ray

hyperrealist, perpetual student (funonly, uponly)

[ray @rayfuu8]

reminder to ask myself: is there anything I'm not curious enough about today

[Dan (Stage 2) @dadagrassman]

Crypto X AI
In the nascent Crypto X AI market, there are many cases of AI being hastily integrated into blockchain without harnessing its inherent benefits. The unanswered question is simply: why does Crypto belong in AI? Here is the “Why” for @getgrass_io and how big a deal it actually is.

[Ash @ahboyash]

Token listing strategy playbook

📔 Founders especially, save this if you are planning to launch a token soon.

When discussing portfolio value add, it’s not just making introductions to other VCs/angels to fill up the fundraising round but actually getting hands-on with founders to devise a proper strategy for success. One of it includes a proper token listing strategy on trusted centralised exchanges (CEX).

- - - - - - - - -

Here is a high-level guide I’ve written to help you and your project navigate the murky waters of getting your token listed on a major CEX.

I’ll break it down into 5 sections:
• Token listing documents
• CEX and market maker negotiations
• Community
• Media coverage
• Misc

Before diving deeper, it is imperative to have a good fundraising plan before launching a token strategy.

Make sure you nail the following:
• Carve out a budget to pay for exchange listing fees (gets higher in a bull market) and market making (retainer) fees.
• Strategise on how to fundraise from the venture arm of large CEXes (@BinanceLabs, @cbventures, @OKX_Ventures) as it improves the chances of listing.
• Build relationships with VCs/ angels who have strong connections in the industry.

- - - - - - - - -

1. Token listing documents
In anticipation of a token launch, projects will need to prepare a few documents beforehand and they are the main requirements for a CEX listing.

This includes:
• A well written whitepaper (detailing the project’s vision and mission, explaining the protocol mechanism, team, roadmap).
• Tokenomics (token details, utility, vesting schedule, sustainable distribution).
• Protocol security and token audit from a trusted audit provider.
• Legal documents (entity documents, legal opinion from a lawyer).
• Investment and fundraising documents (last valuation raised at, cap table).
• Completed CEX listing forms (each CEX will have its own unique token listing form to fill up —> generally includes company incorporation, financial data, team, tokenomics, protocol mechanism, community and traction, legal documents).

- - - - - - - - -

2. CEX and market maker negotiations
(a) CEX
These days, every CEX listing involves a listing fee and these varies from paying in stablecoin USD terms to giving out a % of the token total supply. From our discussions, expect to pay a fee between $200k - $500k (sometimes more) or give out 5-20% of total token supply.

Apart from listing fees, projects can also be expected to pay for technical fees (audit, token integration), marketing fees and security deposits.

There is a backlog on every CEX now as more and more projects vie for a token listing. Building relationships + connections with the right people can expedite your success.

It is also crucial for founders to apply for listings on multiple CEXes to increase the chances of securing a token listing + use it for negotiations. Good to have a collaboration + marketing campaign with DeFi wallets of various CEXes for more eyeballs.

(b) Market Makers (MM)
Onboarding MMs is a necessary part of the listing process to maintain price stability and ensure healthy liquidity for the token.

MMs typically fall into 2 categories:
• Loan + option model: MM borrow tokens from the project to provide liquidity and are granted call options (the right to purchase the token at a cheaper price)
• Retainer + profit share model: project pay the MM monthly fees to maintain liquidity

@0xLouisT and @minjung_eth did some good research on MMs:
• https://t.co/5nOK7HTyIl
• https://t.co/hFUo85Q9zS

- - - - - - - - -

3. Community and socials
Form a strong (almost cult-like) and engaged community who will serve as your first set of users and word of mouth marketers.

Some tips:
• Discord <> Telegram/WeChat <> Twitter —> nail the trifecta of social media.
• Hire good community managers to manage Discord and Telegram groups, ecosystem/ BD leads to secure partnerships and localisation strategies (e.g. APAC lead/ head of marketing in Korea).
• Be active on Twitter from the main account + founder’s account to keep users informed with project updates + evangelise the product. Bonus if the project has a dedicated intern account/shitposter to get maximum mindshare (@intern <> @monad_xyz, @HugoMartingale <> @Polymarket).
• Integrate with major questing platforms for another source of GTM (e.g. @Galxe, @zealy_io and @layer3xyz) and building communities.
• Founders need to be constantly evangelising their project and be excited about what they are building. (Study @keoneHD <> @monad_xyz, @Punk9277 <> @_kaitoai, @SmokeyTheBera <> @berachain, @taran <> @stix).
• Airdrops to power users + making them rich is one of the best ways to form a loyal set of users (albeit a bit hard these days with industrial farms and sybils).

- - - - - - - - -

4. Media coverage
Crypto Twitter (CT) is inundated daily with memes, shitposts, charts, project updates, threads. Projects need a well-designed + comprehensive marketing plan to ensure all angles are adequately covered.

High level strats:
• Publishing on major crypto news portals to get maximum coverage from publications like @TheBlock__, @Foresight_News, @BlockBeatsAsia and @PANewsCN.
• KOL marketing which usually involves paid promotion or letting them invest at a lower valuation in exchange for marketing content (threads, articles, videos, channel shoutout).
• Outsourcing to top tier marketing agencies. Some of the good ones I have had the pleasure of working with includes @snow949494, @cryptofreedman <> @hypepartners, @JiraiyaReal <> @TailoredWeb3, @ciaobelindazhou <> @ShardDXB.
• Publishing deep research articles: apart from the big bois like @Delphi_Digital, @MessariCrypto, @blockworksres, there are many high quality firms that can be used like @Ian_Unsworth <> @kairos_res, @Steve_4P <> @FourPillarsFP, @blocmates, @asxn_r and @Shoalresearch.

- - - - - - - - -

5. Misc
• @coingecko / @CoinMarketCap token listing.
• @dexscreener enhanced token information.
• @DefiLlama project listing.
• @DuneAnalytics dashboards to showcase relevant on-chain metrics and user analysis.
• @DeBankDeFi supported protocol.
• @tokenterminal data partnership.

- - - - - - - - - -

I'll caveat this by saying that every token launch is unique and a cookie-cutter approach is usually NGMI.

A successful launch obviously involves way more than what I’ve covered here - this is just the tip of the iceberg.

If you’re working on a new project and want to learn more about the ins and outs of launching a token, feel free to reach out to @signum_capital or myself as we’re always looking to back bullish founders. Can’t leak too much alpha here :)

[smartestmoney.hl @smartestmoney]

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

—Theodore Roosevelt

[ReframeBot @reframe_bot]

The first telegram trading bot for @osmosis is live!!

Try it here: https://t.co/GGTMD8832n

Support: https://t.co/44PKI1RyUP

[Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi]

@theBlockcrunch Give our YouTube some love

https://t.co/MuFBEOVNh5

[Yaro @0xYaro]

Ethena Shards - The mispriced gold

To say the least, I think it was brilliant of @ethena to rebrand points into shards - more bling and way cooler

Did some math on Ethena Shards and it seems like it is way underpriced

TL;DR - Long YT USDe on @pendle_fi

[ray @rayfuu8]

@thetinaverse @monad_xyz lfg tina!!! 🔥🔥

[everythingempty @everythingempty]

AI best

[$PUMP @realpumpitcoin]

Flightless birds of a feather stick together! 

We’re excited to announce that all @pudgypenguins holders will receive the $PUMP airdrop launching on @Blast_L2 this month!

Follow @realpumpitcoin and @byWassies for more info on the snapshot date and launch.

[ray @rayfuu8]

@JavierAng_ @DeFianceCapital huat ah @DeFianceCapital

[ray @rayfuu8]

@JayyQueu calling polis @EclairJoel

[Bennie 🟣 @benhwx]

Incentive-driven yield farming fell out of favor during the 2022/2023 bear mkt, despite being profitable in the past.

Users became more aware of sources of yield, preferring organic yields.

🧵👇 I give you the ultimate guide on organic yields to prepare you for the next cycle.

[ray @rayfuu8]

@jermywkh can't wait for another "Jerm can you get me some dog wif hats?"

[j @JavierAng_]

.@Coinbase released their 83 PAGE 2024 Crypto Market Outlook report

I summarized it for you into 4 KEY TAKEAWAYS

Spend just 5 MINS reading it to prepare for 2024 🚀

1/13

[ray @rayfuu8]

@ahboyash wif hats*

[CZ 🔶 BNB @cz_binance]

10 years ago today, I quit my job, sold my house, and aped into #bitcoin.

No, I am not saying you should do the same. Many people asked, how could you take such risks? Me, I knew I could easily get a job... Everyone's risk profile is different. Learn risk management.

[ray @rayfuu8]

happy 888th birthday @0xkinnif

[ponz @ponzidope]

hey @vertex_protocol wat mean

it seems i have a no liquidation acc

dope