Bitcoin Forum

What is your opinion of whitepapers you read.
I'm asking because I read few and was very inaccurate, very confusing.
Please let me know your opinion, thank you.

There might be different qualities of white  papers. Not sure, which ones you have already read. But in general it is one of the key sources to get more information about the planned project often combined with a roadmap to understand the overall planning of the team. So a "must have" before investing in a coin.

If they haven't put much care into the whitepaper, then they probably haven't put much care into the project. A poorly written whitepaper should be a big red flag.

What was confusing about it? I read some whitepaper, which was badly written, it looks like they was wtitten in five minuts, But I read whitepapers which was well-arranged and well written.

Well you should only invest in the ones you unterstand. There are a lot of spam ICOs, so watch out. Only Whitepapers and projects that make sense, are worth to invest in. So be careful and don't risk to much!

The quick glance of overview is enough to make pre-picture of project and if you find project to be unconvincing then reading whitepaper will add no good.
Alternatively only go for whitepapers of those companies which look promising. Their project will be more detailed and comprehensive in whitepaper.
We have lots of amateur writers giving services to write WP for $100-200, so you can imagine quality itself.

All whitepaper I have read so far is good, as always it should be good as investors will look into that.

What whitepaper you read that you think was very inaccurate? You can shares thoughts with us so that we can see if that is really an inaccurate.

Well, so it depends on the white papers. There are good realistic ones, but there are bad and unreal.

Whitepapers is full information about a coin and it's project.

I think a Whitepaper gives you some information how professionell a project is. Even if you do not unterstand it.

I have read some well-written whitepapers with clear content and full description of the project. Take a look at the 0x protocol whitepaper (https://0xproject.com/pdfs/0x_white_paper.pdf) and at the Grid+ whitepaper (http://goo.gl/49GM7A). Even though they are very different, I think they both achieve the goal of presenting their projects. I tried to achieve a good result as a co-writer of the Auctus whitepaper (https://dl.auctus.org/Auctus_Whitepaper.pdf) mixing the concision of the 0x paper with a more detailed design as of the Grid+. Of course, the applications are very different from one another. Maybe you have come across some not so clear whitepapers, but it is very important to read through them before investing in a project.

Also, one advice: don't trust the whitepaper 100%. There may have some things written in there that are not reflected in the smart contracts code. It is very easy for someone to write a good whitepaper promising a lot of features that will never be implemented.

bulk of the white papers are just fluff .. nothing concrete and very broad.

Do you have any particular whitepaper in mind? Please cite some examples. I seen and read a few good ones and some badly written papers, It does not stop the owners raising money if the investors are Chinese.

I generally love to read whitepapers. I think they are understandable. Purposes are enough to invest in or not. Some papers claim unreachable goals so you should pass them away.

Whitepaper is a trend but also a must so It only depends in quality of the draft: if low you can be suspicious and need to dig more deeper in team and project, if quality you can be a little more confident, but at the end is only marketing

White paper for ico's are essential, they are supposed to outline what the project is aiming to do. Some I have read have been a bit too technical for my level of crypto knowledge but all the same they are good to read and learn about a particular ico

I've also read white paper with a lot of errors. It was in english though but i suspected it was originally made in other language then translated to english so the translation was very poor. But grammatical errors are just minors it it is your point you have to understand the whole whitepaper. Their roadmap has to be understandable and clear regardless of some vocabulary errors or spellings but the context must be clear. 

If that's the case then you probably hit the bad or fishy type of ICO and read their whitepaper. If the ICO very serious about the project they are working on then they will have taken of care of these things in neat ways. Just imagine whitepaper is the first point where big investors will go and study it. So that needs to be very accurate and simplified for instance to have better understanding of what it would like be and where the investment will be going. Some of them are really like the way you have described here but they might be just noobs trying to create projects. So some may be just unprofessional buthe  one with serious business will always have the perfect quality.

Some of them are garbage and complete rubbish. And it looks like a 5 year old wrote the whitepaper. But most of the whitepapers looks professional and the roadmap of the project is clear and fully explained. You have to be very careful on whitepaper that are very confusing or inaccurate because the only intention is to really scam investors. However, if you find inaccurate things then you can directly ask the dev team in one of their communication channels.

whitepaper is very important to know how the project will actually be done or just nonsense :)
and also whiteaper is a benchmark where we can know the information of a project

For me whitepaper just sample or option to make article and how to complete project with same subject and what ur bring information about that project. But ANN is other option for me to make article

If you plan on asking a question or raising a concern in the ANN, you better have read the whitepaper first. And often a whitepaper is useful not for what it says, but for what it is missing.

Also sometimes it is useful to download the whitepaper and look at its file properties and meta data. Maybe it shows info that wasn't intended to be shown..such as peculiar dates or author names or old filenames or anything that helps you learn more than you are being shown elsewhere..

A whitepaper can be well written and infused with brilliant concept and ideas, yet the project is doomed to fail and you can see some project with sketchy or no whitepapers at all yet the project is a bang. Scammers know that a good whitepaper is required, so they pay professionals to write one for them, without a reflection of those stuff in their actual implementation. So how do you find a middle road? Having the best of minds on a project team, a brilliant idea and well written whitepaper gives investors a rest of mind, but with all this if your project will not be used in the real world and gain traction and adoption it is just a fruitless effort. So there are a lot of dynamics involved in all of this. You will learn what works by experience and observation.

White paper is one of the important porfolio that need to be provide by ico developers in which they indicate all the necessary details about their business strategy, developement plans and team background that will show how legitimate and credible they are.

however if you try to look at it, most of white paper details are to complex that makes them really confusing.Those docs fucos on technical information in which only few % of people will able to understand. They supposed to make the project approachable, simple legit and credible cause people buy and lend there trust on the things they understand.

Whitepapers are extremely important as the give the overall concept of what the token / coin will do. A lot of the companies are just stating their ideology and after the ICO they are able to move forward.

A poor whitepaper is something that should send warning signals. But there are other things you should look into such as:-

Firstly the most important aspect is if they coin / token makes sense. If the coin is not needed and they have simply added it to have the ability to raise an ICO, then eventually the project will collapse.

Once you have looked into this, the team, whitepaper and the number chunching to make sure it makes sense.

Lastly their marketing. Are they strong? communicating their concept and idea?

For sure, without a descent whitepaper, you cannot expect anything. I believe that companies are becoming better, because they learn from others.

hey guys,

i need your help (as all the others need). what are the key things that i have to look for in a whitepaper? what are the tips?

i need the key points that will help me understand that i am not participating in a scam ICO.

Whitepapers are one of the most important things about a project. You could have an idea about any project after have a look, but you should definitely understand all of the points clearly if it is a well-written whitepaper. A good whitepaper mostly means a good project.

It depends on the quality of white papers written. Even though the white papers should present the clear and understandable information about an ICO product to potential fundraisers, sometimes it is difficult to understand the essence described in such white papers. Besides, the well-written white papers should be structured and it is highly recommended to include points, such as Investor Summary, Overall Review, Risk Factors, Business Plan, Issue and Other. Otherwise, you will have these feelings about ICO white papers in general.

sometime i read whitepaper only to see terms of the ICO, and not about the project because it already described in ANN, look the T&C is good to do before we invest in something

But a lot of project especially to the developers can't write a whitepaper in a good structure, Because a lot of the just contain bunch of the senseless information and they are not structuring.
There is a methodology to write a good whitepaper but a lot of them are missing it.

Whitepaper serves as an outlet for businesses for people to let know what their project is all about. For me reading whitepaper before setting to support a specific ICO is one of the best ways for us to ensure the success of the specific project. It could also be a way for a specific ICO project for them to disseminate information about the whole project for people to support their ICO in the first place.

i only care about the token is useful or not.

so many whitepaper can't say their token's application. i am so worry about this.

it means even the project owner can't say useful of token .but people still join ICO. And the token price UP!

This is UNBELIEVABLE.

that's right, the whitepaper is important not only for the investors but also for the devs themselves, the process of writing a white paper is a test and summary for the team, if the white paper is messy and illogical， then the team need to rethink of the project, and the investor can adjust their portofolio

Well, in my opinion, the quality of a whitepaper reflects the team's potential. I have read some great whitepapers I can point out the main reasons why they catch my attention (or not):

Bancor: Very well organized and concise, explaining in details their price discovery method, that is central to the protocol.
Civic: Looks like it was written by a professional journalist or writer. It looks amazing, although personally, I prefer black and white whitepapers since it is better to read as well to print and highlights some sentences.
BlackmoonCrypto: They have a great disclaimer at the beginning, compare competitors, use colors, graphics, and images just when needed, they point out in details their team, advisors, and partners, making it clear why each of them is important to the project. Their use of proceeds section details their projections year by year.
Omega One: One of the most detailed whitepapers I have ever seen. Their approach of adding team and partners at the beginning creates a credibility atmosphere since you start reading. They use great diagrams to help to explain their solution, turning it simple even for who lack in knowledge in their field.

One thing that I personally think that is important is the language used through the whitepaper. It must be simple to everyone to understand, even those outside of the solution's industry. However, it cannot be superficial, it must contain all details needed to understand the project as well as to create such a confidence level that enables people to become a backer.

whitepaper is important. we can see are dev serious with project by read whitepaper

A poorly written White Paper should raise red flags, but a well-written one shouldn't necessarily make you invest in a project either. It's fairly easy for anyone proficient in English to write something and make it sound good. I generally look at the White Paper, team, and amount of community members before investing in anything

What I always look into a Whitepaper is the concept as well as if the project is feasible with the budget they are looking to receive!

The most important item should be a clear execution plan.
ICO or not ICO, when or until when...
These stuffs make people feel much safer when they analyse the value of a new product.
Too many innovative products without exact execution in our market!

i have read some whitepapers especialy if the details of their ann thread lacks details. in my opinion, some white paper are lacking also, some are well organized and very detailed but some are very technical that im having hard time to understand.

I have read several but I didnt understand it especially when it gets to the point of sharing of token, amount of tokens to be raised. Even from the introduction and down to implementation the few I have read just lack coordination to me and eventually I just stop to rely on the review of others that understand how the white papers are written before replying on such project and the quality of the team out in place.

reading the whole white paper will make you understand what the explanation of the project is, how to know the quality of the team to make the project successful, from white paper we can find out the details of the mission vision project work and the whole part of the project process

Some are very confusing indeed but others are well-written & structured

I always like WPs with clear edges between overview/abstract, idea, technical, business, financial & others....this really helps you browse through the WP & jump directly to the field of interest to you...

I've now been involved with two (PTOY and VZT (http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2191554.msg22006223)) and helped shape the whitepapers for the latter.

Speaking as a marketing guy, I really think that whitepapers need to be positioned as both a technical document and marketing piece. It really serves both of those purposes -- to introduce the technology, but also market it. To do the job properly, you'd ideally have both the CTO and CMO (or the equivalent position holders) compose the whitepaper. Of course, if you have a dev that understands both tech and marketing, you're even better.

But the more hands involved, the better.

At your service,
Michael

i don't have time for read whitepaper  ;D ;D, so i don't need whitepaper because i just look about ico in the concept they are announcing in the mainthread.

Yes, the white paper is significant, though sometimes ICOs don't have it.
As for me, it might raise some doubts about the ICO itself, but if the ICO is regarded as reliable, why not to invest in it?

P.S. Every ICO has a share of risk in it.

A white paper is the document prepared by a party in anticipation of launching a new currency.it is everything you need to know about the currency before making your mind up.whitepaper should be simple.it should contain technology information.it should build real confidence in investors.

White-papers are so boring for me but i read all of it, first i look the summary if it interest me so i read all whiepapers they so long but any suggest to doing another thing to rule your own life?

I think the following chapters are to be read:
- technologie / solution overview and user scenarios
- token break-down
- roadmap

I would also recommend reading how the company is positioning the product in a larger context. What business problem does it solve?

An actual true approved white paper is fine. When people put out there calling white papers are not actually accredited anyway.
But an actual white paper is something of value.

I think it's not the same as every white papers. each different ico delivers their ideas and ideas, as well as whitepapers.
before reading i try to get to know from concept they give. I just tried to examine it.

Its almost the same thing for me these days, various 'decentralized' platforms nothing more. Although a majority of the coins are like this, I like the whitepapers of unique tokens which aren't just about decentralization and work towards greater goals. What makes a whitepaper more viable is the ideology behind the whole project outlined in short and simple words for common understanding.

just blah blah blah, useless
just the price matters

Thank you all for your answers, I think we must be more careful with new ICOs whitepapers.

Inaccurate in what terms? I read whitepaper too, they have the problems and solution on why they are conducting in such event. Whitepaper is thesis like (Philippines) if you're graduating students. They make a problem and it should have the solution then they will present to our instructor. Reading those enlighten your knowledge and being aware of the environment.
 
ICO creating a whitepaper to better understand on what they are aiming at cryptocurrency.

ussually i read whitepaper in my language its make me easy to understand a proyek and not confusing
so maybe if you confusing you can read in your language (your country)

You are right, some of them skip to explain their projects details and points, they just fill the pages with usual copy-paste arguments.

A necessary but not sufficient condition. I'd never invest in a project that doesn't have a serious prospect, whether its called a white paper or something else.

However, that doesn't mean the existence of such a prospect implies the project is good

For me, White paper seeves as business proposal for an ICO. Through whitepaper people can have an iverview of the project and can assess if it is such a good investment for a period of time ir not. In an ICO whitepaper is the first I am putting attention at.

- > Most of the ICO's hire freelance writers to write a technical white paper which doesn't make sense.
 - > The main idea behind the project when transferred to a white paper writer loses it's accuracy as described by the origin of an idea.Works the same way as Teacher teaching something to the student and then student trying to teach his friend from whatever he could grasp from the teacher.Information is lose you see!
 - > White paper shouldn't be confusing,at least the gist of it.They should clearly mark out the problem and the drawn solution.

I always read, everything on the web and including white paper. clearly it is very decisive a product that I want to involve. if not it is tantamount to careless. because for me, all must be known and learned, if you want to get something useful.

Whitepapers are something which if read from the originators of it, then it does make sense because when I read translated whitepapers I get confused on too many words for which I need to check back the English whitepaper from the ANN and then translate it into my language on my own. But they really give a glimpse of the originality of their projects they come up with, and we should definitely give some time to understand their perspectives before blindly investing in any ICOs.

There have been very few whitepapers that have really made sense to me. The point is that the whitepapers that I as a reader have loved reading were Bancor, Proemtheus, Bitdice and some more but nowadays projects come up with Whitepapers which 40 pages -60 pages long. Who would care to read so much matter and plus when half the content is not something that even makes sense. I find the same content is repeated most of the times and they just change the words here and there to make it long enough. They need to add some real-life examples and make it an interesting read. They aren't even technical but absolutely abstract which makes it unappealing.

A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.

Whitepapers can be as confusing as it can get. There are others that are not confusing because of a complicated plan but simply because it was poorly created. You will have to reach out the developers or any point person for that matter in order for your concern to be addressed. They will have to respond to you because the whitepaper is one very important document in a project.