All right, this is my good deed for the year. Once I’ve posted my spiel, I’ll respond to any questions about operating a node, how to professionally contact API providers, and how to professionally negotiate with API providers. I WILL NOT respond to any posts that seem like empty FUD of pic related, and I WILL NOT respond to shills of pic related.
Now, I’m going to break down my investment thesis and try to intelligently discuss the pros and the cons. For the last 48 hours this board has been overrun with some of the most blatant coordinated FUD I’ve seen in a good long while, and the compensation to that FUD from the team has been just as annoying. But, in fairness, one of the two obnoxious parties might (depending of a few key factors) make me a significant amount of money.
I’ll start by saying this: my node is going to be better than your node. I’ve spent the last six months directly contacting API providers. I’m miles ahead of you all. When I see community members flying to Europe to attend Chainlink events, I say “that’s cute,” and then book my own flight to Berlin – except I’m going to the API conference. I’m eyeing a position at Google to write technical documentation for their APIs. I have multiple smart contract businesses in the works, all of which will rely on specific data sources that, at mainnet launch, I and I alone will be providing across multiple nodes. I intend to outstrip you all in building reputation and monetizing my node. Aside from steak house user and whaleanon – both of whom I *think* I know – there’s simply not many people better prepared for mainnet than me. There’s more people in the community than some realize (and they’re often quiet), but I would be shocked if there’s a half dozen node operators in the same spot I am.
I’m coming to you now because I am comfortable, and because it’s time for you all to start catching up.
Here are some things you should know about the API market:
API providers ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS. Take a minute to browse a few dozen pricing pages. Most run on a Freemium model, and once you get over the free calls at any real scale, you’re a goddamn guppy in shark waters.
They’re essentially built on exploiting entrepreneurs – specifically, app developers. They give hungry young guns a difficult choice: you can pay a lower per-month fee and higher per-call rates, or you can pay an exorbitant monthly fee with low per-call rates. This sounds like simple business practices until you actually look at the damn ratios: per-call between the basic and premium plans routinely range between 4-10x, and I’ve seen as high as 20x. They have their high-volume clients, but they mostly have young dudes trying to get something started, and they shake those guys DOWN.
And once you go over your monthly allotment? Then they come for your blood. “Oh, you didn’t anticipate these charges? But it’s all in your contract. Perhaps you would like to upgrade?” It’s like selling you a lemon because they know you’re going to buy a real car later.
THEN you add in the SLAs. Uptime guarantees are only given to premium subscriptions. You know what a functioning node needs? Uptime guarantees. Now, I’m not saying that they PURPOSEFULLY hit lower subscription tiers with downtime, but you know what’s a highly unregulated industry? APIs. Nodes NEED to negotiate their own rate with an uptime SLA, or they’re screwed.
When I’m working on my smart contract projects, I spend most of my time trying to get these fucks to give me a pricing model that won’t make me bleed from the goddamn eyes. “Data is the new oil” – goddamn right, and these fuckers are TYCOONS. Don’t fuck with API providers.
But the predatory pricing isn’t even the worst part.
Most of these providers won’t even GIVE YOU ACCESS TO THE DATA. I started off trying to contact every sports provider I could because I thought I was going to be the first node to enable gambling, and I was going to build rep and corner the high-value contracts.
My model is still roughly the same, but it sure as shit won’t be in sports. This isn’t to say that it’s impossible to get access to those providers, but I’ve noticed that you run into certain… invisible barriers. I couldn’t even get a call from anyone with the NBA, NFL, NHL, or any American sport data provider. When you start poking around available APIs, you realize that there’s a cottage industry of folks offering things like odds, predictions, and analysis data – it’s because the big boys don’t give entrepreneurs the REAL goods. No American sports gambling on smart contracts for at least 3-4 years.
Even in the industry I’m targeting it can be rough. I finally got someone on the phone, had a great half-hour talk and got them excited about working with me, and then they acted all cagey for four months. After countless back-and-forth e-mails, the sales rep finally admitted to me that I should expect to wait a whole fucking lot longer. He told me it takes half a year to let a UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER access their data, and even then only with significant legal protections. I don’t know how much paper I’ve signed already. For many of these people, their data is their lifeblood, and they protect it zealously.
THE MACRO CONDITIONS OF THE API LANDSCAPE COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE MORE HOSTILE TO THE LAUNCH OF CHAINLINK. Their CTO laid this out a little bit in the discord a few days back, and I was surprised when he did. It’s the most potent FUD of Chainlink that there is.
Nodes are useless without data. Without hundreds of nodes serving data, the network is similarly useless. But the data is behind SIGNIFICANT walls of access and cost. At mainnet, there will be hundreds of little pieces of hobby software doing absolutely nothing – and then a few, like mine, quietly humming away.
> But muh behind-the-scenes something something ISO 20022
Lol. There will be a few big announcements at launch and hopefully the data associated with those companies/contracts will be affordable, but by the looks of it they won’t be. Yeah, we’ve heard for months that Chainlink is working with providers. But look at the folks THEY’VE ACTUALLY SIGNED. BnC follows these pricing models. Data Sports Group follows these pricing models. On their end, they think this is GREAT – new guppies.
Node operators are WORSE than app developers. They’re chum. App developers can try to grow their userbase, they can market, they can have some agency in the whole thing. Meanwhile, 99% of node operators are blind, dumb bunnies signing up for expensive services and hoping a contract will request their data. So many contracts haven’t even been written yet. So many use cases require data that are either wildly expensive, or not even available. In the early days people are going to pay for data that isn’t even trafficked. Here’s the kicker: even when traffic picks up, the node operator is still going to take it raw. Too many of you are going to sign up for the basic plans – so you’re going to get penalized when the APIs have downtime, penalized and charged when traffic picks up and they throttle your data, and bled raw until you’re talked into spending hundreds of dollars on the premium plans. So many of you are going to lose all the reputation on your nodes and have to start over. So many of you are GOING TO LOSE MONEY. It’s crazy to me that only a few dozen or so people have realized this.
And even if the Mainnet announcements and the data associated with them WERE affordable, it’d be a few contracts in a few industries… not exactly the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The one-click NEET node is a naïve dream. It’s YEARS away from being that simple. For nodes to make the money people are dreaming of and for the network to achieve the valuation people are dreaming of, it will take WORK. The APIs need to become available, or developers won’t even write the damn contracts.
Yeah that's all well and good there my friend, but how do I personally profit from this shit?
Wyatt Rogers
$1000 EOY
Blake Harris
holy shit is biz actually improving
Nolan Kelly
Friend, we know that reasonable per-call api pricing is good. We also know that you don't need 24 million dollars and a 20 man team to do it. You yourself sound very well set up as a solo entrepreneur. What do you see as the role for the other 19 people they have in the company?
Joshua Miller
>Their CTO laid this out a little bit in the discord a few days back Steve never posts in the discord.
Landon Morris
>API calls are expensive That's bad how? Justifies fat margins.
Hunter Green
Do you think companies like clc will be needed?
Hudson Clark
Once you start to realize that the only data that will be used is “data affordably available to a large swath of the node community,” you realize that the only data that will be used AT ALL is what’s free and what They offer. Think about that for a minute. What’s available right now? Fiews’ list, and Their list. That’s it.
So, what contracts will developers write? Ones using Their data. What data will nodes need to get access to if they want in on the action? The data providers They signed. People don’t realize that They don’t have “first mover advantage” in the traditional sense. They are creating the damn earth that will be moved. As of right now, there are no providers available to nodes in almost a dozen industries that They represent. They will FUNDAMENTALLY shape the marketplace. In many ways, They WILL BE the marketplace.
You want to compete with them as an individual node operator? You need to go out and find TWO data sources for EVERY use case, get gutted by the APIs like a pig, and then have MULTIPLE NODES on MULTIPLE PLATFORMS (or a community of your own) that can provide the data. No matter how you feel about Them, you’re going to sign up because it’s the only thing that makes sense.
Depending on the announcements/partnerships that drop on mainnet, I see them easily cornering 25-50% of ALL traffic on the ENTIRE network. If that seems absurd, answer this: what else is there? What else WILL THERE BE? There is a GAPING HOLE between Mainnet and Lambo, and it’s one that they fill.
Again, there’s only a handful of people who understand how useless the network is/will be in the early days without the damn data providers. Maybe half of those people are Them. Or, hell, I don’t know, maybe even some of Their team doesn’t get how crucial They are, and only the CTO gets it.
I’ll be keeping half my stack of Their tokens for those dividends, which I expect to become significant in short order. But half I’m investing as a pure spec play.
One of my buddies trades Uranium companies. Itty bitty miners on wild swings. A 2% move in the underlying asset, uranium spot prices, can lead to a 30% face-rip in the companies. He does maybe one trade a month, but knows how to spot them.
Similarly, during Bitcoin’s last bull (20x), an asset-backed derivative, GBTC, did a 1000x. It became significantly more valuable relative to the underlying assets due to scarcity of the shares and exposure. And, of course, we all just saw Linkpool do something similar. They are my big trade for the year. LP had their big multiple happen over hints of a working product and nothing else, as far as I could see. They are offering a second round of funding in 2020 when there will be a working mainnet and a working product. If they capture the traffic share I expect them to, I don’t even want to tell you what I think the multiple could be. I’m not crazy – it’s under three figures – but only just.
So, there’s my thesis. Half of my investment is actually in the company, which I think will be the spine of the early network. The concerns about the lack of moat are valid, but not when you consider that they have a kind of first-mover on steroids.
People also underestimate the amount of business acumen involved on their team. Think about BnC. One of the few providers we know are going to be working with Chainlink, and one of the few providers advertising as such (check their Twitter this morning). They managed to convince BnC to TAKE LESS MONEY. BnC would LOVE to keep node operators as individual, atomized agents trying to negotiate on their own behalf. But, then They stepped in and got the community a deal. Nobody seems to get how foundational that will come to be.
But I do want two things from them:
1. The valuation. They need to respond to the community on this one. Even the folks who aren’t rabid FUDsters have called them out.
2. Show me the code. I’m more bullish on Them than most (signing BnC before Chainlink even announced was big and really made me come around to them), but I’m not putting down anything until I see how the STO will function.
The smartest of you know that my thesis isn’t the real public service, however. My good deed is a wake-up call. You all need to GET TO WORK.
I’m five steps ahead of all of you, but without some help – even with Them doing some heavy lifting – the network will be useless. You all need to be going out and signing deals with your providers. You can just sign up for Their service and make a little bank, but if you’re not getting your own, you won’t REALLY make it. I have two industries good and cornered, and I have plans to run nodes on multiple hosts to provide that data. When the time comes (when I’ve built the reputation for the high-value contracts) I’ll open up what I have and make myself a competitor to Them. You all should be doing the same. It’s time to stop hunting for breadcrumbs, and it’s time to start doing the work to make this network run. PSA over.
Who the fuck are They/Them and why do you keep referring to them as such?
Jason Martinez
This is interesting. Perhaps I'll some reputable companies that can provide data. Good idea. I'll stay in the confines of my shithole country to maintain a monopoly of sorts.
Aiden Green
You wanna answer my posts, or is this just a bot posting an essay?
Gabriel Evans
Good post but fuck man stop being so preachy. You could just say CLCG instead of the Holy ‘They.’
Bentley Gutierrez
Started good, now it's cringe. Explain why they're an erc20 token instead of normal equity? The team is bloated as fuck and honestly look fucking incompetent.
Nathan Sanchez
this guygets it seemed better than parroting their name 50 times
Jackson Gray
OP, one can assume that your node software makeup is flawless. How do you perform redundancy? Do you have cross-cloud clusters, or is your setup a bunch of local machines masterfully interconnected somehow?
Isaiah Perez
it would be an incorrectassumption. im not handling that side of things. i know whaleanon is doing local, on-sitestuff, but im not working with his budget. im consulting with folls who are gonna get me set up on multiple cloud services with my own eth node.
if you want to talk contacting and signing apis, im your guy.
Brayden Turner
thanks, missed this batch of posts.
if i dont see some of you in berlin in october, ill know youre all a lost cause
Joshua Baker
Have you had any contact with any team? Ie chainlink itself, LP, clcg, etc
How have you factored your work/access costs into economic modelling?
It seems like you have upstream figured out - have you talked to any downstream consumers?
Dylan Jackson
Would you be so kind to share your contact details as well as your node software provider? My email: [email protected]
You wrote a lot that shows youre a retard larper The point of CL isnt you reselling someone's API Its that person monetizing their API directly You fucking retard
Kayden Parker
nope none. i thought about working with fiews and was never goingto give lp the margins they wanted, but then i contacted some mining consultancies. a bunch said 'nah we dont do that' but then one guy read the whitepaper and thomases guide and got back to me in two hours with a plan of what to do and how to doit. gave me a great price. fiews/lp are gonna have COMPETITION soon.
thats tricky to think through because theres so much we dont know about the market yet. so i guess shortanswer is that, despite being tremendously optimistic, im still treating it all as a side gig to avoid too much sunk cost.
similar answer to the downstream. im not a smart contract developer, and aside from the apis, the contracts are a big hole in the network working too. who is weiting them and what are they being used for? its all still so young and vague, but im utilizing my skils as best as possible to position myself towin regardless of what shape things take.
im sweaty and ornery so i hope this is readable
Owen Allen
So API providers will be the nodes?
Samuel Myers
I am a brainlet as well when it comes to the more in depth technical aspect of crypto. Anybody here help us brainlets out with a layman’s terms summary of what OP said? What I got out of it was that holding your chainlink is worthless. You have to use the Link to set up a data node for a company to use if you want to make it.
Doesn’t really make sense to me. I have no idea how to do something like that anyway. I just want to hold.
Isaiah Peterson
nice word salad, i wish you the best of luck making it work come mainnet
Adrian White
Crystal, thanks
I guess thats what the serg himself has been conducting his big mac world tour for - demand generation
Justin Perez
I am a brainlet too. All those fees for keeping the node online, api charges will be paid in Link. Then you have the collateral, penalties, probably some other fees, all in Link. Also you have the reward Link for sending out good data. I believe holding Link tokens is not worthless, then again I am a certified below 110IQ brainlet
Zachary Martin
There’s still a spec play
If nodes work and fees are paid exclusively in link and demand is up and to the right then the tokenomics make a lot sense and price should rise - this is where the singularity meme came from
Hudson Adams
The exact words of a low IQ mouthbreather whose idiotic ideas have been exposed Get the fuck off Jow Forums and die faggot
David Peterson
Not exclusively, as that would effectively negate the decentralized advantages of the CL network; if the API provider remains the sole provider of said data, how would fetching the data through a node be any more secure than the endpoints they offer right now? The takeaway here is that APIs are already monetized, but could be of far greater value if their data could be utilized beyond web/mobile apps (ie, if their data could be used to settle digital agreements).
Noah Torres
>THE MACRO CONDITIONS OF THE API LANDSCAPE COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE MORE HOSTILE TO THE LAUNCH OF CHAINLINK. Yes friend, CL is ahead of its time. The landscape will have to bend over backwards to accommodate. By law.
Ayden Hall
The landscape will reconfigure itself through simple market dynamics. As OP pointed out the current business model is about shaking down small-mid scale app developers
Jack Reyes
DEAR OP, IM A BRAINLET SHOULD I HOLD 10K LINK OR STAKE?
Ethan Robinson
Interesting post, this is all just emerging market capitalism at it's best. You have the early monopoly(API providers) being forced to adapt to new tech or die to reach a larger market and more money. Unprepared node operators will fail, good ones won't. The system chainlink will enable is also going to hold the API providers responsible as the good nodes refuse to take unreasonable penalties and search for the best data providers. The best data providers face competition in this to now provide better service or be replaced by a data provider that has a cheaper/better service that will always be picked up by the good nodes.
None of this is FUD, hope anons see the fucking light
Luis Bailey
OP pls respond in a short digestible sentence. Preferably in just one word
> hold or > sell
t. brainlet neet
Evan Jones
no, why sell?!
Parker Hill
anyway I read all of his posts with great...ness. amazing post. truly a good deed innit
Brandon Sullivan
He's a fucking shill for clcg you idiots
Alexander Wright
I am content with being among the early adopters, and having some regulation in place before I dive into setting up nodes. I could stress over getting first mover advantage and attempt to snatch all the prime data providers for myself, and navigate the now hostile waters - but I'd rather just throw money at link and work on other stuff in the meantime. Sure I might get less money out of it, but I'm not a psychopath obsessed with making it. More power to you if you are.
I have links with an API provider in UK that runs a database linked with every single food product for sale in UK stores with nutritional information, ingredients list and allergy information an API call away.
If you're not technically savvy, find someone to help you. Best practices will be Fiews for EaaS, CLC (i'll drop the Them schtick, fair critique) for API access, and if you can do those two things, just put your faith in Linkpool. But honestly, unless Linkpool uses CLC's APIs, they're just hobby nodes.
If you're REALLY smart, though, you need to go out and sign your own damn APIs. Corner your own little slice of the marketshare.
If you can't do ANY OF THAT, sure, hold Link, it will accumulate if everything goes smoothly. CLC tokens are a significantly better spec play however, and have significant long term value as well. They do need to address the issues I mentioned, however!
So an okay verison of Spoonacular. Good start, though! Potential IoT applications.
I'm not mad -- the more of this that happens, the better for the ecosystem! Keep it up!
Fair points. Look at some of the secondary investments though. Remember: derivatives accumulate faster that their underlying assets.
From the API provider's perspective, node operators are even juicier targets than app developers. They're delicious, and want to keep node operators negotiating as single users. They have no need to adapt, and I think you're overestimating the importance of ISO 20022.
CLC is really providing a service that will allow the network to function.
This makes sense, but there are better spec plays out there attached to the underlying asset (link)
Every fucking faggot on this board expects that they'll just be able to plug in their API to their node right when mainnet takes off which is absolutely laughable
CLC have a great concept for a solution to that problem but they haven't justified their valuation so I'm staying out of it for now
Easton Rivera
Buy LP and no I'm not Jonny or Matt
Gavin Thomas
what is this guy shilling?
Jacob Ortiz
More like 1$ in two years. Enough for me to sell my bags.
Nicholas Barnes
He wants to make you believe that API aggregation is valuable. When it historically has never been. Most people only have few APIs they want data from and the overhead of stitching schemas securely yourself isn't as hard as knowing which data sources you should collect from.
Jason Allen
Getting off your ass and negotiating with api providers so that you can run a profitable node and outcompete unprepared biz brainlets who thought that Link was no effort ez money.
Eli Sanchez
I'm ducking out again, but I'll check in on my phone periodically to answer questions.
I was expecting more 'how to' in regards to contacting providers. Should I check back in a week once people start running into the thorns? Maybe that's when the doubters will put two and two together.
By all means share a how to, I have no idea how to contact people like this and not sound like I don't know anything.
Connor Myers
This pretty much confirms my ongoing suspicion that chainlink is a biz psyop. Thanks op, just sold 100k
Benjamin Gonzalez
yeah no prob!
first step is to find your niche. clc hasent encroached on mine yet (in part because i met a few providers in person, and thats huge. i expect to see them at the next conference though). so go look at apis and find a usecase you can snag.
then a short, introductory email without too much jargon. if they have a number, call them. the key is to get them on the phone, and then you can get into the weeds of smart contracts and oracles. to start, though, just nice and simple. theyre looking for reasons not to respond to you.
then comes the negotiation. you NEED uptime sla, and tou NEED per call pricing. a sales book ortwo cant hurt there.
Eli Harris
next step from thereis going to be gettinng the contracts written that will useyour data and trying to find the market for its use. thats the part where im goong to hold my cards for now. might start a group though, we'll see.
Evan Cook
make. the god damn. tripcode.
Colton Barnes
How do I put my link into nodes on Fiews and CLC.
Aaron Allen
what does CLC stand for?
Anthony Murphy
Hello OP, brainlet here, how do I git gud at making APIs or whatever you are saying? What languages do I need to know? How would I practice?
Me replying to myself. Sry for dumb question. I did some research and realize that Fiews is a place to help you set up a chainlink node. Here’s the question however. I don’t know how to setup an oracle contract and get advertise my node for people to use.
I am confused about how people use the node also. Do other people just stake link in the node and then collect money if somebody is using the node for their business or something.
If that’s the case i’d Like to put my link in nodes that are exist already with oracle contracts that have jobs lined up for when mainnet comes.
James Watson
Cucks Love Cock
Samuel Wilson
what are you talking about? AWS API Gateway? GCP?
Jackson Ross
(cont.) what hardware do you recommend for operating a node? I am a poorfag and only have a spare RPI3 lying around. Might work and save up to be the best node operator in the valley like you.
>clcg faggots this desperate to salvage their carcrash
Carter Richardson
I can't wait for this shitcoin to go to 0 so you retsrds finally stop clogging up my board with your shitcoin shilling
Sebastian Carter
ill set up a trip when i get back
read through thomas's node guide. if you can do that, getting fiews eaas and clcs apis wont be tough.
if you cant do that, then you need to sign up for linkpool. only problem with them is all they have access to are the free apis. thats not going to cut it
I've read through the node guide(Setup a node, ran a contract and had it fetch data for me etc) but this is something I've clearly not thought through. I only have a small fund set aside for premium APIs and figured it would be as easy as going to a website and signing up...
I was playing around with Solidity for awhile and was fetching data using Oraclize previously, but was recently trying to switch it to Chainlink. Since my project was using a "freemium" API, is this something I should probably pursue for my node? I am quite certain the data will be necessary for various contracts.
This thread is full of brainlets. OP you should stfu and keep the advantage we have. look at this shit
Cameron Reyes
yes! start the negotiation process now. you sound better prepared than 98% of the board though. keep it up!
its time, friend. if mainnet drops with no apis, its going to be a disaster
Christopher Barnes
Based user. Now faggots will be rushing to buy clc. Thank you for driving the price higher. But some of these snow flakes needed a wake up call for their own good.
Camden Hill
I still feel like a brainlet, and yeah the "over the counter" pricing for this particular one is an absolute buttfuck, and doesn't even say anything about guaranteed uptime or anything. Will probably have to use Honeycomb or something I think, as a lot of this stuff will probably be out of my price range for the near future.
But CLC is a scam They literally employ a pump and dump artist.
Connor Walker
no, this faggot is just shilling the clc scam
Matthew Ward
GoodDeedAnon, how big should an operator's link stack be to have a chance of getting on top of competition? Have you calculated what an average stack should be at? I won't ask how much you plan to stake yourself, just contemplating what a good starting stack would look like. My estimation would probably be around 100K.
Josiah Green
Is everything stupid here?
This faggot is working for CLC and shilling that shitty project. Everyone was starting to call them scammers because Timo (member of CLC's team) sold his link at the top and now they're trying to play cool and say they're needed for Chainlink.
Truth is, Chainlink doesn't need CLC.
Wyatt Young
Everyone *
Zachary Davis
and reminder NO WHERE did sergey himself said or even hinted that a service like the CLC scammers plan is in any way needed for chainlinks success.
Ethan Cook
Something I'm not understanding.
1.You say it's hard to connect to sports data APIs, however, these are easily available. Websites and commercial business use them every day, daily. Are you referring to something more specific then sports stats and game outcomes? Or unless your a business offering api serves to future node operators. Then yeah, I can see it being a pain in the ass. But that doesnt directly effect node operators. No?
2. You've said "cornered the market" a few time. That's an odd way in describing a decentralized network. If you cornered the market that would mean your the only provider an no one would use your data input.
Asher Baker
>S-stop it, please use CLC, it even has Chainlink on its name! It can't be a scam. Use it or chainlink fails!
Hate scammers, this shit is like LTO shills that use Chainlink's memes and paste that nigga face on top of Sergey's
Jack Roberts
Please tell me that nobody is planning on putting money into CLC. A 7 million dollar value for some startup that provides a couple APIs is honestly hilarious. I think the team saw that people are still putting money into shitcoin ICOs and decided that they want some of that sweet cash
Isaiah Moore
I hold 150k linkies and don't even know what a smart contract is, I'm just here to buy low and sell high. I hope this is bullish
Dominic Watson
Before we can get customers we need to know how to build a product. Can you give us a guide on how to make smart contracts using a link node and oracles.
I don’t know how this business really works. Do you make the smart contract first then approach potential clients or do you approach a business and give them a pitch on how you can help automate their business by using smart contracts and then from there build from the ground up a smart contract system that tailors to their needs.
I feel like such a task would require expertise in many fields. You’d need a lawyer to make sure the smart contract is written in such a way to protect the company, you’d need a business man who can can have intelligent discourse with his client over the things he can implement in the smart contract as to help his clients business be more productive, and finally a coding wiz to build the contract.
I feel only a certain kind of (((people))) that already have multiple business, law and tech connections through their nepotism can pull off such a task with success.
