Is It Profitable To Make Your Own Cryptocurrency?

The cryptosphere was born in 2008. Back then, there were a few users, primarily hardcore techies. Since then, the cryptosphere has exploded, growing to millions of users. Since that explosion, many of the questions we receive at the CryptoDetail offices regularly revolve around creating your crypto. But, of course, the most popular question is, is it profitable to make your cryptocurrency. So let's take a look at the actual process of creating crypto; and each step's cost. 

Idea

.. to begin with, an actual currency probably isn't going to make you a profit. It's just a piece of code that you're going to post as open-source to gain trust and build a user base if you want it to take off. This could eventually make you a profit if you mine and HODL your currency, knowing and believing in your project. The real profit potential is in creating a token. But, a token alone is just like a currency. To be profitable, it has to have a good idea behind it and a solid project built around that idea.

For example, SALTLending created the SALT token. The idea behind this token solves many obstacles in the cryptosphere. For example, when we own and HODL BTC, sometimes we have to liquidate a portion of our HODL to handle real-world expenses. So, we cash out. The SALT token allows us to put a bit of our HODL into escrow and use it as collateral against a modestly priced fiat loan. This works out great by letting us keep our HODLed BTC while still handling our fiat obligations.

Sometimes projects let you use their token to gain access to the platform to build, play, and rate various video games. 

There are dozens, hundreds of other great ideas in the cryptosphere. If you want your token to become profitable, you'll need to start with the idea. Since an idea is a thought, you don't have a monetary cost from that idea is non-existent. However, the rest of this process is going to cost you some money. 

White paper, website, token

The next step is to flesh out your idea into an actual white paper (sometimes abstract). This is going to require someone with some knowledge and talent. Not only does your white paper need to describe the minor technical details, but it must also explain the idea and project as a whole. It must be specific yet engaging for everyone, from the hardcore investor to the newbie with no technical knowledge. The white paper has to grab the reader, walk them through each step and get them excited about the project, which will lead them to buy your token. Sure, you can pay some half-wit on Fiverr to do a chop job. But that isn't going to make your token profitable. If you want your crypto project to succeed, you'll need a professional, which will cost you between $700 - $3000.

Once you have your white paper, you need a website. Many fly-by-night projects (the scams) use a simple template landing page that repeats the same junk you see on all sites. Here, again, you need a professional coder or a team of them. The website you want is, as your white paper, a combination of technical facts and sales hype. This has to be presented to draw the reader to the website and want to know more. Having a professional build your crypto site will cost you another $1500 (for a simple website) - around $5000 for an advanced site with the wallet functionality and everything you need to get a viable project off the ground.

Then it would help if you built your token. Here again, you have to go professionally. A well-built token with a correctly coded smart contract will make or break your project. You can go with your website coder if you're happy with his /her /their work. Or, you can find a specialist to ensure your own token's success. This is going to cost another $1500-$5000, depending on your specifications.

So, now you have an idea, a white paper explaining your concept, a website where your investors can read every detail (including the white paper), invest in your token, and the token code itself. But, how does anyone know about your project so they'll even show up? 

Promotion

Here's another area where you can go cheap and fail by trying to post to various social media sites yourself (with or without the aforementioned Fiverr hack). OR, you can plan to succeed by going with a company with a proven track record. One of the popular crypto promotion companies is AmaZix. This company will review your project in detail, give you a list of changes you need to make, and, once those changes are made, they'll represent and promote your project on a variety of different platforms 24/7, giving you the best chance for success. Of course, this process is costly. They charge (not an exact quote, for that, you'll have to contact them directly with your project specs) around $10,000 for the review and the first 2-3 months of representation. 

Team

This list is only the bare basics. The reality of the cryptosphere today will also include a team of specialists to back your project, build it, and help it grow. Of course, these people aren't going to work only for a portion of your tokens. So, let's say ten people covering everything from CTO, CFO, legal advisor, and social media (your project isn't going to live long by hiring out everything; you need a tea). If the bare-bones cost of this team (not counting the tokens they'll also get) is $3000 /team member /month, that's another $90 000 for the first three months alone. 

Your cost so far is $137 000 to get this off the ground and in front of the public. Most projects take 9-12 months to launch. Let's assume you can at least get to your token sale in these first three months for our exploration here. If you create 1 billion tokens and sell those at $1 each, you've just made a considerable profit. And, you've created a viable project with a token that has a significant chance of success (and future profits).

In short, yes, creating your cryptocurrency is profitable. But, as with any endeavor in life, it takes money to make money. So, the real question is; do you (and your team) believe in your project enough to put that kind of money into it? If so, the proverbial moon is the limit. If not, you're not going to see much but a few hundred dollars and a horrible reputation in the cryptosphere. Remember the old saying; if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. 

Good luck with your crypto creation journey! Happy HODLing!!!