Is Initiative Q the Next Bitcoin?

If you’ve been anywhere near social media in the past fortnight, or even used your favorite messaging app, there’s a good chance you’ve been shilled a referral link to Initiative Q. A mate probably forwarded it to you or tagged you in a post offering an invite to the first five responders. Maybe you FOMO’d in, or maybe you scrawled a one-word response — “Bitconeeeeect!” — and gave it a wide berth. For those who are still on the fence, here’s what you need to know about Initiative Q.

Also read: Stop Looking for the Next Bitcoin

Scheme or Scam?

Billed as “tomorrow’s payment network” and “the payment network of the future,” Initiative Q exists as little more than an idea right now, but a viral idea that has captured the attention of your mom, dad, mailman, partner and pet over the past month. It’s not a cryptocurrency and yet, as the resident bitcoin expert in your social circle, you’ve probably been doorstepped by acquaintances fielding the same question: Is Initiative Q the new Bitcoin?

Betteridge’s law of headlines holds that any headline ending in a question mark can be answered in the negative. Therefore, the short version of this article runs as follows: No, Initiative Q is definitely not the next Bitcoin. The slightly longer version goes like this: Any new monetary system that is (a) centralized and (b) acquired with an expectation of profit will be shut down faster than you can say “Liberty Reserve.”

Google Trends shows the explosion in interest in Initiative Q

Here’s What’s Good…

Saar Wilf

Before Initiative Q is completely written off, it is worth acknowledging what the project has gotten right: Not only is it a monetary idea that has managed to avoid using the term “blockchain,” but its virality is the envy of marketers the world over. No payment protocol, or however Initiative Q can be described, has come close to matching its runaway success. You might be sick of hearing about it, but the fact that you are sick of hearing about it is testament to the nous of its savvy founder, Saar Wilf.

…And Here’s What’s Bad

While Bitcoin’s founder operated under a pseudonym, Initiative Q’s is using his real name. Yes, Saar Wilf is a real guy who’s soliciting recruits based on the premise of his currency, Q, being akin to “getting free bitcoin seven years ago.” Sign up today and you’ll be entitled to free Qs that could one day be worth $34,000. If that sounds like an expectation of future profits, you’d be absolutely right. If that sounds like the sort of scheme the SEC could shut down in a heartbeat, you would be equally correct. If you really want to capitalize on the next big thing, there’s this payment system you should check out. It’s called Bitcoin.

Initiative Q is polluting my feed. Quick review:– Centralised– Ponzi– Shitcoin

The marketing scam is nothing more than the big queue outside an empty club. You can't just make up future value predictions without the business and infrastructure to prove it. pic.twitter.com/mc7AoJ0fZl

— Peter McCormack #FreeRoss (@PeterMcCormack) November 5, 2018

Actual message a friend sent just after I’d finished this article.

What are your thoughts on Initiative Q? Let us know in the comments section below.

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