As long as the market remain bearish, the ICO culture is as good as dead. Most of them are struggling and only few will survive this turbulent time. I think the project developers need to find new approach to fundraising and come up with new, innovative ideas.

Price instability and volatility are among the core characteristics of bitcoin and I think that price behaviour won't change anytime soon. The market is only stable for the moment.

Exactly! What the market needs is for the various technologies to move to a new, more advanced level of development or at least improve on the current level. I think this will give the market more confidence and then attract more investors.

Projects are struggling to stay afloat, exchanges are closing down until further notice, investors are on leave or being too careful to enter the market, news of exchange hacking and frequent reports of fraud and so more factors limiting the market performance. Good news of adoption breaking everyday but no effect on the market. In short, this market has lost its confidence. There is nothing to be done except the community continues to develop its technologies and with time, the confidence will be back.

As far as people in this space still aim for the gain, and profiting being the sole purpose of supporting a project, price dump cannot be totally eliminated but like you said can still be minimise. 

January is out of the equation already and February is on, but still no sight or sign of bullrun and nothing to guarantee that March will usher in the bull era. I'm beginning to suspect that the bull market will likely be like the description of the day of the Lord; so sudden and will caught many unaware. Patience is what is needed most this time.

No one, investors and traders alike, is a Saint in this aspect. We are all here for the profit and gain from what ICO we venture into. And also in my experience, I have learn not to fall in love too much with any project. It's cool to support projects and at the same time be ready to dump at the sight of dip.

This is a decentralized ecosystem and the market ought to be regulated not by any external body but by itself. However, this has not taken effect. Considering the continuous instability, volatility, manipulation, and for the sake of mass adoption, I think this market needs regulation now than ever.

I have never come across such bounty paying hunters in ethers. Meanwhile this act will be of great benefit to the hunters and will definitely have other financial effect on project team. The only way I see this working out is when the developers use the contributors or investors fund to pay the hunters of which on the long run will affect the project fund allocation.

If you are not new to this ecosystem — bounty programs and campaigns, you should be aware by now about the possibility of locking period condition by project team. The locking period is a strategy many projects deploy to protect their big investors and the value of their token. Even some projects as well lock a percentage of their investors' token just to prevent sporadic sell off. However, when it comes to bounty rewards, there should be an arrangement or agreement from the onset on locking period. And I think hunters should be prepared for possible lock up.

Looking at the state of the exchange ecosystem — being dominated by the top guys, it looks as if the space is saturated. However, there is enough space for everyone to thrive, but competing with the likes of binance shouldn't be the priority. In the same manner, just last week, I saw news of two exchanges closing down their services until further notice simply because they could not keep up with the running costs. Gunning for a place is not a problem, but staying afloat in this harsh market should be a priority. As long as your friend get it right, that spot shouldn't be hard to reach.

The market is not favourable and conducive for any ICO to thrive. The success rate of ICOs is going down day by day. Even the genuine ones are not reaching softcap while the successful ones are being heavily backed by big guys, private investors, institutions and organisations. However, the probability of success is still 1/2 and the new ico should be prepared for the worst even with its ready made product.

I have never been against KYC before now. But I think one should have a rethink of these projects that request KYC for bounty hunters especially in the face of rampant scam projects, of which possibility of data/identity theft is high. I agree with you that KYC should be stopped for bounty hunters.

You ask a difficult question. As bounty hunters, with the kind of zeal and effort we put into projects, 1 BTC shouldn't be hard to achieve. However, the current state of the market will make that goal a very tasking one to achieve. I notice that recently the amount of campaigns on bounty platforms has reduced drastically. Bounty managers are being careful not to introduce scam projects and projects are afraid to launch out in this situation. Everything seems slow and signs that things are going to change for better are not in sight. Therefore, 1 BTC may seem little but it might be difficult to get in bounties this year.

I agree with your suggestion and so it will be a welcome idea by most hunters. Meanwhile, how do we get thousands of hunters across different parts of the space under a single umbrella to agree and stick to these terms?

It will be a wonderful thing if bounty hunters are paid in USDT. With that hunters get the exact amount for their commitment. And the fear of possible dump will be removed. However, it is important to know that beyond doing daily or weekly tasks, hunters also provide liquidity for projects. And without statistics, I can say that most hunters hardly dump their campaign rewards which gives heavy price support for tokens. Being paid in USDT is cool, but beyond that lies other consequences for the projects.

We are in the same boat together. I made similar mistakes and my heart hurts when I examined the decision I made last year and wish I had done things differently in this crypto. But we must move on and like you said should learn from mistakes.

As far as one is buying the car for a purpose, or for a need, I think it's worthwhile buying it will bitcoin. Though it will depreciate, but it will serve its purpose. And on the other hand, no one really knows what bitcoin price will be like in 3 years. We are just being optimistic and hopefully it favours. Everything in play is a risk

Bitcoin has survived to this moment, before the Bitcoin ETFs or SEC event came on. What I do not understand is that why continuing putting too much hope on what seems will take forever before being approved. However, I pray for its approval as it will mean a great for the crypto community and the world at large. Just that we should be prepared for either outcome.

Many well known institutions, companies and organisations are already showing their support for blockchain technology. It is a good development seeing some governments supporting the technology. The odd: the support is just for the tech and not for bitcoin or cryptocurrency.