Below is the opinion I have formed after several discussions with team members. I'm not trying to "fud" or spread false facts in any way, this is just my personal impression. I would be happy to be proven wrong as I hold a substantial amount of DRGN tokens and feel like I have been cheated.
For full transparency I should note that I have recently been banned from Dragonchain's official Telegram channel, after asking critical questions, which has motivated me to write this post. I see myself as an investor, who has helped allow Dragonchain achieve their goals, by investing a not insignificant amount of money during the public sale. Yet I feel I, and other investors, are not being taken serious.
The questions I was asking were related to the token model, as presented during the public sale and later, when coins were being traded on the open market.
Dragonchain had clearly stated that companies requiring early access would need to have a certain "dragon days of slumber score" to participate in said program. In practice, it seems hardly any companies working with Dragonchain have accumulated the required DDSS. When first asked about it, the team clarified that the token is just one way of getting into the early access program. If your company doesn't get in through either the dragonscale network, direct enterprise application access, pilot program of academy, or marketplace partners (that's right, none of these options require the token), you can still get in by accumulating tokens required for a sufficient DDSS. Considering the high cost of acquiring the necessary DDSS, this seems like an option meant to discourage, much like how IKEA provides a shipping service that costs nearly more than the furniture you're buying as they'd rather not deliver it to you, because that's not their business model. Much in the same way is it more interesting for Dragonchain to work with companies through their Dragonscale network, or enterprise platform.
When asked if any companies actually bought tokens to participate in the early access program, they answered there was one company who bought the required tokens during the public sale. When asked if this implied that no companies had bought any tokens since the public sale, over half a year ago, despite numerous partnerships and new clients being onboarded, they discarded this follow-up question as fud and banned me.
As far as I can tell, Dragonchain as a company is doing great. However, the DRGN token in retrospect seems to have just been a means to get the necessary funding after they cut ties with Disney. The token model represented back then is now getting butchered in favor of the Dragonchain company, in which DRGN token holders obviously have no stake.
None of the token fundamentals are hardcoded into the platform, so Dragonchain is free to deviate from their token model if they see fit. The obvious decision from a business developmental perspective is to avoid token usage as it is a barrier of entry for clients to start working with the company.
This belief is further enforced by statements from the Dragonchain team, claiming they have no intention of helping the token get listed on any exchanges, or provide liquidity services. These things are a waste of funds according to them. This opens the token up to potentially heavy market manipulation.
The money raised during the public sale is not directly being used to provide further value for the DRGN token, or to support a healthy trading environment, but instead is being invested in the Dragonchain foundation, which in itself is in no way reliant on the token or it's usage.
From a business perspective, I completely understand why certain decisions have been made. It's painfully obvious though, how Dragonchain is proving that the success of blockchain technology won't necessarily be reflected in the underlying assets.
There is still the incentive to accumulate DDSS score for running nodes once those are live. I fail to see, however, how token value would hold up once node owners start selling their earned tokens on the open market.
I'll reiterate and say this post is in no way meant to influence the token price in a negative way. I fully respect the Dragonchain team and believe they are doing a great job at making blockchain technology more readily available. I just feel like the subject, concerning the token model, has been shunned long enough. Dragonchain claims to be a fully transparent company, yet their communication is awfully vague, making it very hard to trust they have token holders' best interests at heart. This is especially true after learning that the token is not being used as was intended and communicated.
Unrelated, but on that same (trust) note, I'd also like to hear about the code that was meant to be open sourced. But that's another discussion I suppose.
I hope this post can spark some honest discussion and won't get downvoted into oblivion, or deleted. I would like to encourage everyone to ask questions and be critical and am often saddened to learn this is seen as something negative.
Not financial advice, personal opinion, yada yada...
Peace out fellow DRGN hodlers!
