, and even fake ones with stolen pics, seriously rape the pool. I invest fiat money in my posts and it makes me puke to see that happen...

I think you have misunderstood what I said. IMO we do not need additional giveaway strategy, because whole Steem is one big giveaway.

I'm not sure you've read the original post. Perhaps I can put it into different terms (albeit slightly incorrect): The idea is about a sharedrop of tokens (coins) from a newly created chain onto Steem users.

I read it before I made my first post, but I have to admit, I misunderstood it completely.

Sorry for confusion.

Well, maybe release tokens in waves. Some on date 1, others on date 2, the last ones on date 3, etc. Should help increase awareness and let non-whales and everyone participate too.

My two cents

Upvoted and resteemed the post, too. :)

That's so good, Thanks for all of this important info, All new steemians should read this good post

This comment has received a 0.07 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @hamzaoui.

This post received a 23% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @furion! For more information, click here!

I absolutely would like to see the token distributions widened outside of the hands of only the whales. The common steemian needs an opportunity to get these, or else it really isn't fair - you know what I mean?

Excellent write up.

Best Regards,
@abn

Congratulations @furion!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:

  • Upvotes - Ranked 3 with 843 upvotes
  • Pending payout - Ranked 2 with $ 1398,47

You have suggested a great strategy and hope this will work good, Currently can't find any other better method than this but soon will be sharing once i make some more research over this. let me work upon it

help me with strategy :-)

no idea.....for complex things.... hehehhe...

It looks like a great idea, the only think people can do is test the model out in real time and adjust accordingly. :)

Interesting.. This is Great Idea !! Thanks for sharing
Upvoted and followed for more updates

Re Steemed and voted up. Excellent.

How about a correlation of views and steem power? I mean , every post could be given a 'value' (after the 7 days, just before payment) based on the amount of views it got and them amoun of steem power the author has. The more views and the less steem power, the better. This way authors with interesting posts but without much power, go on top.

We could add reputation into the game, lower reputation the better, because a low rep author (most likely a newcomer) with high amount of views would mean that he writes interesting posts and would be a good 'push'.

If the token serves an utility and is only held in a few hands... - it all dries up and the origin nature of the token gets lost!

 8 years ago  Reveal Comment

climbing up the ladder is difficulty with little SP. Everything I do is to pool the SP to make my votes more valuable. However I need more of a push or else it will take me about 1 year to make approx 1000SP. At that rate i'll never power down and even take advantage of a withdrawal reward. Got me wondering if I should just cash out now lol. No I'm not obviously. I treat steem like a game and work more on my reputation points.

hmm, intresting
please more info

I would start with a steem only welcoming package to new users. When reached say a certain amount of posts or reputation steem only BSD will be received. I believe that would be a great incentive to new users in to contribute. That way you'd have a certain focus. Of course some adjusting would be neccessary to the idea but overall I know people really need an incentive to produce. They'd also earn Steem by posting in the process anyway thus raising the value.

Yes sort of. what steemit token giveaway are we talking about? Byteball is basically doing the same thing right? I just seen a post about it earlier. They are giving out tokens to the ones who are holding the most BTC an prove it.. It is definitely not the best distributions model there is!

That is what I like about steemit! Fresh new ideas that are outside of the box with the entire steemit community in mind. Thanks. upVoted

You are right.

No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come

― Victor Hugo

This reminds me of the 'genius quote':

"The world desperately needs more geniuses, not more intelligent spectators or idle critics muttering in obscurity. Human problems are more complex and dangerous than ever, and we are regularly reminded how fragile the equilibriums of social, political, economic, and religious forces truly are. Humanity doesn't magically survive by the grace of the Unknown; it's borne on the backs of mighty individuals that are often misunderstood, fought, ridiculed, thwarted, and forgotten by most. But there they are, creating legacies that we carry forward every day.

The path to genius is very different from what's sold by mainstream culture as normal and acceptable. If we are to live our lives according to the popular trends, we are to hate our work and cut as many corners as possible, worship glitz and celebrity, escape living with meaningless entertainment, and day by day, endeavour to shed the burden of responsibility for our lives, our fellows, our nation, ours species, and our planet.

Although intelligent people make many compelling arguments as to why you should leap into this trap, you know deep inside that it's a lie. You know that convincing people to sleepwalk through life, entranced by pop culture, influencing nothing, and denying their ability and right to make a difference is nothing more than a bald-faced attempt at destroying our civilisation. So don't buy into in. "One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is how Pulitzer Price-winning poet Mary Oliver described moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of purpose and connectedness in the world." - Sean Patrick (from the book: Awakening Your Inner Genius)

link to source

So keep sharing those ideas.

Thank you for posting @furion.

Sounds like a good proposal but why the limit on SP......if it is a limited give away. This seems to punish the ones who have invested.

@virtualgrowth and @pairmike conduct regular give aways....they may be able to offer suggestions.

All the best to you. Cheers.

These are great ideas and the model definitely makes sense! In a way, you're holding people accountable and actually rewarding those who use Steemit everyday. It's a great filtering process that would benefit everyone. I hope to see these changes implemented someday :)

Interesting.. New active members like will definitely get benefited. Good Idea

It is perfectly understandable for creators and early adopters and investors to make a profit, even a very big profit; however, the so called "whales" should not be allowed to monopolize the system. Frankly, some of these whales spew out screed that in the real world would never receive so many up votes. But because a whale's influence becomes locked in, the lowly minnow votes up only because the current favors the whale. And just like in the board game, Monopoly, there comes a point in time where one person dominates and the others go bankrupt...

Awesome, great work.!!
Thanks for sharing..
Upvote and Resteem.!!
Dear friend furion 😊

@furion have u heard about NVO they are giving away there token after the crowd funding first they will decide the price of the ico then after the crowdfunding and then they will distribute the tokens u can also do it like that way by the way i am new in steemit so please upvote me and follow me

@furion Nice article..... i agree with the part that non active accounts should not be gifted with tokens as this platform thrives through the activities of active users.........

pure lotto game IMHO .....

I wish I was a whale.

This is a wonderful initiative and i am sure everybody wants some of these tokens , However who should be rewarded these tokens and how will it be fair? Unfortunately you will not make everybody happy but i am sure there will be a solution . Thank you for sharing .

It would make sense to reward engagement!

Hi
I am definitely interested in the giveaway tokens
I will definitely Buy steem to power up
However I will keep my curation Rewards at 100% power up
So, apparently since joining Steemit a week ago only good things keep happening
When is the release date so I make sure I have some more power up
Best Wishes @furion

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