I am not really getting the whining around projects fucking people over. Here is my view on it.

If you invest in projects where there is only hype and you see no fundamental advantage of their tech/solution - it is a marketing ploy which you are biting. However, it easily evaporates as soon as a small issue occurs. Thesis: you gambled for x2, and got -2. Suck up your risks, you knew it.

You saw the hype. You thought you could flip. Turned out there was nothing behind them, and your bet did not play out. Now people are calling for smart contracts, trustless execution of sales and etc... but wait, do you not see a fundamental flaw in this?

Investing in ICOs is investing in ideas. It is your belief that the team will carry out what they promise. Therefore, if they can’t even be honest about the sale terms, do you expect them to carry on properly? Nah. Thesis: an investment in an ICO has a huge trust component in it by default.

‘But Ivan, there are DAICOs!’

DAICOs are easily gameable, that is too risky. First of all, voting can be skewed, thus leaving even a good project empty-handed. Secondly, a project might shift its course once they define their go-to-market strategy and find a better fit for the market which was not initially seen - also hard to implement with DAICOs. Lastly, the phrasing of development stages will get very broad to facilitate any delays, then it will cause further suspsicions, you will have to get a third party to verify it… and then again you come to the issue of trusting that third party. I do not think they are the perfect model. I will try to think of a few - please send me suggestions!

Overall: read papers, educate yourself, or you will keep playing PnDs and getting fucked over. Or maybe just go back to lending coins 😏