Straks – Any Future? Or will it be another Signatum?

What is Straks?

Straks is a new project treading a fine line in positioning itself as a truly ‘new’ coin, while still acknowledging the development team was part of the failed Signatum project, and is therefore trying to do right by that existing community.

I can't think of any other new coin in this position, which will make it an interesting project to follow - and write about.

Straks - Out with the Old in with the New

Leaving aside the history with Signatum - Straks is essentially pitched as a transparent community coin, with an E-Commerce flavour thrown in. It is trying to leverage all the best bits out of the Signatum community – like solid involvement in GPU mining – while leaving the negative parts behind.

Can Straks do this? It is hard to tell. Half of the 60 odd pages on the Straks Bitcointalk thread are people complaining about Signatum. However, taking out the negative comments, the fact that they have that much interest could be a good springboard for the future. Many new coins struggle to get even a few pages of discussion - either positive or negative.

The trick will be turning that discussion on how bad Signatum was, into a discussion about how great Straks is.

What Happened to Signatum

Around mid-2017, Signatum was launched as a new PoW coin moving to PoS with no premine or ICO. A more traditional cryptocurrency built on community support and involvement.

Well that didn’t happen. Missing coins, a fallout with Cryptopia exchange based on Signatum's outdated wallet and twitter rants, deception and lack of trustworthiness of apparent project ‘leads’ eventually result in the project going nowhere.

But before it all went downhill, Signatum was pumped up to 15 cents, probably making some people (potentially those close to the project), very well off. From there it plummeted, making people who bought at 15 cents feel like they were at the bottom of a pyramid scheme.

Signatum - Pumped to 15 cents is now hanging around 1 cent

Now all that’s really left of Signatum is their website, which has been revamped to be a timeline of how bad Signatum was. Really the only purpose of this move is to show some transparency, and that a key self-styled ‘good’ group in the Signatum community have made a new blockchain, initially called Signatum 2.0 as a stop gap, but now called – Straks.

Why Was Signatum So Popular in the First Place?

It is difficult to point to a single factor. My guess is the ‘new’ mining algorithm called Skunkhash, which was later revealed to just be a mix of other algorithms, helped with interest. The no premine and no ICO approach also made it appear as more of a 'fair' project. It probably also had a snowball effect, where people convinced each other it was a great project, and bought into it.

Why Did I Ever Mine Signatum in the First Place?

Thankfully, I never bought any Signatum - just mined it. I should point out that my first mistake and red flag should have been the anonymous team with a project lead who called themselves ‘SkankHunt’. While this looks to be an episode reference from South Park about an internet troll, let’s be honest, it isn’t exactly a name that builds confidence.

A developer who chooses to call themselves 'SkankHunt' is probably a bit of a dick, particularly as many people in the community won't know about the South Park episode and could take the name on face value. Without knowing much about this guy, the name choice makes me picture a moderately overweight late-twenties-early-thirties guy who plays way too much World of Warcraft, and is still holding onto angst from his teenage years that girls didn’t like him. Yes I may be trolling a bit here, but I think the name choice and its apparent reference gives me the green light to do just that.

Scene from South Park episode - Skank Hunt. May Resemble a Signatum Developer.

What are Signatum/Straks Swap Arrangements?

There are alot people complaining about the Signatum/Straks swap arrangements, where you can swap your old Signatum for Straks at a rate of 4 to 1, which will slowly, over 12 months, be credited to your Straks wallet.

Part of the frustration is that this could distort the value of Straks, as it will be partially based on the value of Signatum. However, the time period you can elect to swap your Signatum for Straks is only open for 4 weeks (ending early 2018). Because of this I'm not as worried about this issue, as it will start to resolve itself once the swap period ends - ie. Signatum value won't be a proxy for Straks value long-term as swap arrangements, including how much Signatum has been swapped in total, will be settled by by early 2018.

However, in the interim, it doesn't allow Straks price to 'float' as freely as it otherwise would, either on the down or upside.

Straks Mining – Meeting Expectations?

Many people, like myself, were hopeful that the early days of mining Straks would be like the early days of mining Signatum. That is, you could mine a bunch before everyone else caught on and before Nicehash miners came along and ruined the fun.

This didn't happen. When the block rewards started for Straks, everyone piled in, and the difficulty skyrocketed. Because people knew you could swap your Signatum for Straks, the figures for mining just didn't line up. A full rig in the early days might get you a handful of Straks a day. When using Signatum prices at a 4 to 1 ratio as a Straks price proxy, would only be a few bucks if you were lucky - far lower than mining more established coins. Since that time, the interest in mining Straks and the difficulty has dropped significantly, as people continue to monitor Signatum prices as a proxy for Straks to decide when the difficulty lines up to make Straks mining 'worth' it.

This is yet another challenge for the developers who are trying to pull the disgruntled Signatum community along for the ride. Again, I think this will be another issue that will start to resolve itself when the Signatum/Straks elected swap period ends in a few weeks time, but it is still a difficult balance for Straks.

So What will Straks Do – What is this Focus on E-Commerce?

I remember Signatum used to have its own ‘Signatum Marketplace’, where people could buy and sell goods for a set amount of Signatum. This flopped - no one really purchased goods through the system and the website was a bit cookie cutter. Also, since the cost was in Signatum, the price of goods sold at the marketplace tended to be inflated, as sellers were rightly worried that the price of Signatum could change or drop significantly in a short period of time.

I raise this, because if the focus on ‘E-Commerce’ Straks threads keeps mentioning ends up just being a re-badged Signatum Marketplace, then I think users will be disappointed.

Will Straks Succeed

Straks will likely be a slow burner. Delivery on 'E-Commerce' functionality (whatever that looks like) should help promote interest, and the 12 month Signatum to Straks swap period will ensure the previous Signatum community needs to remain at least peripherally engaged before being able to 'cash out' their new Straks.

For these reasons I think Straks has 12 months max to stand out and deliver - which is actually a long time in crypto terms. The developers have a long road ahead of them, but I respect their decision to acknowledge their previous role in Signatum, instead of making a 'clean break' and leaving Signatum holders with nothing but regret.

I personally will be keeping an eye on Straks, and will maintain interest at least until my Signatum swap matures and becomes Straks over 2018.