One of the beautiful facets of the cryptocurrency space is its accessibility and inclusion. Many are interacting with financial markets in ways they never thought possible - myself included. However, such accessibility also means there is great responsibility placed on nascent investors to educate themselves before taking risks with hard-earned capital. Otherwise, one might as well be rendered a gambler or speculator.
One group shouldering the responsibility to make high-quality information accessible is the research team at Smith and Crown. Founded in 2015 by Brian Lio and Matt Chwierut, the platform provides excellent research and analysis on blockchain technology, digital currency, cryptofinance and cryptoeconomics.
In an interview with Forbes senior editor Laura Shin on the podcast Unchained, Lio and Chwierut remarked that the barrier to information access was very high in the digital currency space. They found that much of the information around Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) was being sourced from forums like bitcointalk and reddit or from whitepapers. Furthermore, the information available had varying levels of objectivity and technicality.
They set out initially to get boots on the ground and travel to teams in order to tell their stories and understand what varying protocols are seeking to accomplish. As the ICO space has exponentially grown, the team has become more judicious with the projects they choose to write about while still listing all upcoming projects on their dashboard.
It needs to be said that the projects profiled on the site are not chosen because they represent profitable opportunities. The criteria for profiling a project could be large community interest, alignment with current internal research by the team or even intrigue into the protocol or application.
The platform is still in its early stages as well. As such it is an open-beta, meaning it will continue to expand and improve as a resource. Tools to evaluate traditional financial markets such as robo-advisors and various wealth management solutions have usually been tailored for the elite and large institutions. One of the goals of Smith + Crown is to make data analytics and information analysis accessible to everyone. They mentioned in the same interview with Shin that the team is conducting a closed-beta test on how to provide this accessibility through the platform.
For newcomers into the space it can seem daunting to try and understand blockchain and digital currencies. And with such rapid growth, mistakes can be made and lessons taught the hard way. Its very important to rely on quality information free of fear, hype or a sales pitch and work your way up the learning curve. I was beyond impressed with the research portion of the platform. It is a well-indexed, easy to use repository of public research that speaks to Smith + Crown's goal of providing accessibility to high-level information.
Whether you are new or well-versed in the space, Smith + Crown belongs on your list of bookmarks.