What Kind of Capital Investment Does It Take to Start Your Own Cryptocurrency?

If all you need is basic knowledge of blockchain programming to build your own token, will it be a guaranteed billion-dollar idea? Many projects can secure millions of dollars in venture capital funding to develop their own blockchains from scratch. So what does it take to launch a cryptocurrency project, and is it a good idea?

Starting your own cryptocurrency can be a gratifying experience. It won’t be easy and maybe very resource-intensive; however, a great idea can be a game-changer.

This Netcoins Progressive Investor is taking on the entrepreneurial spirit of going full-time crypto. Don’t know how or where to start your journey to change the world? Keep reading to get a better idea of what it may take and your options.

Where To Start To Build World-Changing Crypto

For crypto investors who are action-oriented and do not want to rely solely on trading or HODLing their crypto to grow their bags, the adage to bet on yourself might be the best approach.

We are three years removed from the ICO initial coin offering craze of 2017/2018, where we saw thousands of cryptocurrencies emerge on the scene. Some projects were based on outlandish ideas, and some had good real-world use cases. And in unfortunate circumstances, scammers swindled some out of their investments.

Ultimately the end of ICO mania was also the end of that huge bull run. Those who could capitalize and secure funding either built out their vision or faded away with declining interest and price action.

You do not need to re-invent Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum to start a successful cryptocurrency. You can use existing tools online that can help you either clone any of your favourite blockchains. If your skills are a little more advanced, you can choose to build on top of an existing blockchain as a layer two or use the existing infrastructure to build out your token.

For example, using the existing smart contract capabilities that make Ethereum the future of finance gives you a blank canvas to build out whatever you want.

For those with experience in coding, plenty of platforms provide developers with the tools and frameworks to build their crypto. You can also find plenty of crypto influencers on Youtube walking you through their favourite platforms to build out your vision.

The famous line from the 1995 cult classic Wayne’s World Too, “If you build it, they will come,” applies to 2021. Crypto is beginning to change the world on a larger scale, and with that comes a variety of funding options for forward-thinking investors.

Crypto Offers Funding Options Like Never Before

Now that you have decided to build out your crypto project, how will you fund it? Perhaps hitting up the celebrity investors on shark tank might work as sharks like Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary have converted and believe in the power and future of crypto.

Traditional funding options are always good for those experienced in funding proposals and connected to venture capital (VC) firms.

Some of the costs include paying developers/engineers/ project leads and marketing. Depending on the level of experience and reach you are looking for, it could cost anywhere from $500-$1,000 per day.

With initial costs so high, who keeps funding new crypto projects? Visiting pitchbook.com lists out the top 6 VC firms investing in the largest amount of crypto projects.

Going the traditional route of producing a whitepaper, listing out your team and being vetted by an influential person in the industry may not be feasible, especially for the indie-crypto head.

 ICOs were able to secure over $8.5 billion between 2017-2019. Lessons learned from the 2017/2018 ICO craze are thanks to regulators’ scrutiny, which has led to innovations in securing funding.

The IDO (initial dex offering) is similar but different to ICOs and initial public offerings. The most significant difference is that projects funded through IDO’s are not centralized, meaning there isn’t a single entity issuing tokens.

The IDOs of 2021 innovatively use whats known as a launchpad. Potential investors must hold a native token and register to a whitelist (similar to a lottery). This not only provides an injection of funds to new projects but lets investors get in on the ground floor, sometimes for fractions of a penny! 

Talk about a great avenue to market blast-offs to the moon!

What is unique about the IDO launchpads is they are not solely dedicated to coins and tokens that can be bought and sold. Some projects are to launch DeFi projects in the form of exchanges, L2 solutions and play-to-earn gaming.

New Crypto Projects Not Limited to Coins and Tokens

Finding market inefficiencies is undoubtedly a great place to start when coming up with a crypto project.

The total crypto market cap is currently worth $3.25 trillion, and this value does not look to be going back to pre-2017 levels anytime soon. Much of this is due to the (mostly) brilliant projects that have been designed and secured by stable funding. 

What makes crypto more secure today than the bull run of 2018 is the diversity of projects that have been built over the past 3-4 years. This diversification of projects is less prone to catastrophic losses as a shock in one crypto market may not affect the whole of the crypto sphere.

New coins and tokens continue to emerge every day; some follow already established roadmaps like the meme coins promoted on social media. There are tokens created as part of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), giving holders special privileges like rewards and voting rights to determine the project’s future. 

Starting a decentralized crypto exchange that offers staking opportunities in their own native liquidity token that pays out rewards is a good way lock value into a project. The idea behind a liquidity token is that it provides liquidity for the exchange to run its daily operations ensuring there are plenty of funds to go around. In exchange for holding/staking the liquidity token, holders are paid rewards (usually in the native token), sometimes even in the form of an NFT (non-fungible token).

The newest and potentially most profitable crypto venture might be creating your own NFT that, due to their unique properties of non-fungibility makes them an ideal avenue for starting your own crypto.

NFTs Bringing Back Grassroots to Crypto

Perhaps the least costly form of creating your own cryptocurrency is to create your own NFT.

The NFT can take on any form and function that you build into it, and as your project grows and matures, you can continuously update its utility.

Take, for example, 12-year-old Benyamin Ahmed, who created his very own NFT collection, Weird Whales. The generative art collection contains over 3,000 unique pixelated whales designed and coded by the 12-year-old wiz kid from London, England. 

The coding and minting of the collection cost Benyamin roughly $400, most of which paid gas fees. The total collection sold out in 9 hours, netting Benyamin 80 ETH in a single day!

As if earning that much moola in one day wasn’t enough, Benyamin earned an additional 30 ETH in the resale market as he had coded in a 2.5% royalty for secondary sales.

You can view the entire collection on Opensea.io, which has a 90-day volume of 935 ETH (approximately $4.7 million).

If you are not artistically gifted, that does not mean you may not have a million-dollar idea waiting to be unleashed from your fingertips. Perhaps you have a love for video games and have always wanted to build one of your own. 

Play-to-earn gaming has taken off in 2021. Surprisingly play-to-earn is not being led by the big video game players. Instead, it is being designed and built by crypto heads looking to make a real impact on the world. 

Play-to-earn video games are giving some kids the opportunity to buy mom a new house. Youth are more connected in online communities than any other generation, not to mention digital payments and banking have existed their whole lives.

 It Takes a Community To Build Crypto

Play-to-earn gaming can not only be a fun way to pass the time and earn some extra income, given how socially distanced our world has been in the last 18 months, but this also offers people a new way to foster a sense of connectedness and community.

How a crypto project is marketed can be a make it break it scenario. 2021 has undoubtedly changed how we communicate and earn a living. Crypto brings together the ability to carve out the future of earning a living and connectedness.

For example, the cool NFT, CyberKongz, is a diverse set of 2D and 3D online avatars launched in early 2021. Initially created as generative art quickly built a strong following on Discord. The excitement and momentum from Kong owners and project support morphed into adding new features, including earning Banana tokens for the original 1,000 Genisis Kongz. 

These aren’t your traditional tropical yellow fruits; owners earn up to 10 bananas per day for the next ten years. The value of 1 Banana is currently $79 and was as high as $100.

These rewards are almost Wallstreet-esque!

Community support for utility is the cheapest marketing for any project or movement. The community support for CyberKongs has provided a roadmap for the next iteration of Kongs so more and more people can be a part of it.

CyberKongs took off very quickly a commitment to the vision sustained that. Remember to play the game you have to buy, dive in, and join the community.

Coding Or No-Coding, Now Is The Time

Whether you are skilled or interested in coding, there is no better time to go into full-time crypto than today. As global adoption continues to grow at unprecedented rates, the sheer diversity of crypto projects provides an environment full of community and possibilities. 

Before you begin minting your own collection or launching off a launchpad, sign up for a free Netcoins account, this is the best place to get your beak wet into crypto. You can deposit cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and more or you can deposit dollars via online bill payment e-transfers from your bank account to get started. 

Whatever you choose to do with your financial future in crypto, keep in mind the best place to start is slow and small. Once you’ve signed up on Netcoins, you can join a discord group and follow some exciting projects on Twitter too.

Many new crypto ventures will fail, and many will succeed. The world of crypto is an inspiring space full of wild ideas and infinite possibilities. As any successful entrepreneur will tell you. Nothing comes to fruition without action.

Now you may have your entrepreneurial bags packed and ready to go all in crypto. The above avenues provide a potential roadmap to impacting the future of finance and society.

Wondering how to buy Bitcoin in Canada? Netcoins is a publicly-owned, fully regulated crypto trading platform that offers Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.

If you can’t buy a ticket to the moon, build your own rocket!