Opinion of: Tom Bruni, editor-in-chief and community vice-president, Stocktwits
Since the dawn of the Dot-Com Boom, it is almost impossible to hear the term “VC” (venture capital) without immediately evoking an image of Sandhill Road-and the ultra-exclusive air which surrounds the famous field of land in Northern California which is responsible for pouring billions into technological startups each year.
The Silicon Valley VCs and their world counterparts have sat behind literal and metaphorical closed doors for decades. Only a few people decide which innovators and trends have access to vital financing.
If it has become clear that millions of brilliant founders are excluded from the reception of capital each year, which is less understood is the systemic exclusion of countless potential investors who could completely change the game.
This is why cryptographic influencers overthrow the script, accomplishing what VCs have been claiming to do for years: democratizing access to starting opportunities. Tradfi could brush them like “threshing merchants”. However, the fact is that sharing advanced research and aligning their incentives with their supporters, cryptographic influencers have become some of the most responsible investors in space.
Media threshing merchants to revolutionaries
Although criticism fear that influencers are only pump and rescue operators who intend to manipulate non -sophisticated retail markets and retail investors, this argument ignores the mechanisms of responsibility automatically implemented by investments focused on influence. Traditional VCs have the luxury of hiding behind the NDAS and other enclosed gardens, but the bad influencer recommendations destroy credibility and receive immediate comments from the community.
Operating in a permanently transparent environment creates permanent responsibility. Influencers must maintain higher standards than VCs with limited surveillance when each business and result is public. At the same time, it is important to note that moving away from a “without access” model does not automatically lead to a “risk” model. Investors will always have to make their reasonable diligence and act in a responsible manner, even under the direction of an influencer of cryptography or an online community.
Decompose the VC exclusivity problem
Before understanding how this new breed of influencers breaks the VC model, it is important to explain why the traditional system is so exclusive in the first place. In the United States, we must meet the requirements of accredited investors to invest legally. These include strict thresholds such as having more than a million dollars in net value (excluding its main residence) or an annual income of at least $ 200,000. In addition to this, high -level funds require significant exorbitant minimum connections and minimum minimum commitments. The fees and illiquidity are a functionality, not a bug.
Consequently, less than 2% of American citizens – and even fewer people around the world – have access to investing in projects at the start of the stage, the period which historically sees the highest yields. And if you are not the main investment centers such as Silicon Valley, New York or Boston, it is even less likely that you can break the mold.
Adding to exclusivity, the system intrinsically promotes those who have capital and the networks to be successful, and VCs have no incitement to initiate change. Delaying the IPOs on the stock market, companies build immense private assessments which were once possible only on public procurement, limiting daily investors to buy lucrative opportunities.
Influencers open the doors to better access
Cryptographic influencers have completely broken this model. Social platforms like X, Youtube, Discord and Telegram have created direct routes between promising projects and retail investors. They underline the emerging trends, the protocols and the founders, the work of light analysts only reserved for VCs.
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They also exhibit all of their portfolios (because this information is easily available), which means that anyone curious to invest has no longer to expect months for the VC to disclose their positions.
On community investor platforms, retail investors share reasonable diligence, collaborate on research and highlight opportunities that would otherwise be impossible to discover. Everything is public, coming from the crowd and accessible to anyone with internet access.
Community reasonable diligence beats the analysis with closed doors
Critics that argue that cryptographic influencers have no vc level rigor do not see the difference in information flow between DEFI and Tradfi. The cryptographic community is involved in radical transparency, the elimination of intermediaries and open technological ecosystems.
Onchain’s investment is irrevocably linked to intelligent contracts, public tokenomics and community members who can verify complaints in real time. When an influencer recommends a project, thousands of people can immediately analyze tokenomics and test the stress of the product. Collective intelligence can identify red flags, even the most experienced VC could miss.
Because influencers invest their capital and risk their reputation, they have real skin in the game. This contrasts strongly with traditional VCs, which often invest the money from others quietly and only engage with the public when they benefit their wallets.
Access the exclusivity each time
While the current investor landscape excludes 98% of participants, influencers set the way to real financial inclusion. And, as more traditional assets become tokenized and made available to a new class of investors, those who rely on education, community and personal responsibility will have new opportunities to prosper.
Traditional VCs are invited to adapt to this reality or continue to join a system that serves the few at the expense of many. However, one thing is clear: real innovation occurs when opportunities and capital take place towards anyone who has the right ideas, whatever its network.
Cryptographic influencers make this vision real, a transparent recommendation at the same time.
Opinion of: Tom Bruni, editor-in-chief and community vice-president, Stocktwits.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and must not be considered as legal or investment advice. The points of view, the thoughts and opinions expressed here are the only of the author and do not reflect or do not necessarily represent the opinions and opinions of Cointellegraph.
