New account, new poster.  This is developing to be a great, supportive community and I just feel like joining in a little and offering my perspective.

masternode hit on some of the same sentiments I have.  I'm told in the mid-80's, when I was a kid, my parents put some of my savings into Wal-Mart stock.  They sold after some profit and all was well.  I wish I had that stock back.  I used to day and swing trade.  I remember the day Google went public.  I played it, the volume and swings were a blast.  I booked some profit and happily went on looking for new action.  I wish I had that stock and initial entry point back. 

I've been trading altcoins and have done well.  Like many I suspect, I've grown quite tired of the repeat scamcoins that offer no innovation.  Anon was interesting but in the end, I don't care...it is not necessary for 99% of what this industry is prepping for.  It's a free market though...devs can put scamcoins out there and we can give them our attention, or stop we can doing that. 

I got into VIA at the ICO stage.  I haven't sold one and unless the dev gets hit by a bus and goes silent, I don't plan to.  It's a pleasure to not be glued to the screen, fearful of the slightest pivot that could blow a trade up.  I'm investing here and see this as a viable, highly successful platform.  VIA and Clearinghouse, as proposed, fill a serious need in this nascent industry. 

Don't be like me many years ago.  It sucks to say "I wish I never sold", when you see what is possible now.  This could be one of those rare opportunities in life where you saw an opportunity and executed on it.  Don't you wish you bought and held BTC when it was just a couple dollars each?  If you have read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, based on the legendary trader, Jesse Livermore, you know that once he understood the big money was made when he positioned himself for the long view, that is when he finally hit real and lasting success.  Consider taking a long view.  In this instant gratification world that is hard for us.  But start small, try to refrain from out-smarting the market movement for 12 hours, then another 12 hours, and then 24, and so on.  It's hard.  I put quite a bit in so far, and with how my account is sitting now, each .0000100 movement either way equals a lot.  Hard to not recognize that.

Just my perspective.  Do what you will, of course.

As I first related, I never got involved in crypto-communities before.  I generally lurk and read BTC posts and twitter.  To the extent I can contribute to VIA in a positive way, I want to.  I've got my cute little rig hashing away.  In the way of technical skills however, I have few.  I think we can all contribute though by just being helpful to one another, and being a class-act like btcdrak has been.  He has been very transparent and forthright, and his foresight, strategy, and execution of this project to date are beyond impressive.  And have you all noticed that all but a few of the ICO BTC are still where he put them?  Same goes with the whale often referred.  Follow his lead.  I could be wrong (couple dots to connect) about who the whale is but if I'm right then he has done more for this industry than most, and to have his buy-in, at least in a monetary fashion at this stage, speaks volumes.

There are more things to come.  I can't wait for Clearinghouse and other deliverables, but I can be patient. 

btcdrak: If there is anything I can help with, please reach out.  Other than what I mention above, the best I can offer are transactional legal skills.  Not very relevant at this point perhaps but it's a resource at the ready if you need it.

Have a good day all, I'm gonna get back to some yard-work.

If there was ever an opportunity to get in it was then imho people just trying to instill a shakeout to fill up their bags and like always seems to be working people always act like sheep.