Let's try to analyze DEGEN's strategy over the past few months. Here is the article I wrote a few months ago, which we are now going to review.

The price is relevant insofar as it reflects the market's valuation of the project. It is a complex challenge, as we explained in the previous article, to achieve it. Besides, the large increase needed some consolidation, but it is necessary for the price to keep rising in order to generate those virtuous cycles of growth.

Since the last article, the project has gained 100,000 users, reaching a total of 465,000, which is not extraordinary, although it is true that the main limitation is set by the social network itself, which has 470,000 users.

Activity has dropped by around 50% since the last article. The Casts were at 36,000 and the reactions at 650,000.

The important question is:

** How could we conceptualize tipping economically*?***

My way of thinking about Tipping is as a capital funding event that the project undertakes with the aim of investing it in generating assets or income. It is like managing an immense budget that is handed over to a community, which is available to the project as human resources.

Their remuneration to the people will ultimately depend on how attractive we make the project for investors or for people who acquire the token for the utility it can provide. The virtuous circle occurs when that budget generates value for the project, which is reflected in the token, which in turn provides more value for the budget to spend.

                      ***how does the project create long-term value?***

Creating a strong digital brand is one of the most crucial assets in the Memecoins space. In this highly volatile and speculative market, a strong digital presence not only fosters community engagement but also significantly enhances perceived value. A well-established digital brand can drive higher investor confidence, leading to increased token adoption and liquidity. It also differentiates the project from competitors, making it more resilient to market fluctuations. Effective digital branding involves strategic use of social media, influential partnerships, and consistent messaging that resonates with the target audience. By cultivating a compelling brand narrative, projects can build a loyal community that advocates for the token, ultimately contributing to its long-term success and stability.

Let's analyze the strategies from this point of view.

Tipping for content

If this initially seemed like a correct strategy, its current impact on the brand is very limited. Generally, tipping is directed at people who already have tokens, and the way it is done does not particularly reinforce the brand since it lacks any kind of icon. Strategies like having a hat in the identifier would probably be more effective, or developing tipping features with more visible branding elements. However, the reality is that, in any case, the increase depends heavily on the growth of Farcaster, since this type of strategy does not aim to build the brand outside of this network.

The first proposal would be to reformulate the Tipping to have a much greater Brand impact

The second proposal would be to explore tipping for brand creation beyond Farcaster, aiming to attract more investors or new users to the channel.

Degen Channel

One of the main assets of the project should be its channel. Currently, the official channel only has 11,000 followers. I believe strategies should be implemented to increase the number of users following the channel, as this audience is much closer to the project, perhaps even more so than the token holders themselves. In this regard, Degen's initial channel has almost 90,000 followers, but it is a generalist channel.

Moderation also introduces opportunities to use it for publishing content with a certain number of DEGENs.

The third proposal would be to implement Tipping related to strengthening the channel and use moderation to add value to the token.

10.000 Tokens for Tipping

One of the main sources of demand for the token is having 10,000 tokens to be able to do tipping. The increase in the token's value and the decrease in the allowance have likely disincentivized its acquisition. I think these numbers need to be reconsidered to reignite demand for acquiring tokens for this utility. Perhaps we need to think of additional utilities, or even allow smaller amounts to receive tokens.

I believe loyalty to the project should be rewarded, and perhaps incentives related to the amount of tokens could be defined as well. I think trying to incentivize more those users who are more committed as token holders would be beneficial.

The fourth proposal would be to incentivize holding tokens. It could even be allowed for those with 1 million tokens to have a greater capacity to make decisions on project matters.

Tipping for Funding

The degenpad initiative is excellent. I believe a portion of the tokens should be allocated to funding projects within the Degen ecosystem. This is a strategy that blockchains like Optimism have implemented very successfully. Perhaps a part of the tipping could be directed towards funding projects, which could even be done with LP (Degen/Token) strategies, allowing the future growth of these projects to have an impact on Degen.

The fifth proposal would be to allocate a portion of the budget to generate LPs for projects to be funded.

Degen Lending and Degen Stablecoin

The market cap of Degen is currently 700 million, representing a significant capital opportunity cost. I think it would be interesting to create a Lending market for Degen, allowing the possibility of lending Degen to borrow other types of assets. An interesting experiment would be to create a stablecoin collateralized by Degen, which could generate income for the ecosystem.

The sixth proposal would be to create a lending market for Degen with its own stablecoin.

Conclusions. I believe it is necessary to explore new ways of tipping because the sustainability of the project at this point likely depends on finding more opportunities to generate brand awareness.