The Downside To Having A "Face" To A Crypto Project

I recall a discussion on here a while back about the idea of having a "face" for the blockchain and that successful technologies tend to have an individual associated with them.

Of course, this point overlooks the fact that Bitcoin was designed by Satoshi with the intent desire not to have anyone associated with it as the developer/founder. Whomever is behind the project realized the risks that are associated with having an individual as the head of something so disruptive.

On a smaller scale, we see something similar happen this week.

Source

Justin Sun is now accused of money laundering, drug running, and whatever else they are trying to pin on him. Obviously, as you can tell, I am a bit skeptical since these are the typical accusations they launch when governments and other powerful entities want to take individuals down.

Either way, whether the accusations are true or not, the fact that TRON has a face to go along with the project made it a target. The token price took a hit when the news of the accusations against Sun broke.

This brings up a much bigger issue.

While one can make the case that a blockchain like Steem is ill-served, at times, by not having a front person out there promoting it, I think we can see how the downside is much worse.

When that "face" trips up, this can reflect very poorly on organizations. We are accustomed to this in the centralized world with businesses having dynamic leaders who capture the media's attention. People such as Jobs, Gates, Musk, and Zuckerberg get a lot of attention. At times, they can do things that have an ill-effect on the organizations they represent (Musk seems to excel at this).

In the decentralized world, things can take on a different meaning. Obviously, Dan Larimer is the technological brains behind Steem along with Bitshares and EOS. His departure from Steem could be viewed as a hit but it did not take the ecosystem down.

By the same notion, Ned Scott, as head of Steemit Inc, was the de facto "face" of Steem. However, he failed to embrace this in a manner that served the community. Of course, this could also be viewed as a positive seeing how his tenure as CEO of that company ended.

Bitcoin is, by far, the largest cryptocurrency by marketcap, without anyone being the public figure that many often associate with successful projects. Here is another instance where Bitcoin is a trailblazer. Projects, especially decentralized ones, can excel without anyone being associated as the "face".

This is a difficult for many to embrace since we are accustomed to top-down organizations. Blockchain should not have a "leader" in the traditional sense. The decentralized nature means that we can see the tentacles moving in many different directions. Having one person (or a few people) encompass all of this is difficult.

To me, the lesson of Bitcoin is there is nobody to target to try and take it down. My belief if that governments around the world would love to be able to drum up some charges against the founder or "CEO" of Bitcoin. This person does not exist, at least publicly. Can you imagine the circus they would put on to drive their point home? It would make the Julian Assange situation look like child's play.

We are at an interesting time. The heat is being turned up against many crypto projects. We know that Facebook really put regulators and governments on notice with its announcement of the Libra. It is a safe bet that bankers see exactly what is taking place.

For that reason, I feel it is best to fly under the radar for a while. If they do not know where to target, it is hard for them to shoot someone as an example.

Without a face, there is nothing to smear.

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