Recently in the news, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors. Her crime was that she lied and made claims about her company’s technology that were simply not true.
If you don’t know about the case, Theranos was a start-up that wanted to revolutionize the blood testing industry. They claimed they were able to collect accurate data and detect disesases using only a single drop of blood. Their enigmatic female founder was often compared to Steve Jobs, and the company was a media darling that was once valued at almost $10B.
But when people started looking deeper, they realized the company’s claims were specious at best. Their investor materials were full of inconsistencies, or outright lies like misleading data or faking customers and partners in an effort to attract more investors. It was clearly a case of fraud and now the founder is going to spend years in jail as a result. Theranos was what I would definitely call a scam.
I bring up this example because I’ve seen plenty of people trying to label eCash as a scam. To me a scam is when someone intentionally deceives others for personal gain. That is what the founder of Theranos did.
The eCash project has never done anything of the sort.
No one from the official team ever promised guaranteed returns, or falsely claimed what eCash was currently capable of, or that eCash was partnering with Amazon or Facebook, or announced a $200M investment fund that never came to fruition. The leaders of this project have way too much integrity to do anything of the sort.
As for me (someone who is not part of the official team), let me make it abundantly clear that I’m just another investor like many of you, and I only promote this project because I believe in it, because I’m passionate about its goals and want to see it succeed.
I’m being honest when I say that I think eCash has the potential to change civilization as we know it. What that change will look like, or how long it might take, is anybody’s guess, but I am optimistic that it will be for the better, and that it isn’t just some pipe dream.
But I obviously can’t see the future. I don’t control the market. I have no idea what the eCash price will be next week, let alone next year, and you are fooling yourself if you think anyone can.
The cryptocurrency market is known for its high volatility. It isn’t unusual to see a coin drop by over 90% and then fully recover and reach new all time highs within a relatively short period of time. If you can’t stomach those kinds of swings, either stay away, or only invest what you’re willing to lose.
Government regulations, tightening fiscal policies, derisking by institutions, these are but a few of the reasons the overall crypto market could crash. And that’s not even taking into account the additional risk of losing funds through exchange hacks or as a result of user error.
I say all this not because I want to discourage you from investing in crypto in general, or in eCash specifically, but because I want everyone to understand what they’re getting into. I want people to be educated about the risks, and be in the best position to succeed.
People have accused me of selling dreams with the implication that I “hoodwinked” them into buying eCash. That has never been my intent. I’m not here to deceive or trick anyone. I’m here to tell people about eCash because I believe it has the power to change the world, and I believe it so much that I can’t help but share this news with others.
Maybe that’s what Elizabeth Holmes thought of Theranos. Maybe she truly believed she could help save people’s lives with her technology. But her crime wasn’t telling people about what she hoped to accomplish, it was lying and telling them she already had.
I’m invested in eCash because I hope to one day see a world that uses a decentralized, censorship resistant electronic cash as its reserve currency. That is the mission. Whether eCash will succeed or not is still to be determined. But I’m optimistic that the more people who contribute, the better its chances. I don’t promote this project because I’m looking for bagholders, I promote it because I want us to reach a tipping point, to find those early adopters who can help spread the word.
I do this not because I want to sell you empty promises, I do it because it feels right in my gut. But no matter how much I believe in this project, I would never lie to anyone in order to get them to invest. I like to think I always keep my word and follow through on anything I say I will do, even if at times it turns out to be more difficult than I thought.
I’m not trying to sell anyone my bags, I’m trying to sell a vision for the future. My purpose isn’t to create a sense of fomo, but to create a sense of hope. I have no desire to tell people they aren’t going to make it if they don’t buy XEC, my only desire is to share my passion and get as many people as possible to see what I see.
As always, thank you for reading.