There’s a recurring narrative in the ICP community:
“If we just had better marketing, the price would go up.”
And while it’s true that marketing matters, it’s not the core issue.
The real problem is that we’ve normalized scams in the ecosystem.
Projects launch with no transparency, no roadmap, and no accountability—yet they get instant support and hype from the community. When someone questions them, they’re accused of “spreading FUD.”
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
We defend rugs if the dev was “early in the space.”
We promote tokens without asking where the team went.
We excuse silence from founders as “building quietly.”
And worst of all: we reward the same behavior again and again.
This isn’t a marketing problem.
This is a culture problem.
Marketing can’t fix a space that protects bad actors and silences critics.
What we need is accountability, transparency, and actual due diligence—not just hype and wishful thinking.
ICP has incredible tech. But if we keep turning a blind eye to scams, no amount of branding will save it.
It’s time to stop blaming external factors
and start taking responsibility for the ecosystem we’re allowing to grow.
~Badri
Founder of PurgeDAO