Do you still think that both blockchain and cryptocurrency are scams? Yes, as my response to the question of a friend, I told him that in entering the crypto space, one must do due diligence, that is, to do cautious research about the project before investing any amount. This is the only way you can make an informed decision and have the ability to distinguish the difference between a solid project and a scam. And besides, there are many solid names now in crypto, and even governments and big investing firms like BlackRock are riding this trend in financial technology. The existence of numerous scams is just proof of the abundance of opportunities in the crypto space.
That is exactly what I did when I tested cryptocurrency in July 2021. The book that I used as my guide is The Wall Street Era is Over: The Investor's Guide to Cryptocurrency and DeFi, the Decentralized Finance Revolution. After four years, it appears that the forecast is inaccurate. It seems that instead of Wall Street’s demise, what we have been witnessing since last year is that Wall Street is hijacking the space and aims to make it mainstream.
For the last four years, I tried three blockchain projects: Pi Network, Hive Network, and the Ton Network. Among these three, I am satisfied with Hive’s performance. No noise, but continuous upgrade, engagement, development, and growth. However, despite its growth, many people have never heard of it. In fact, in my recent article about Internet traffic, the gap between Web2 platforms like Facebook, YouTube, X, and Reddit and Web3 platforms like HiveBlog, PeakD, and InLeo is so huge in terms of traffic rank, percentage of global Internet users, ad revenue, and daily visitors.
Now, if you were not able to ride the Pi trend last February and the Ton airdrops this year, such as X Empire and Dogs, a new network has been in the making since 2023. I downloaded this app last February and waited for six months for the release of their official whitepaper.
The name of this new project is the MIRA Network. After waiting six months, I now consider it high time for me to write my initial thoughts about the probationary whitepaper of the MIRA Network. So far, I have come up with a few insights.
The 100 Million Target Users
I am not sure if I am mistaken in my understanding that the network claims to have 3.5 million members now, and the aim is to reach 100 million by 2027. Moreover, the network also claims that it can onboard 300,000 users per month. That’s 3.6 million in a year. With such a rate, beginning this year up to 2027, they can only onboard 10.8 million users. To achieve that 100 million goal, they have to do effective, massive promotion and marketing.
Two Tokens
Like Hive, the network has two tokens: a utility token and a stablecoin. The name of the utility token is MIRA. Interestingly, it is further classified as a payment token and an asset token. It will be discussed in the succeeding article, for the whitepaper has sixteen chapters, and I have covered only eight so far.
The name of the stablecoin is Lumira, or LUM for short. It is backed by the Swiss franc. That to me is something new.
Stablecoins and RWA
It is noteworthy that the network is now riding two trending ideas in the crypto space. In addition to stablecoins, which appear unstoppable right now, even with the heavy hands of regulators, the tokenization of Real-World Assets (RWA) is the second viral thing that the MIRA network integrated within its system. I am not sure if this idea of fractional ownership of selected tokenized companies is something new for the network. They plan to create the first tokenized companies this year. This is their way to empower the members of the network.
PoSA
Another appealing similarity with Hive is the use of the Proof of Stake protocol (PoS). However, they were not satisfied with it and expanded PoS and made it PoSA (Proof of Stake and Authority). I am not sure how such a protocol will work in practice or coding, and how users would respond to it.
27 Million Token Supply
When it comes to the MIRA token, its supply is limited to 27 million. I don’t know any limits for Lumira. The stablecoin is now being mined through the use of the mobile app. And if you want to test it, you can go to their website and download the MIRA Network App. My username is nftbbg_mira, and you can use it as your referral code if you like.
Decentralization
In the last chapter of the whitepaper, the vision of the network is to become “the ultimate decentralized platform.” Blockchain and crypto projects love to use the word “decentralized” because of its appeal as an antidote to the excesses and abuses of centralized financial and regulatory institutions. However, it is one thing to claim a project as decentralized, and it is quite another thing to see it in practice. Take the Pi Network, for instance. It also claims to be decentralized. Nevertheless, how can one be decentralized if there is an existing company that issued the token, and there is also a core team that received 20% of the supply of the Pi token?
In the case of the Mira Network, I see it more as a compliant network, and that is why it is very particular with Know Your Client (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) law. The goal is to pass the regulatory scrutiny of governments all over the world. After establishing the initial legal entity and operation setup in the UK two years ago, it is now aiming to undergo regulatory compliance in Switzerland. Once this compliance has been accomplished, the next target is the EU, the US, and Asia. The network aims to serve as the bridge between traditional finance and the blockchain network. Decentralized entities do not share such a dream. The goal is to replace the existing financial system. And that is why it is difficult for me to swallow the claim of the network for decentralization if, in practice, what they are focusing on right now is to comply with regulation. Regulators can pretend that they can control decentralized platforms, but that is easier said than done.
Educational Platform
This is what I love the most about the Mira Network. The Miraversity, or the education aspect of the network, intends to provide courses integrated into the chain. Examples of initial courses include training in back-end development, front-end engineering, UI/UX design, and social media and digital marketing. Codes like Python, Java, Node.js, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are included in these courses. Not only that, but as you learn these programs, you will be incentivized with crypto rewards. Hence, the talk about earning while you learn. That to me is something new because education is usually associated with massive debts and expenses and, sad to say, irrelevant and outdated curricula. The idea of earning while you study is completely something new and made possible in the crypto space.
Unlike traditional educational programs, the courses that will be offered will have real-world value. A university in Amsterdam is said to be the creator of these blockchain-based courses. Student performance will be tracked through examinations and assessments. The Mira Network will grant an NFT-based certification to those who complete the courses, and they will receive priority access to job recruitment opportunities in the network’s partner companies.
Personal Concern
In closing, despite my generally positive assessment of the network, the only worry I have is related to the coin allocation. 5.4 million MIRA has already been distributed, and they were bought at a very low price. 1.9 million was purchased at $0.278 by those within the immediate circle of influence of the network. The total sale is worth $528,200, and the amount will be used to list the token on Binance, CoinMarketCap, and CoinGecko, as well as for global legal compliance and business structure setup, and $200,000 of that total amount is reserved for the token generation event (TGE). The expected floor price on ICO day is $0.95. Those who bought 1.9 MIRA at $0.278 would have an instant profit of $1.27M or 73.4M PHP. Many in the crypto space are anxious about such an ICO, thinking that retailers will be used as exit liquidity. However, for those who believe in the long-term prospects of the MIRA network, $0.95 would be the base price, and it is expected to soar from such a base because of the limited supply of 27 million MIRA tokens.