what is happening with Biblepay? Almost no buyers and new sell walls and dumps everyday. It looks like we are heading down to 1 satoshi
I guess it boils down to a certain sentiment that has to be reversed in order for us to go up again. Sometimes it takes some force to reverse the inertia.
So, basically, I think that some people are scared that this project will destroy itself if it wants to keep sponsoring 300+ orphans. So people are trying to 'dump-before-the-dump' so to speak, driving the price even lower (and making it even harder to keep sponsoring 300+ orphans). We're basically in a downward spiral. because of this sentiment.
Since we are self-funding, this spiral can go both ways. If the value grows, we have more budget for stuff like PR, which enlarges the possibility of growing even more. In the past - in the midst of the bull-market - the spiral went up and everything went well, but right now, we really need to prove our value to investors to be able to keep our head above the water.
The thing is, being a self-funding crypto is kinda like a 'turbo-button' (because of the volatility). When things go up, they REALLY go up, but when things to down, the can REALLY go down.
In the midst of this, is the fact that we have certain financial obligations in the form of our sponsorships. They are in dollars (which is, in relation to crypto, relatively stable at this point in time). So our financial obligations are positioned in a different dynamic ('turbo fluctuating BBP' vs 'stable dollar').
Dash is having the same problem, only in a bigger magnitude. Take this tweet for example:
https://mobile.twitter.com/BitcoinBirch/status/1032428979133800448It speaks of the Dash Core Group having expenses of about $500.000 each superblock. Dash has the same style of funding and government as we do, and when Dash goes below a certain price, the DCG won't be able to secure funding anymore (same as with our sponsorships), and what then?
I think that the writings were always on the wall that the market could very well turn very bad in a matter of months, and - in hindsight - we maybe put a little bit too much faith in the market keeping a positive sentiment.
But that doesn't mean we can't reverse the current sentiment. Yes, the easy solution is to drop 200 orphans and restore faith that BiblePay can keep their financial obligations without obliterating all the buy-orders (because we need to go above 10% of the generated BBP to be ably to pay Compassion). And then I guess 616's proposal of fully funding a child until his or hers 18th birthday before sponsoring a new child has some merit (although I don't know the ins and outs of this proposal), if possible, this will at least relieve us of monetary pressures and make us independent of market sentiments).
The most heartbreaking thing for me is the idea of having to drop sponsorships and to destroy hope in childrens hearts. I want every child that we sponsor to feel the certainty that they are 'saved'. We are learning what crypto can and cannot do, and we should act on our findings to build a better BiblePay.
So, please, feel free to discuss a way to minimize risks and maximize impact when it comes to our sponsorships. I personally would rather have 100 orphans we can REALLY help in our current capacity (not only in monetary terms, but also in 'adopting' them via the letter-writing system for example). If we adopt a child we need to be sure we can help them both financially and morally until they are responsible adults. If that means we need to take a step back, and reënvision the way we go about our sponsorships, then so be it.
BUT maybe we can restore faith without dropping sponsorhips just yet. Let's look at all the positive things that are taking place. Development is going full-steam, and Rob is working tirelessly and implementing code that may very well provide enormous value in the future. If the IPFS Integration goes well, we have started to build the framework upon which our DAHF can grow. If Rob pulls off the DAHF, I have no question in my mind that BiblePay will 100x (and this is what investors want to hear, right?). And I wouldn't mind AT ALL myself, haha!
Please keep in mind that the foremost reason Rob started BiblePay is to be able to GIVE TO CHARITY. That '10% to charity' is and will always be an essential part of BiblePay. We need to keep adding value to BiblePay to please the users, so that we can keep on giving (hopefully more and more).
Please be aware that - apart from development - big steps are being made to give us more exposure. We are getting really serious about our PR-efforts. We have a preliminary time-line set-up which focuses on regrouping our efforts and getting well-written articles out to media-outlets about our developments. This time-line stretches out until the beginning of 2019, where we will reevaluate the impact of our efforts.
From here on, it's all about gaining enough momentum to reverse the inertia, and to curve this downward spiral into an upward one once again.
And this is not just about the 'team' doing stuff, this is about proving to the world that we really are a
community that wants to do some good.
