The Problem of BitClout Creator Coins
Tags: Bitclout, Stet, Nft, Creator Economy, Blockchain Social Network

Creator Coins Do Not Benefit Creators.

When you buy a creator coin on BitClout, the only real benefit the creator derives is in the form of the Founder’s Reward. Buying a coin and increasing their coin price has no actual bearing on a creator or a project aside from giving them a false sense of worth. We cannot conflate owning someone’s coin with a show of support, except in instances were the FR is high since many people buy coins purely for investment purposes because they see an opportunity to make money and not necessarily because a creator is awesome.

Many creators talk about creating value for their investors and suggest that’s why coin price is important. That’s a noble sentiment but when you dig deeper, it’s not how many people actually feel. If you say you are trying to create value for your investors, what you should mean is that you want your investors to profit from buying your coin, either in the short or long term. The problem is that they can’t really do that if they are vilified and labeled a rug puller or scammer for selling.

If you care about your investors, you should want them to make a profit and sell when the time is right for them. End of story.

I’m also extremely disheartened in general by the negative sentiment around an investor selling a creator coin and this culture that’s been created wherein people are publicly called out for it. When you really think about it, it’s ridiculous. Nobody’s brand or project is harmed when the price of their coin goes down. If you feel yours is, you need to rethink your business model.

If people bought your coin to “show support” for you or your project, they shouldn’t care about your coin price and thus someone else selling has no bearing on them and it likely not a reflection of you (unless you posted something highly offensive). If someone bought your coin as an investment, they did so at their own risk and they should understand all the reasons creator coin prices are highly volatile (this is a topic for another day).

Reasons Investors May Sell Creator Coins

There are many reasons why someone may sell a creator coin they purchased. It’s important to understand these so below are some examples:

They made money off the investment and feel it’s the right time to sell (yay!)

They need the liquidity to participate in other projects or fund other creators (yay, they are spreading the love around)

They need the money. Let’s all remember that behind most accounts, is a real person with real world problems and we never really know what someone is going through in their life so we need to be less judgmental and more compassionate.

They no longer believe in the creator/project they originally bought into or their values no longer align because a creator changed how they were using their account or did/said things the investor doesn’t agree with. It’s their prerogative to change their mind, especially when circumstances change and they really shouldn’t have to justify their decisions.

They became disillusioned with BitClout and decided to exit. This is one we should be concerned about as it’s a barrier to the growth of the platform.

While this is not a new idea, it’s worth providing a reminder that creators can benefit when someone sells their coin because it will likely lead to other’s buying the dip which results in the creator receiving more $clout in the form of founder’s rewards. An actively traded coin is a positive, not a negative.