A BIT MORE RANT ON MY TERRA 1.0 GOSPEL!
I’m not here to advise you on what you would have done better;
I’m not a perfect investor.
Like many of you, I lost money in both LUNA and UST. A really significant amount.
It’s easy to think Terra was becoming too big to fail.
After all, they fixed their shit the first time after the 2021 UST depeg. Increased trust,
backed by several top VCs, great partnerships, gained public acceptance, $19b TVL on Anchor, several crypto startups putting a decent chunk of their treasury on Anchor, causing Bank runs for TradFi, built great products with great UI, wrapping it up with a super talented Developer and User community.
Terra was crushing everything!
Even if you didn’t believe in their infant days, it was hard to ignore as it gained recognition. Same case for other solid coins like BNB.
The last thing you’d think of is a rug, right?
With every major incident, you MUST pick a few lessons. Here are some of mine from both builder and user perspectives.
BUILDER
Never assume you’ve built a perfect product. Get rid of ego. Stay humble and be willing to accept and healthily debate contrarian views where necessary.
Some may be born out of jealousy, and competition, or may even be genuine criticism after deep research.
Listen, brainstorm with the team, search for loopholes in your product, and never underestimate competitors.
USER
Never go ALL IN on one project or Blockchain. You can’t know it all; neither can you foresee the future. Diversification is a lifesaver. So Diversify. Even if it’s stables, spread it across.
You can admire a project. It shouldn’t stop you from recognizing its model flaws. Don’t worship the leader. It’s not a cult!
Be courageous enough to openly criticize models where/when you find flaws. It’ll help others pay attention and someone could come up with a better explanation of your discovery. Caution: there'll be unhired soldiers in the comment section throwing punches for clout.
Never trade without risk management. I saw a couple of leverage trade screenshots with -4000% +. The ecosystem was in jeopardy - Why trade without a stoploss or put your entire portfolio at risk? It’ll never make sense to see a trade still open at such loss levels!
You’re still early! The industry is still figuring out itself. There will be a lot more attacks on protocols, but this shouldn’t dissuade you from finding opportunities with low cost of entry.
I feel for the entire Terra team. Must be a hard time trying to find solutions - and quickly. Humans are impatient after all, especially after losing a lot of money.
What’s going to happen to the Developer community? I honestly hope that they find solutions and restore faith in TERRA.
Learn to survive through the cycles - learn the lessons attached and most importantly, remember to sow your seeds when the ground is not filled with beautiful flowers.