Force-Lock Seed Investors’ Neurons for 8 Years

EDIT: vote here: Internet Computer Network Status

After seeing some people make ludicrous suggestions, saying things like “we should unlock all seed investors neurons right now”, as an MA economist I have a counter proposal:

All seed investors’ neurons which have not yet unlocked should be automatically staked for 8 years.

This would stop the monthly dumps of several millions of ICP. Rewards would remain on their current schedule. This would stop or significantly slow the outward shift of the supply curve, which might be enough to cause price to stop falling.

Please note that even if the demand curve does not change but the supply curve continues to shift outward, price will fall. I believe investors are hesitant to increase investment into ICP in part because of the periodic unlocking of new tokens.

With the outward shift in the supply curve arrested, investors would show confidence in the future of ICP. New money would flow into the token, shifting the demand curve outward and allowing price to increase.

Suggesting that we should simply unlock all tokens now and end the period of unlocks thusly is incredibly short-sighted. With over 100 million ICP suddenly unlocked, this shock could be enough to kill the coin and the project. Who would continue to invest? But with unlocks halted as I suggest, investors would feel more comfortable. Developers would come, as the fear of monthly dumps would be far removed.

With more investment and development we would enter a cycle of positive reinforcement, where the adjusted tokenomics would lead to further development and investment.

Now, with this said, how can I formally suggest this on the NNS? I am not a developer. I am merely a master of economics. And, what are your thoughts on the matter?

Thank you. I look forward to the discussion.

9 Likes

I’m not an economist but I have played one in various soap operas and a long-running hospital drama.

Sounds good to me, you have my vote.

4 Likes

Thank you, I am glad to have your expert endorsement.

1 Like

Finally a proposal helping retail

1 Like

Please vote YES on 87478 to lock seed neurons for 8 years.

Also remember it only costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal if it loses. Maybe more retail users could make proposals that could actually help our prospects rather than those of initial investors.

1 Like

The obvious issue with this is that DFINITY’s neurons are seed neurons as well and they are the only source of non-VC funding at the moment.

What about using a carrot instead of a stick and offering an instant 25%(or some other number) bonus to any seeds that lock for 8 years? I mean, that is already in the tokenomics sort of, but obviously the reward doesn’t outweigh the present value or more people would be doing it(many have…see the new years eve stake last year).

3 Likes

What will this mean for future investors tho? If you can have your neuron forcibly put into a 8 year lock up, I would be hesitant to invest at all.

8 Likes

Disclaimer: I’m not a seed investor. I have an 8 year neuron with XXXX ICP, so I really want the best for ICP.

With that being said, this is a selfishly bad proposal that I will be voting no to. I’m not for early unlocks nor forcing them to be locked longer. When we sign the smart contracts, they must be honored. Pulling a shady switcheroo like that would be extremely bad.

It’s not the same; the premise is, but how would you feel if someone created a proposal where you can never unlock your funds? You would be pretty upset about it, wouldn’t you? And this is purely driven by self interest. You want them locked in for 8 years just so you can have some gains? If you’re an 8 year staker, why care of where the price is now?

Seed investors have the right to do whatever they want with THEIR ICP, whether it be selling or hodling. This proposal is proposing an artificial way to manipulate things, which no guarantee that it would be effective and could cause harm to the reputation of the project.

14 Likes

These neurons would receive maturity from their locked neurons. They would be just fine.

The capability already exists on NNS. This isn’t a new thing, it’s something that investors have always known could happen.

But it would only apply to seed investors. How much did they pay for their ICP again?

Are seed investors the $4 group or the three cent group?

I believe both groups are included.

People are saying it would be unfair to seed investors. I say what’s unfair is that people paid $.03 per ICP and dump millions on us each month, forcing new lows on the community and discouraging investors and developers from even trying to enter the ecosystem.

With the passage of this proposal we will have eliminated, mitigated, or staved off the greatest supply-side pressure on ICP. An increasing price lifts all boats, including those of the seed investors (who will still receive maturity on their investment).

2 Likes

I don’t have much voting power but here are my 2 cents,

A contract is a mutual agreement and it must be honored, but it can be re-negotiated.

We would need to propose a win-win situation for everyone and giving the results, a clear exit strategy for seed investors (if that’s what they’re looking for)

In my opinion as a developer, we should let them go asap for good if they’re not comfortable with their investment.

2 Likes

Still not a fan. Yeah it sucks, but you could also say we as new investors should have known about these unlocks and the fact some people bought for 3 cents. Rather let things stand as is and hope it will work out after a few years.

2 Likes

Once their neurons are locked, we would have lots of time to debate how best to move forward.

1 Like

The main issue is that most seed investors aren’t investing in the ecosystem at the moment and seems pretty upset about the way the launch / listing was done.
There might have been errors and miscommunications that happened with DFINITY regarding seeds investors (Seed Round Access).

We would all win a lot if some form of contact with seed investors was reestablished and all of us together could probably find a smart solution for the ecosystem.
I know that Arthur Falls was working on this at some point. This could probably be done by someone (or some group) who has a lot of respect in the community, some early people that are more likely to have contact with seed investors.

Brutally locking them for 8-years doesn’t seem like the best solution if we want to attract them back in the ecosystem. Those people are early believer of the IC and we need to convince them to come back.
Also there is the issue of DFINITY’s neurons that are tagged seeds neurons so we would loose almost all source of funding in the ecosystem…

9 Likes

Perhaps if they’re locked for eight years, they’ll take notice, come around and start offering ideas of their own?

1 Like

Come on let’s not do this please. We‘d basically be screwing them to stop the price from going down.
You could argue they‘d have better incentives to create value when being forced locked. But the reputation loss of the NNS (or whoever controls it) would be much much greater. This won‘t establish coordination into the IC ecosystem but away from it.

2 Likes

What reputation, that our governance token has fallen 99.8% and we’ve done nothing to stop it?

2 Likes

Has nobody here heard that VCs have caused ICP’s price to tank? This is the reputation of ICP. People think of ICP as a token pumped and dumped by initial investors.

We can stop the dumping.

2 Likes