Cryptostrategist David Drake Joins BitMinutes Advisory Board

In an indication that cryptocurrencies may be entering a new life stage, where some value does have to lie behind the venture selling the tokens, David Drake has agreed to join the advisory team of BitMinutes, a cyber-currency that already has a business model using it, and a social mission at its core.

Could this sort of vote presage a first round of sorting in the manic cryptocurrency space? Will the ICOs with no substance behind their offering start to see fewer takers, while true strategists begin to select more carefully those ventures that seem to have sounder business models?

Drake isn’t saying so specifically, but in comments he made as part of the announcement of his new role with BitMinutes, we sense that thread being woven into the message:

“I see huge potential in this particular cryptocurrency. It is backed by a hard asset, the prepaid airtime minute, that is already traded actively, if informally, in emerging markets around the word,” said Drake.

He went on to note that he was attracted to the idea that “owning and exchanging a cryptocurrency could lead to a new way of building a credit history…and could lead to an explosion of micro-lending in regions that really need it.”

He called this focus “groundbreaking,” and perhaps it is. The affordable (or, actually, profitable) delivery of financial services that could break cycles of poverty in underdeveloped third-world communities has been a very hard nut to crack. Perhaps the blockchain-and-cloud based technology that will drive BitMinutes will make progress against that challenge.

But that is besides the point of this narrative. The idea that a less gaudy, more practical venture like the BitMinutes ICO, with its long-term view of profitability and sustainability, and backed by real assets, has caught the eye of a seasoned industry pro like David Drake tells us the days of the fruit-and-iced-tea ICOs may be numbered, and the days of the more sensible ICOs as favored options are now dawning.

Where will you be with all your ICO positions when the stars in your eyes are outshone by the rays of the more down-to-earth dawn of a new, more practical ICO era?

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