CryptoFever: 4 months later

Hello Stranger, my name is Alexander Isora.

My head is full of cool side-projects, concepts and ideas that used to be never realized. Every time I started doing a web project aside from my main job at itmeo, the evil procrastination took control and… Nothing happened! Ideas evolved very slowly. They had transformed into just prototypes and design sketches, or even worse — dreams in my head.

A v-v-v-vvvery frustrating feeling I’d say!

The summer of 2017 opened the Bitcoin world for me and changed my mind irreversibly.

Being a curious web developer, I’ve made a research and discovered that the cryptocurrency ecosystem lacks many web projects, lots of niches are literally empty. The existing solutions are far from perfect and can be significantly improved.

This idea of fighting on an empty field filled me with a strong confidence that my projects will be noticed and demanded. Luckily, this confidence helped me to eliminate my procrastination curse 🙂

And I started to do what I do the best: creating web apps and sites. Started furiously. I call this effect a “Crypto Fever”.

You can read the previous story to learn more about the beginning of my Crypto Fever.

In this story, I want to share the results of 4 months of continuous development and improvement of my cryptocurrency projects and also reveal some marketing strategies.

Here we go! 🚀️

1. CoinBuzz.stream — news aggregator

CoinBuzz.stream in action

I’ve decided to focus on 3 main projects. CoinBuzz.stream is the first and the coolest one.

It is a powerful cryptocurrency news aggregator that collects data from multiple sources and displays it in a friendly Trello format.

In the beginning, the service covered only 10 top coins. Ben Tossell once called it “Nice little news aggregator for cryptooooo” on Product Hunt.

Today, CoinBuzz.stream tracks 110+ top coins & tokens, 4 fiat currencies and allows to follow the coins of your choice (without a need of signing up — I respect your privacy).

“I’m spending more time on this site than on coinmarketcap, brilliant! “— jerrabomberraUsers Traffic

I love the high percentage of returning visitors. It’s a pleasure to know that people need the service and use CoinBuzz.stream daily.

Cohort analysis confirms the demand:

Success in Hungary

Fun fact: CoinBuzz.stream had been covered in the Hungary magazine Heti Világgazdaság (Hvg). Hvg has 20M monthly views — impressive!

Alas, you’re not the first, WIRED 😂

Chatbox

Placing the corner chatbox on the site was a brilliant idea.

At the beginning I expected it to be used for discussing news and rumors. But it turned out that the chatbox gives way more benefit.

People are more predisposed to giving feedback when they are in the chatroom rather than 1-to-1 Intercom-like window. And that’s simply explained: when you shout out your message to 200 online users your are confident that your voice will be certainly heard. And that is true.

Visitors keep giving valuable suggestions which are later to be converted into implemented features. Besides, compliments and warm words boost belief and give energy for the developer to continue working.

Thank you all guys for helping me create one of the best cryptocurrency news aggregator!

CoinTraffic.io experience

I’ve had a small experience with Cointraffic. They offered a CPM of $1.2 for desktop users. It’s a very low price for the crypto industry. You can somehow increase this number if you convince them that you deserve it, but personally, I dislike this approach 😶

My balance in CoinTraffic.io after using the banner for a few days.

Their banners are scrupulous, looks nice and are not a shame to put on a site 👍However, I ended up with zero banners on CoinBuzz.stream.

Go to CoinBuzz.stream to track cryptocurrency news.

2. CryptoHeresy — classic forum

CryptoHeresy is a classic internet forum. Forum has one powerful advantage over chats: it keeps the content forever. Discussions can be easily found and seen (and even joined) by new members in future.

Knowing that makes people talk more carefully and leave thoughtful valuable comments => overall value of the platform increases.

Currently, there are 4 main crypto forums:

• BitcoinTalk
• Forum.bitocoin.com
• Bitcoingarden forum
• CryptocurrencyTalk

All of those has a great old community, and the people of this places are definitely its main wealth.

However, all of those projects have 2 disadvantages:

1. Terrible structure. Each of them is clumsy and easy to get lost.
2. Spam & worthless comments. Referral links everywhere, asking to check out a new tool or service. People also often spam links to their Discord and Telegram chats.

I believe that this points are critical and should be paid attention to.

1. A structure should not be dogmatic, but flexible. If you as admin keep noticing users creating topics in wrong forums, assume it as a red alert. A signal, that you made mistakes in structure and it needs changes!
2. Spam can’t be eliminated. However, it’s controllable. I’ve created dedicated sections for the ones who want to show off their sites, referral links or chats. Thus, the rest forum will stay clean. We will run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.

I’m aimed to create a place for spam-less discussions and create a perfect forums structure for us to use.

Prove your expertise and earn one of the premium badges.

I’ll build an evergreen and commodious home for thoughtful cryptocurrency talks of any kind: from newbies discussing like “what is BTC” to developers talks about coding smart contracts 💫

CryptoHeresy will become the largest, the most comfortable and the most valuable community for Bitcoin enthusiasts in the world.

Join us at the beginning!

(If you feel confident about your expertise in crypto and want to become one of the forum volunteers, email me).

3. CryptoHackers — interviews

CryptoHackers is a place where cryptocurrency industry leaders are given the floor. I interview the most interesting projects’ founders and notable influencers and help them spread their philosophy and ideas.

The mission of CryptoHackers is to help create a strong emotional connection between leaders and their audience. To achieve that, I demand every interviewee to be open and honest.

So far, I had been honored to interview these cool guys:

• Jameson Lopp (BitGo) → ️️️🛡
• Josh Petty (Coindex & CryptoAquarium)️ → 🐟
• Hari Krishna Dulipudi (Acrypto) → ️😎
• Aurelien (Gatecoin exchange) → 🔥

…and some more outstanding fellows.

If you are a founder and want to be interviewed, don’t be shy and go here: https://cryptohackers.party/contribute.

CryptoHackers has already helped Edwin from Altpocket.Product Hunt

CryptoHackers has been featured on Product Hunt and got a lot of positive feedback!

Thanks everyone for supporting the project! CryptoHackers will bring many more exciting stories in future!

Visit CryptoHackers to get inspiration or submit your project.

Conclusion

I wish you, Medium stranger, to find your inner fire that helps conquer the fear and defeat procrastination 🙆‍

It’s obvious that procrastination is just in our heads. But, alas, it’s not enough to simply realize this fact. Sometimes you need a little external push from the outside to launch the process of inner changing.

I’ve survived my Crypto Fever and received a precious gift: a strong confidence that things I create can be popular and be valuable for thousands of people.

What was the gift Bitcoin gave you? 👇

CryptoFever: 4 months later 🦁 was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.