I have a difficult announcement to make. TL;DR @ISC_money will go into survival mode. We’re pivoting into FxSwap full time. - ISC will remain live. Fully collateralized. Pegged. Highly liquid. - BD, Marketing, Integrations, and the Points system will shutdown. - We will not launch a governance token for the foreseeable future. However, if we eventually do, you will not be forgotten. Why? - We exceeded our original budget (we never raised) - Lack of sufficient traction Main Announcement After working for more than 2 years on ISC, this decision is heart wrenching. Especially considering that every week we’re ever closer to a breakthrough. ISC launched at $1.54, and is now sitting at $1.81. It works. In fact, we just won the Payment Track for the @colosseum's Radar Hackathon and were invited to the accelerator. This would most likely enable us to raise funds and possibly flip into a TGE of our governance token. But the harsh truth is we don’t have enough traction. Very few people want an inflation resistant currency enough to overcome its current shortcomings. The biggest shortcomings are: - USD is the undisputed global unit of account - USD owns the “stability” narrative - Small TVL ➡️ perception of high risk Given our current situation, we don’t believe that pursuing a raise and a TGE would meaningfully solve those shortcomings. If anything we’ll most likely burn through investor cash and lose money for the folks who believe in us. When we launched, we believed people would want ISC because it’s superior to fiat currencies. After all, so many traders and teams are sitting on USD everywhere. USD holders leave ~5% per year on the table. We thought to ourselves, “We’re a team that has the capability and the balls to do it! We’re going to save the world against hyperinflation!” This exchange with Meow perfectly sums up my current thoughts. You can’t make people want what they need. People need an inflation-resistant, decentralized currency. But people want to invest in an idea early enough so that they become rich when it ultimately plays out. Arguably, we should have sold ISC’s vision, the governance token, and then prepared a big launch of ISC itself. With ISC already launched, it kills the dream. Given the current state of things, the dream is effectively capped. ISC is at $2M TVL… and it’s been out for more than one and a half years. HYPE > Product? I think for this kind of path, you need someone like Eno at the helm. Someone that will drive hype, that will make things attractive, that will lead the army into battle. I pushed myself as far as I could without betraying who I am. If I had to lead an army to battle, I’d feel compelled to inform the soldiers of their survival odds. I believe that’s the right way to deal with other people’s money, but isn’t great for mission/cult building, which is what ISC needs to take off. What’s next? ISC will remain live. The peg for ISC will be maintained and it will remain fully collateralized. We want to keep ISC running in order to build Lindy Effect, which will help trust down the road. We still believe that the world will need an alternative to the USD sooner than later. We’ll be there for that. We’re pivoting to FxSwap. Something that is not only needed for ISC, but also for other non-USD stablecoins and RWAs. Save Finance (Solend) ISC pool will become deprecated the next few days. We’ll disable borrowing and facilitate withdrawals. ORE-ISC LP take/unstake tool will be deprecated. We recommend to unstake and restake your ORE-ISC LP token directly with @ec1ipse_sol. We’re massively cutting costs. We’re going from 10 people down to 3. The Prospera points system is ending. We have taken a snapshot. Future TGE We don’t have any plans for TGE. It’s possible that FxSwap, Lindy Effect, or other factors help us refill the rocket so that ISC can reach orbit. If we ever launch a governance token for ISC, I want you to know that you will not be forgotten. - Points snapshot has been taken - Active community members, both of ISC and Solana - Others that helped the mission at different times - Team members ISC Team The most difficult thing was to say goodbye to the team we’ve built over the last 2 years. Cofounders: @anish2748 - 10x engineer - will remain to work on FxSwap. @youknoweno - An old friend and, much to our surprise, born to work in crypto. Will move on to new ventures. Marketing: @bart_hillerich - A one man marketing agency. Not joking. @namanchordia19 - The intern, always coming with brilliant ideas. Engineering: @Xlazer4 - Brilliant, able churn through complex problems. @nero__sensei - Our in-house DeFi expert. @AndziDev - Work power house. Can you do this for tomorrow?? Ok. All 3 are super hard working, very hungry with a lot of initiative. Operations: @medabun2024 - This girl solved all our office problems. Actually really fun to have around. If you are in Vietnam and need help with something, she’s the one. This feels so off. I’d rehire each of them immediately. Without you, we wouldn't have made it this far. Special Thanks Some people deserve massive thanks for supporting us, helping us, being there for us, and more. The list is endless, which is why I hate making those lists. What if I forget someone… I will definitely… I’m sorry. Unique mention to @0xSoju. This guy connected us to the Solana ecosystem like no one else. He vouched for us, and helped us every step of the way when we were still nobodies.
