Creating your own crypto may be a dream of yours. But is it really something you should do?
Creating your own cryptocurrency has become easier than ever with online tools that allow you to mint coins, and crypto companies popping up left and right. But there are some downsides to creating a cryptocurrency that you may not have considered.
In this article, we’ll cover the basics of creating your own cryptocurrency, some ways to make it successful, but also the downsides of launching a cryptocurrency. If you’ve ever thought about launching your own crypto, keep reading.
Can You Make Your Own Cryptocurrency Coin?
Yes, you can make your own cryptocurrency.
You own shares of Apple, Amazon, Tesla. Why not Banksy or Andy Warhol? Their works’ value doesn’t rise and fall with the stock market. And they’re a lot cooler than Jeff Bezos.
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But don’t expect to get rich overnight by creating “TomCoin” and sitting around waiting for the money to roll in.
Creating a cryptocurrency that actually gains public adoption and investor attention requires a lot more work than simply minting some coins. There are several steps involved in designing, coding, marketing, and supporting a growing ecosystem for a successful cryptocurrency.
Here’s a quick summary of how you can make your own successful cryptocurrency:
- Define your idea
- Decide how to create your new cryptocurrency
- Choose a consensus mechanism
- Design the nodes
- Build the blockchain architecture
- Integrate APIs
- Design the interface
- Make your cryptocurrency legal
- Create a white paper
- Create a community
As you can see, creating a successful cryptocurrency means treating it as a software start-up company and requires a decent amount of effort to grow adoption.
Now, there are tools online that make it easy to click a few buttons and create a cryptocurrency token on top of an existing blockchain like Ethereum, but again, this doesn’t get people to use your new creation.
Pros & Cons of Making a New Cryptocurrency
Creating a cryptocurrency can help boost your business and help you solve a problem using cutting-edge blockchain technology. But it’s not for the faint of heart and could end up wasting a ton of your time (and money).
Here are a few great things about making a new cryptocurrency, and some challenges to be aware of:
| Pros | Cons |
| Can enhance your branding | Requires deep technical knowledge |
| Can help raise capital | Can be very costly |
| Can solve old problems in a new way | Requires support and updates |
| Get rich! | Regulatory scrutiny |
Pros
Creating a new cryptocurrency can help you build the business of your dreams, but there is a lot of competition. Crypto is changing the financial landscape, so here are a few pros to creating your own crypto:
- Branding Boost. Creating a cryptocurrency can help boost the branding of your existing business or platform, especially if you can leverage a community of dedicated followers to help spread the word. This can drive more sales and revenue to your business.
- Raise More Capital. Building a cryptocurrency is an opportunity to inject capital into your project, as investors can participate in an initial coin offering (ICO), helping raise funds in exchange for tokens. U.S.-based companies cannot participate in ICOs, but international companies can.
- Solve Problems. Cryptocurrency is continuing to break down financial barriers and can solve the most pressing problems for consumers and businesses alike. Solving a problem for your users can lead to growth and adoptions, and ultimately the success of your cryptocurrency.
- Get Rich! Let’s face it, owning your own crypto can simply be a way to make you rich. But gone are the days of launching a coin and dumping them at a high price on retail investors (yuck!). With today’s regulatory environment, it is more likely that crypto founders face SEC fines than strike it rich quick. If you want to build wealth from launching a cryptocurrency, you must be in it for the long haul.
Cons
Creating a cryptocurrency isn’t all digital sunshine and rainbows. Behind every successful project, there are teams that work a ton to make it all happen. Here are a few drawbacks to creating a new cryptocurrency:
- Requires Technical Knowledge. Let’s face it — we’re not all genius blockchain programmers. And building a successful cryptocurrency requires a ton of technical skills and knowledge, especially when trying to gain mass adoption. You will either need to acquire the coding skills needed or hire it out.
- Can Cost a Lot. Blockchain programmers, leadership teams, and marketing can cost a lot, which is why many cryptocurrencies never get off the ground. It also might take years to gain any traction on your crypto, which is a huge time commitment.
- Ongoing Maintenance and Updates. With software, you can’t simply launch a product and not support it. Cryptocurrency is a software product that requires just as much maintenance and updating as any app, maybe more.
- Regulatory Hurdles. Cryptocurrency is facing more and more regulatory scrutiny as the number and dollar amount of scams rise. You may need to seek legal counsel to create and market your cryptocurrency to avoid any lawsuits.
Should You Make Your Own Cryptocurrency?
So, should you make a crypto?
It depends on what your goals are.
If you want to create a cryptocurrency business with the intent of raising capital and growing your project, then go for it! Just remember that it requires more than just creating the cryptocurrency, and is most likely to be a full-time job for you and possibly several others. It may also require a significant upfront cost to get started and will require maintaining and updating your crypto code over time.
If you simply want to create a joke coin that you can send to your friends, that’s fine too, and there are several free tools to make this happen online. We cannot vouch for any individual tools, but it is possible to mint coins with very little effort.
But if you think you can create a crypto quickly and get rich, this is not the business for you. With so much competition in the market (over 20,000 cryptocurrencies exist already), simply creating a new crypto and hoping it makes you rich will only leave you disappointed.
Final Word
Creating a cryptocurrency is a fun idea, but may take more work than you anticipate. With the industry in hyper-growth mode, the competition is fierce, and it will take a very good idea and excellent execution to stand out from the crowd.
But if you are truly sold on the idea of a new cryptocurrency that can change the world, you can follow our complete guide on how to create your own cryptocurrency. It will involve spending time and money to get your project off the ground, but treating your crypto as a business will give you the right mindset needed to succeed.
And yes, you can create coins for fun, but there may be legal implications to this, and it still may require time and money that you may not be willing to spend to make it happen. Go ahead and create TomCoin, but just be aware that there may be strings attached.