A german chancellor once said: Character proves itself in the crisis.
Since I got involved with the Grin project, which was in April 2019, i witnessed how the project took one heavy hit after another.
I don’t know how to recognize the bottom of such downward-spiral but the constant delisting of it from exchanges and the poor adoption of grin v.5 at the remaining exchanges (most do not allow
deposit & withdrawal anymore) makes me ask myself: How much lower could Grin possibly fall?
However during this whole downward spiral i always had the impression that the Grin-project is doing exceptionally well for a project that is constantly in heavy waters. That in particular beeing:
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The discussions surrounding various technical and organizational aspects of the project are passionate and sincere. More than often they remind me of some soap-opera. There is often some drama-vibe in the air which i personally do not appreciate that much, but its presence is proof that people are still passionate about this project. Also, as to my knowledge, no Developer left the project in bad faith or in open dispute.
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The driving forces behind the project, Tromp in particular, defend the design principles as best they can and fortunately successfully. One of the core design-principles is Minimalism.
I had my hard time with that one, since more than often it did collide with an important aspect that is of paramount value for me: Usability.
I would guess that out of the 8,363 cryptocurrencies listed on coinmarketcap, Grin may have been - due to its interactivity-model - one of the most difficult to use Cryptocurrencys in the space.
But again: Davids & Davids Grin++ Desktop/Mobile implementations proofed that Grin can be used nicely and without any hassle. It just works, its splendid.
The minimalistic approach is a suitable nutrient medium to build projects on top of Grin. In the long run Grins minimalistic nature may proof as very valuable.
Time will tell. -
The issues Grin has today (Delisting from Exchanges) all other cryptocurrencies (!!!) might get in the future. One day in the future, when the users of the other cryptocurrency-projects get a mental meltdown, the Grin Project would be just like:
In mid-September 2020, five important EU states - Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands - issued a declaration calling for a precise and stable set of regulations for cryptocurrencies.
Should this not be adhered to, the private currencies would have to be banned (https://www.nzz.ch/finanzen/kryptowaehrung-sie-wird-von-notenbanken-umarmet-und-verteufelt-ld.1583739).
The central Banks are printing money like there is no tomorrow: M1 Money Stock (M1) | FRED | St. Louis Fed
They will not allow people to move their funds where they do not can control them.
However, the authorities might not be able to ban blockchain-based cryptocurrencies as such (how can you enforce the ban of a decentralized database?), but they will be able to squeeze the cryptocurrencies through their gateways, hence the Exchanges. Here the delisting-experience Grin is collecting today may be very valuable in the future, when the whole space gets in heavy water (where Grin is already today). Against this background i love the proposal from Tromp for a testnet exchange as a base-layer for future projects (Testnet exchange).
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The declining Developer-Count is hurting, there is nothing to doubt about that. But i think Dogecoin had its last commit on Github 15 Months ago (i may be wrong here), its now in Top 20 in CMC. Since the main work seems already to be done with Grin v5 the declining development may not harm the project immediately. People and Devs that care about cryptocurrencies the way the Grin Community cares about, will find their way to Grin.
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It may sound euphemistic, but where there is not much ground left bottom-wise, there is much upward potential and this is the position where Grin may be today.
In my Opinion Grin has proofed itsself so far in this dark times and may got the thick skin it needs for the future regulation of the space it is evolving in. I am looking forward to see Grin going places.