Thriving on Altcoins with Jeff Kirdeikis

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Is it possible to thrive and make it big with Altcoins? We catch up with Jeff Kirdeikis about coming up with a winning strategy in the cryptocurrency and altcoin space - and Jeff has some surprising c...

AI Analysis

Here's a summary of the discussion with Jeff Kirdeikis about altcoins and his social media project, Uptrennd:

This chat catches up with Jeff Kirdeikis, the founder of Uptrennd, diving into his current strategies for navigating the crypto market, particularly when it comes to altcoins. The conversation covers the broad market sentiment, Jeff's surprisingly speculative altcoin picks, and a deep dive into Uptrennd's unique approach to building a decentralized social media platform that addresses the pitfalls of earlier projects like Steemit.

Here are the key takeaways from the conversation:

* Current Market Strategy: Hodling is the Way: Jeff is firmly in "hodl mode." He leans into Warren Buffett's philosophy of "you're not smarter than the market," preferring to let his investments ride rather than actively trade. He believes Bitcoin's core value proposition, especially with global hyperinflation concerns, makes it a strong long-term hold due to its fixed inflation rate and the trust it instills.
* Bitcoin's Core Value: Jeff highlights Bitcoin's fixed inflation rate as its main strength, fostering trust. He humorously compares any fiat currency as a "shitcoin" if it were a crypto, given that central authorities can print unlimited amounts of money. Michael agrees, emphasizing Bitcoin's role as an unstoppable, permissionless form of value transfer, particularly important for moving wealth across borders without government restrictions. Its first-mover advantage, high liquidity, and established network are unmatched by altcoins.
* Market Sentiment: Not 2017 Levels, but Growing: While running a large Facebook crypto group (100k-150k members), Jeff observes a steady influx of new people over the last six months, indicating growing interest. However, he clarifies that it's nowhere near the "madness" of 2017, when thousands of new people joined daily. He feels the current interest feels more like early 2016, with general curiosity and open-mindedness.
* Altcoin (or "Shitcoin") Picks: Jeff is open to altcoins, but unlike 2017 where any ICO could pump, he believes projects now need to "actually build something."
* Uptrennd (1UP): His own project, a social media platform where the token is deeply integrated for ads, account leveling, and other platform features. He's in it for the long haul.
* Pegnet and Teller: Jeff gives shout-outs to these as "underrepresented" projects he finds promising.
* Hex2T: The Controversial Pick: This is the most surprising choice. Jeff admits it's "100% high speculation" with "no utility at all." His rationale is that Hex2T (a community version of Hex) uses 80% of the ETH from its auction to buy back tokens and redistribute them to the community, unlike original Hex where Richard Hart gets 100%. All penalties from early/late stakes also go back to the community, making it "objectively pumpier than Hex." He views it as a pure gamble he got into early.
* Utility vs. Speculation in Crypto: Michael strongly advocates for utility in altcoins, fearing that without it, someone ends up "holding the bag." Jeff offers a contrarian view, asking what Bitcoin's utility is beyond being "a thing of value" that people agree on. While acknowledging the network effect and first-mover advantage, he compares some zero-utility coins to Bitcoin in that sense, though he fully agrees that projects with "legitimate utility" (like Uptrennd, Hive, Ethereum) are the long-term holds.
* The Craig Wright Saga: A brief, humorous interlude about Craig Wright's claims of being Satoshi. Jeff recounts a recent interview where Wright abruptly hung up the phone mid-answer, suggesting his lawyers might have intervened. Both agree that Bitcoin's decentralized nature and anonymous founder are key to its value.
* Uptrennd: A New Approach to Social Media: Jeff details his platform, Uptrennd, which aims to fix the problems of earlier blockchain social media platforms like Steemit.
* Steemit's Downfall: Michael, a long-time Steemit fan, explains its major flaw: a "$1, one vote" economic model, leading to an "oligarchy" where a few whales held immense power, able to censor or obliterate content from new users. Justin Sun's acquisition and subsequent censorship further damaged its reputation, leading to the community forking to Hive.
* Uptrennd's Solution to Oligarchy: Uptrennd focuses on "quality of opportunity." Instead of power by money, it's reputation-based. Users start at "level one" (1 person = 1 vote, like Reddit) and gain influence and earning potential by leveling up through engagement and time, not monetary investment. This system aims to prevent "shitposting" and promote quality content.
* Uptrennd's Growth: Jeff proudly states that Uptrennd has surpassed Steemit and Hive in 90-day website engagement stats on Alexa.com, though he admits a large portion of their demographic is from developing nations. The immediate goal is to refine the algorithm to highlight quality content more effectively.
* Uptrennd Token Utility (1UP):
* Advertising: 1UP tokens buy ad impressions (1 token = 10 views), offering a "very solid token economy" for advertisers.
* Account Leveling: Tokens can be used to speed up account leveling and gain influence faster.
* Owning Communities (Controversial!): Users can buy and own communities (e.g., "Michael Goo's Bitcoin Community"). The owner earns a percentage of upvotes within that community and can sell the community on an open market. Michael finds the idea of "selling communities" somewhat "evil" but acknowledges the potential for increased attachment.
* Investing in Content (Exciting!): Users can "invest" in other creators' content. Someone can submit a proposal to boost another user's post for a certain number of views in exchange for a percentage of the profits. Michael loves this, seeing it as a game-changer for new content creators who struggle to get noticed, likening it to finding talent in the music or acting industry.
* Preparing for "The Apex": Both Jeff and Michael are optimistic about Bitcoin's long-term trajectory. Jeff sees Bitcoin's price forming a large descending triangle, anticipating a significant move at its "apex." He remains excited about the broader shift of power from corporations to people through decentralized movements. Michael echoes this, noting increased receptiveness for crypto conferences and general growth across his holdings. He's being cautious post-halving and has locked in some gains but keeps his "hodl" untouched, viewing it as too early to cash out given past regrets. He's also reducing trading due to a lack of clear opportunities and focusing on creating new content to "be prepared for the next run," whenever it comes.

Transcript

Hey guys, welcome back. It's Michael here. Welcome back to BoxMining. So as part of this new series, I want to talk to a lot of my OG friends, a lot of my good friends in the crypto experience space to give you guys a little bit of perspective about what's going on. Welcome Jeff. He does Uptrend. So he created a social network there. It's amazing. We're going to talk about altcoins. We're going to talk about everything here. How are you doing, Jeff? I'm doing good, man. Yeah, Bali life was swee...