The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and the spectacular rise in their price over the past year has spurred a huge amount of interest in digital currencies and attracted more and more people to invest in this market.
There are a lot of ways to earn money with cryptocurrencies. This includes making money on the difference between cryptocurrency exchange rates, investing in Initial Coin Offering (ICO), or like many others – creating their own cryptocurrencies.
According to CoinMarketCap, a website for tracking capitalization of various cryptocurrencies, hundreds of digital cryptocurrencies are in existence nowadays of which more than eighty were listed in the previous year. Moreover, more of them, new bitcoin alternatives (altcoins), are likely to keep launching in the coming years as it is not as difficult as what you might be expecting to create your own cryptocurrency – especially that dedicated cryptocurrency creation services are out there and for someone with even the basic coding skills.
However, in creating your own digital currency, coding is not the only step to get it off the ground. Also, although the creation services promise to carry out the technical work, a precise idea for a project in mind and a level of interest are needed – as Coin Creator notes.
Otherwise, you are more likely to fail.
If that so, then how should you make a successful cryptocurrency of your own?
Code your own blockchain.
As mentioned above, creating your own cryptocurrency is not as difficult as you thought it would be as there are many creation services available that provide help in making one. However, if you wish not to need their help and you want to do it on your own; then you would have to code your own blockchain.
But first, you need to check out some languages that you can use to begin to code. There are a lot but the best (and the most often used) ones that you can choose from are C++, Javascript, Python, Visual Basic, and Solidity. And because we will not be discussing how to code in these languages, you might find the following coding tutorial articles helpful:
C++
http://davenash.com/2017/10/build-a-blockchain-with-c/
Python
http://ecomunsing.com/build-your-own-blockchain
Visual Basic
https://www.codeguru.com/vb/gen/vb_misc/consoleapplications/introduction-to-blockchain-programming.html
In fact, knowing even just the basics will help you get through. However, of course, relying on your own knowledge isn’t enough as blockchain is a complex system. But the good thing is that there are a lot of online help (i.e. tutorials) that can assist you to make a fully-functioning blockchain. Aside from these, definitely, the best way to learn is through practice.
Find a community and build a currency around them.
According to Chris Ellis, a community activist at Feathercoin, it is very easy to assume that the first step in developing your own cryptocurrency is to begin coding. But however important coding is, it is, however, the wrong place to start.
“The first step is to find a community and build a currency around them rather than building a currency and expecting everyone to show up.”
Meaning, it has to be sensitive to your target market’s needs and, as much as possible, relevant to their cultural heritage and background. This way, your coin can gain legitimacy and trust in the eyes of the public.
Get people to start mining.
Even after you have developed your coin, the process doesn’t really end there. You have to begin to spread the word so that people will start mining. Eventually, in the long run, this will help raise awareness of your coin’s existence and increase its value among your target audience.
Ellis explains that the process “involves building trust, expressing your vision to miners who have the hardware you need, and getting them onboard with the opportunity ahead”. In other words, being honest and respecting people’s risk tolerance (which other developers overestimate) is the primary key to building the “trust” as overselling your coin will eventually backfire.
Market your cryptocurrency.
Now, let’s assume that you have made it this far – you have conceptualized a good cryptocurrency, spread the cryptocurrency news around blogs and forums, and miners are actively working to grow your currency.
The next and final step is to market your currency so that, all people mining it will have a place to spend it. However, this is not as easy as it seems, you have to find and convince individuals and merchants that your cryptocurrency really holds value.
So, after gaining the trust; you now have to build your confidence – working out what you believe in and stand for. And this is where it gets more difficult as marketing is not just about educating people with facts but inspiring them to learn its advantages on their end.
Indeed, cryptocurrency market is very competitive as it is defined by neighborhood boundaries and/or group memberships. However, there is really no need for anyone cryptocurrency to win. After all, the market is an ecosystem of people with the same goals and it is better to help each other succeed rather than setting up competitions.
