Emerging ecosystems

I recently had a thought with regards to crypto investment theses - there are a lot of gains to be had for being early and engaged in emerging ecosystems.

Let’s go with this definition for ‘ecosytem’ -

a complex network or interconnected system.

The Cosmos network is a great example of an ecosystem. Currently I’m very engaged with this ecosystem. I bought some ATOM a couple of years ago, staked it, bought a bit more with STEEM from the STEEM/HIVE fork and held. My main thesis back then was that a lot of people smarter than me seemed to believe in it.

If you were active in the Cosmos ecosystem in 2021 you probably would have done really well through airdrop claims. Because I basically ignored it, I missed OSMO and JUNO airdrops but when I checked in about a month ago, there were a few airdrops still available to claim, including STARS - by far the most valuable airdrop on Cosmos I have claimed so far (and there is more STARS to come!). EVMOS is happening in a matter of days (was supposed to be today but it’s been postponed for a couple of days) but I’m not sure what my claim will be worth.

Axie Infinity is another ecosystem I have done very well from. I was early(ish) and very engaged and this has brought lots of opportunities.

With ecosystems there are just so many ways to potentially ‘win’ - they are well-diversified plays. With Cosmos, there are airdrops for tokens launching new blockchains or protocols seemingly almost daily nowadays (although you won’t always be eligible!). There are also awesome APIs from staking and providing liquidity. Not to mention all the awesome infrastructure that’s being built out. In Axie Infinity, there’s a governance token that effectively gives you future ownership of the most popular blockchain game. The developers have also launched their own EVM sidechain that will one day launch many other blockchain games. Then there’s breeding, collecting, earning and so on.

I think keys to finding emerging ecosystems are to keep your eyes and ears peeled, always stay curious, go down rabbit holes for things that interest you, expect to miss lots and stay humble.

One current emerging ecosystem I think a lot of people could do well from is SOS (OpenDAO), best known for its pre-Christmas ‘vampire’ airdrop for folks that met certain criteria for using Opensea - the consolation airdrop after OS announced they would be IPO-ing and not decentralising with an airdropped token. Although lot of folks sold their airdrop or just hold and don’t engage, it still has the biggest community in crypto, a big treasury, a smart well-connected and engaged founder, they ship fast, lots of partnerships and you can stake SOS tokens to receive future revenues from DAO activities. I also think SOS holders will also receive a lot of future airdrops from other projects.

What ecosystems have you done well from, and are there any emerging ecosystems you expect to do well in future?