With institutional investors having largely embraced the cryptocurrency story, this dynamic opens the door to massive speculative opportunities. Sure, you can gamble on the usual suspects but their upside potential on a percentage is likely limited due to the law of large numbers. Instead, the crypto craze may be an ideal environment to wager on digital assets like XYO (CCC:XYO-USD).
Although seemingly a new phenomenon, data from CoinMarketCap reveals that XYO has a track record going back to the spring of 2018. Of course, similar to other highly risky crypto ventures like Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD), XYO didn’t gain much attention until recently when the token veritably skyrocketed. Between July 20 to Sept. 10 of this year, it pulled a 14x move — not bad for a few months’ worth of “work.”
Further, with so much attention paid to the benchmark blockchain coins and tokens, the speculative stuff — the sh*tcoins as they’re known — might jump higher simply on the basis of a rising tide lifts all boats, even the sh*tty ones. But to the credit of XYO speculators, there’s more substance here than the greater-fool theory.
As our own Mark Hake explained, users can choose to have their smartphones become part of the XYO Network node. In exchange, they can “geomine” location-based crypto rewards from their smartphones through the network’s app. Additionally, Hake wrote, “users can explore and discover digital items or assets. They can find these from a real, physical space while sharing relevant location data and interactions with other geominers. Once users earn enough COIN tokens (used in the app), they can exchange them for XYO tokens.”
On the other end, businesses can use the XYO Network to “determine the traffic count of their retail competitors, determine the location of users with certain socio-economic-political viewpoints, or track two or more phones interactions based on location.”
Is that enough to make the underlying token a buy?
Big Brother Mechanism Hurts the Case for XYO
There’s no doubting that big data is a huge business. According to Quince Market Insights, the global data analytics market will reach a valuation of $24.6 billion this year. Further, industry experts project that the sector will expand at a compound annual growth rate of 25% to 2030.
Thus, the idea of geomining to foster a symbiotic relationship of data use is compelling. On one hand, you have enterprises that seek to make data-driven insights to boost their product and service marketing initiatives. On the other end, you have everyday individuals who, in exchange for their data exploitation — I mean, management — can earn some crypto rewards.
There’s just one problem for XYO: online privacy is a huge concern. According to the Pew Research Center, a majority of surveyed Americans have concerns over how corporations and government agencies use the data they generate through their online behaviors. Moreover, most respondents also believe that the risks of data collection outweigh the benefits.
Fundamentally, then, I’m forced to disagree with Hake’s assertion that if “you are constantly on the move the COIN app is probably a good way to make some extra small amount of cash, especially in XYO tokens.” Yeah, I get his point that “Google sells the same location data to advertisers without your knowledge and earnings. So you might as well get something for the privacy give up.”
But the difference between Google’s questionable privacy intrusions versus the XYO Network is that you must constantly update your location to continue earning rewards. That’s a lot of privacy sacrifices for what amounts to chump change.
And by chump change, I really do mean that in the worst way possible. Hake mentions that geomining for a month yield under $5. Believe me folks, your privacy — and your dignity — is worth more than five bucks a month.
Open Your Eyes
Despite the ongoing pandemic, many Americans are frustrated with basic mitigation measures such as face coverings. Time and again, the news is replete with stories about people yelling about their freedoms, usually interspersed with F-bombs.
A few months back, TheHill reported that one-third of Americans believe President Biden won due to voter fraud. Now, I have no interest in wading into the merits (or lack thereof) of this debate. But you must ask yourself: do you really believe the U.S. market is really in a position to embrace voluntary Big Brother-ism?
Obviously, the U.S. isn’t the entire world. However, an international EY survey revealed that most people across the world have similar online privacy and security concerns as Americans. So the hesitancy to the underlying nature of XYO isn’t a regional thing; it’s very much international.
On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
A former senior business analyst for Sony Electronics, Josh Enomoto has helped broker major contracts with Fortune Global 500 companies. Over the past several years, he has delivered unique, critical insights for the investment markets, as well as various other industries including legal, construction management, and healthcare.
