Searching dozens of terms doesn't generate any money normally. You use your search engine for accessing the Internet but not to make your pockets bigger. Wouldn't it be nice to get rewarded for something you do every day?
Presearch
Here comes Presearch. A project that promises its ERC-20 token as a reward for doing exactly that, searching, but is it legit or trash 🗑️?
Official webpage: https://www.presearch.io/
The Numbers
How big is the reward? Currently, you earn 0.25 PRE per search (= 0.5 cents). The maximal amount of PRE earned per day is 8 (= 16 cents). So if you get every PRE every day this adds up to 248 tokens (= 4.96 dollars) per month. However, there is a catch, you need 1000 PRE until you are able to withdraw your funds which can take around 1/3 of a year.
Since you don't earn a stable coin your total is affected by violent price swings. PRE had its all-time-high in 2018 with 80 cents and its all-time-low in 2019 with 0.2 cents. Between these extrema lie 40 000 percent. Your rewards could be much more worth in some years but also much less.
Source: CoinGecko
+ The Positive
Presearch has a customizable, clean interface and its plugins are supported by Mozilla Firefox and Chromium Browsers (such as Brave, Vivaldi, Chrome). You can use different search engines for your results and it operates quickly. In addition, it is possible to perform searches directly in e.g. CoinGecko.
Interface of presearch.org
The fundamental concept is simple. Advertisers can promote their services and you will get rewarded for every search. It is similar to the Brave Browser which is highly trusted in the blockchain community. PRE is similar to Brave's Basic Attention Token. Since PRE is an Ethereum token it can easily be stored and traded with an Ethereum wallet.
Being able to earn a few cents per day by searching is enjoyable, especially when it is that convenient. However, Presearch is sadly not perfect. Digging a little bit deeper, this ecosystem revealed shady sides.
- Suspected of Scam
Many people report that it is impossible to withdraw funds. Really? Yes, a quick search reveals countless examples of this issue:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Presearch/comments/9j1yh2/question_about_withdrawing_money/e8j8mgz/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Presearch/comments/beblkk/level_7_cant_withdraw/
- https://www.quora.com/Do-you-think-Presearch-Tokens-is-scam?share=1* item1
This is obviously a huge problem. Collecting 1000 PRE for 1 / 3 of a year and not knowing if you even can withdraw them is a bummer. Dozens of people publicly warn of using this service. Reading something like this sends cold shivers up and down my spine.
Additionally, complaints also criticize the lack of communication and transparency from the developers. Neither does the team answer questions nor do they address issues. A future-proof project needs an active and healthy community but Presearch doesn't seem to have one.
The whitepaper (https://www.presearch.io/uploads/WhitePaper.pdf) is also confusingly written and doesn't explain its more complex goals well. It is difficult to find concise answers about the project.
The Presearch GitHub-Repository doesn't improve the situation (https://github.com/presearchofficial). The project is poorly structured and vaguely documented. The Presearch team didn't create a developer-friendly, productive environment. Everyone who uses this service should expect unregular updates which open doors to hackers and data leaks 🌊.
Note: There isn't an easy method available to delete an account.
Conclusion
Presearch superficially is an amazing project. However, details reveal a fishy smell. The lack of communication and transparency from the developers and the problems with withdrawing seem to outweigh the positive sides. It is even suspected of being a scam.
Was it too good to be true?
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