Here is the challenge: through a bear market, everyone in the audience you want -- "We recognize that Hive is not the right solution for everyone. It is best for individuals who are already financially stable, literate, have an interest in technology, have a business perhaps, and are able to positively contribute to the ecosystem" -- can see that Hive has been dropping for two years. I qualify on all of your points, and because I do, and can read the whole 15-year crypto chart, there is no reason that I would have come in and let Hive take me from $3.47 in November 2021 to 20 cents now if I was not here before that and believed in the platform first. That's greater than a 90 percent loss in value -- so, your target new users were the least likely since 2022 to take that ride all altcoins are on because of the nature of the crypto cycle. Therefore, if your strategy has been working with your target audience through the bear and bringing such people to Hive in significant numbers, and you can present accounting for those results, you deserve $200,000 per quarter to keep doing it, because you are beating the odds on altcoin communities everywhere, and have fostered a 2020-here-from-the-beginning level of belief in new target users!
Now, I also have this data on where crypto is being adopted in the world this year while altcoins are not yet out of the bear: https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2024-global-crypto-adoption-index/. That should give us a hint as to where people are looking for and implementing crypto solutions, and somewhat reflects even Hive's most active populations. However, a focus on Central Europe runs counter to Chainalysis's data on what countries are leading in crypto adoption. Now, you may have better data -- and if you do, and are beating the odds, present it all. Again: you deserve every bit of that 200,000 HBD for this quarter and the next if your methodology is succeeding, because you are beating the trends. That would give Hive a story that beats everything but Bitcoin -- and maybe even Bitcoin, given that Bitcoin has tripled from its bottom and people might be running in there just on sheer greed! Surely that would not be the case with Hive at this point -- so if you are succeeding on bringing in what you consider your quality audience, don't be shy. The story needs to be known far and wide!
Hey @deeanndmathews thank you for the extra link resource on that regional adoption thingy. It's a little more convincing to me that it's a good move to expand on that region since we're in top 3 and seems like it's a whole lot easier to explain crypto all around now compared to a few years ago 😃
I was hoping it would be helpful, and I have it owing to @reeta0119 doing a post showing that India is number 1 in the world in crypto adoption. Nigeria is no. 2, Indonesia is no. 3, and the United States is no. 4. Ukraine is no. 6, Russia is no. 7, and United Kingdom is no. 12, but other than that, Europe is not where crypto is picking up in the top 20.
My thing is, and I will continue to say it: there are market trends and there are adoption trends, and if I as a crypto investor can find out what they are, so can anyone considering Hive. Now, if we have a marketing plan that is overcoming these trends, we DEFINITELY need to fund it and celebrate it. But sometimes it is easier to work WITH the trends ... $200,000 goes further sometimes that way, so I wanted the data to be out there.
I just remembered -- @mcsamm, did you know that Nigeria is no. 2 in crypto adoption? I cannot say I am an expert in West African affairs, but I'm sure the story of how successful Hive is being in Ghana in changing the lives of so many real people will be of great interest in Nigeria, and since crypto adoption there is already second only to India in the world, Hive should catch on quickly! I don't know what cross-pollination ideas there may be, but I just put it out there for love of my own West African ancestors!
That's true! it's a different ball game considering in the past regulation are still in gray zone and people are wary about investing in. In Indonesia, crypto is heavily regulated and taxed these days with upcoming government support on more adoptions and they even plan on doing some projects around blockchain. Our current vice president is young and wants to catch up with any tech innovations. While I don't necessarily agree with any of those regulations and taxation, I guess, we can scratch all that and just focus on adoption!
But we are having the same problems in No. 4 and No. 12 -- the United States and the United Kingdom have crazy regulations, crazy taxes, and are threatening more! The difference is, though, is Indonesia is hungry for better. So are the people of India and Nigeria and Vietnam, and certainly Ukraine (and even Russia too, at no. 8) -- life is not so comfortable that people can take fiat for granted. The USD and GBP are comfortable if one has access ... I can't get people to look at anything that is now hanging around 20 cents or 15ish of whatever goes for pennies in a pound here unless they really see the vision, and I imagine it might be similar in the Euro Zone unless people are hungry for better. It will not be the most financially stable -- WE ARE COMFORTABLE AND NEED NOT TAKE A RISK -- it will be those who are hungry for better and know fiat can fail them. We already see that on Hive -- what @hivesucre is doing is amazing in Venezuela, but Venezuelans don't need as much convincing -- they know Hive is BETTER in so many ways!
This is why I am saying, maybe we should focus on what the trends are telling us ... even on Hive, we already see who and what are into this. We now have a top 20 list for the world from one of the world's finest collectors of data on crypto!
I agree with your main premise and this is not an argument against it but I have to ask ... do we have crazy regulation and crazy taxes in the UK?
The regulation that exists concerns centralised blockchain cryptocurrencies set up in the UK which have to register with the Financial Conduct Authority. I'm not opposed to that because it will go some way to stemming fraudsters and may even control the banks and financial instituations although I'm not holding my breath. In any event, it appears our regulation is far less draconian than the European Union's MICA regulations - possibly the only benefit of Brexit that I am aware of (and I take your argument about the reality of focusing on Europe - a relatively affluent declining part of the globe).
With regard to taxation, we have guidance only. Any attempts to get clarity from HMRC result in a referral to the guidance that you were seeking clarity about. If that's crazy I agree, but there's a lot of room for flexibility and negotiation.
I was pleasantly surprised at the workshops I ran in the summer at the increased awareness of and experience with cryptos. Sadly, some was through a fairly common scam, but lots of women had awareness and knowledge and were holding small amounts of crypto. Most of them about £100, which is the most frequent amount of holdings among crypto holders.
I know this is all moot as the UK is not going roar ahead with adoption 😁 I thought about tagging you in this other conversation because of some of the discussions you and I have had about developing a plural income for writers - would love to have your thoughts there, too.
Well, the UK is 12th in the top 20 though ... not roaring ahead, but holding the standard for Western Europe (the irony, of course, is Brexit)!
I did not know about the flexibility and negotiation ... to me it is a crazy situation not to have anything set in stone because people can tell you whatever they want about what you owe ... but if we are talking an average of £100, that's not so hard to work with. I have heard that there are limits to how much of one's portfolio the UK will let its citizens hold in crypto -- that was on the regulation side that I was thinking of.
Here, every swap of a crypto -- not a sale, no USD yet generated -- is taxed like a sale, so you have to sell your stuff in the long run to pay all those taxes! We are also considering unrealized capital gains taxes, so the level of crazy is much higher here! Meanwhile the government has being going after and shutting down exchanges and platforms on what they now admit is a big oopsie ... "oh, we regret calling crypto a security after lying and running folks out of business on false claims." We are in place no. 4 -- so, admittedly, eight steps ahead of the UK on sheer insanity, too!
I have put myself in the loop with you and Macchiata, so, let's see where all this goes! I think that there must be good possible if three women from the third, fourth, and twelfth best places for crypto adoption in the world put their heads together on how to support writers and Hive at the same time with good data and good experience!
Well, HMRC can tell you all sorts of stuff, and much of the guidance is not very good - hence the questions which they are not able to answer. I expect a lot of it will develop through casework. It is important to have a good accountant, though.
I'm not aware of any restrictions on how much you can hold (at least one person or entity is holding £7.0M of crypto, a massive jump from the highest holdings of the previous year), but there is a little questionnaire you have to answer before you can buy/sell - more to make people aware that crypto is unregulated and high risk and don't put your house on it.
Actually, London has the largest blockchain industry outside of the States and the last government were keen to promote it and attract more investment, especially after losing so much of the financial services sector after Brexit.
Great that you've made the connection with macchiata. My own ideas won't be starting until later in the year/next year as I have other things happening. Maybe by then the DHF will have settled down. Let's see what happens!
Great points. We've been ramping up India engagements over the year and it remains a key focus.
And I do see that reflected on Hive as well over the past year ... I would love to see more data from @valueplan ... I notice that in 2023 there was a half-year report, but I could not find one for this year.
Let me put this to you this way. Your proposal is quite clear on what you consider a quality audience. "We recognize that Hive is not the right solution for everyone. It is best for individuals who are already financially stable, literate, have an interest in technology, have a business perhaps, and are able to positively contribute to the ecosystem." I am asking for the information that people in that audience are going to ask for, because I am that person, living in the fourth-most important country in the world for crypto adoption. I would like to see the half-year report for 2024, and I would like to see what was done with the 300,000 HBD done in Q3, which ends on the 30th. Now I can add just a little, so I know that if Valueplan's ask rate has been just about the same all year, that would give Valueplan a run rate of about 1,000,000 HBD a year. And in fact, since the proposal received a notice from HiveBuzz that Valueplan has just made its 21st post ("You made more than 20 posts!"), it was not hard for me to then go back and look at the previous 20 posts and add some things up.
Q1 Proposal: 300,000 HBD, in addition to 50,000 HBD as a bridge from the previous year
Q2 Proposal: 300,000 HBD
Q3 Proposal: 300,000 HBD
Q3-Q4 Bridge: 150,000 HBD
Q4 Proposal: 200,000 HBD, with Q1 2025 bridge funding included
So, provided that my reading and adding is right, that's 1,050,000 HBD through Q3, with the total for the year proposed to the community at 1,250,000 HBD. That represents a bit more than double of the 2023 ask, which my math says was about 600,000 HBD.
Now, in reading through those 20 posts, and comparing it to Chainalysis data, I see a good deal of that money spent without firm acknowledgment that Central and Southern Europe simply are not in the lead in crypto adoption, and of course the bear market of the last two years may have something to do with that. That may change in 2025 ... but there is still that 1,050,000 HBD that already does not have a half-year report in 2024. That came out in June last year. It is late September of 2024 now. That leaves me to look at the rally car upfront, driving around in regions of the world that the data says may indeed contain your "quality audience," but also are not the most likely to pick up on an altcoin in a bear market. Now I realize there is more to the story than the pictures, and as someone who regularly reads financial statements, I am intimately aware of that ... but that half-year report would have really helped.
Now, as I have said, if you have data showing that Hive is succeeding against those trends because of Valueplan, I would love to see it, and frankly, Chainalysis needs to feature Hive as its beating the odds story of the year if it is indeed the case -- we would be getting regions of the world that are clearly lagging in crypto adoption engaged in adopting Hive, AND we are doing things all over the world that whole governments cannot do in actually changing human lives through the power of this blockchain. Given the amount of community investment from Hive, through the bear, in Valueplan, and given what high DHF spending is doing to Hive inflation according to those Hive stats provided by @dalz (the key sentence in his post here is "So DHF payouts are the main way how HBD is entering circulation these days," and since HBD is not listed on exchanges, that of course has to be converted to Hive and drives inflation if it is being used for payouts around the world) I would be overjoyed to see that. I am a professional journalist by training, and I'm telling you: THAT'S THE STORY. I was an editor, actually, and that would have been front-page news in a crypto publication all day. That kind of story of success would also be worth every thousandth of the 1,050,000 HBD that Valueplan has received this year (I assume all previous proposals passed) and every thousandth of the 200,000 HBD being asked for now.