How I accidentally created a <$100k market cap coin

Sorry if this is not allowed, I will attempt to keep the name out of this as much as possible to attempt to show this is not a shill but my crazy experience over the last few days and how it changed my viewpoint on crypto. If you are interested in making your token, or just how the under belly of crypto works, then this is for you.

This is a legitimate, crazy story that has changed my mind on crypto and taught me a lot about the trappings of small cryptos on the DEFI scene, specifically Harmony One's network. This is a long story.

Where this adventure started

Strange beginnings for a crypto, but I wanted to know how markets worked, how easy it is to manipulate a price, see how much buys and sells effect crypto. Now I am not rich by any means and didn't want to destroy someone else's project, whether it deserves it or not. So I went looking for a cheap way to build a token and deploy it onto a smart network. I first went to Harmony as it is a project I am really excited for (although this experience may not sound like a glowing reference to Harmony at points, I genuinely still believe Harmony will be a top coin in the future).

Luckily for me, a token generator exists on the Harmony network (it is called tokenjenny, in no way affiliated). I genuinely do not remember how I found it, but it is likely due to the fact it has a tournament with Viper (what I believe will be the number 1 DEX on Harmony, but I have a small bag so I may be biased). I created a simple token based on what I would want out of a small token, a small hard cap on tokens to, no burns, no sale tax, no airdrops. Just a small token which value held itself against itself without using fancy gimmicks. This was also the best way to change prices.

After a few clicks and a wallet connect, I had all 1 million of my token in my wallet. Ridiculously easy and fee less I believe, with the only cost being the cost of sending the coins to my wallet on Harmony. And there you have it, I own a crypto.

The self market manipulation

In the beginning I did not have a clue what I was doing, if I am honest. I thought I did, but once you hold it in your hands and you are responsible, trust me it is different. I immediately dropped 8 ONE (about 50c at the time) against 750k of my tokens into liquidity on Viperswap and I had a live token. From there I proceeded to trade the coin in small amounts until the market cap had gone up to around $20 (this is a guess, it could have been less). I sold some more, then bought back and carried on watching how a big buy vs a small buy sent the price to different levels. And how the DEX actively worked against you buying all the liquidity at once with price impacts. This made it clear to me that this actually works. If people trade it, it will go up. This is obvious, but having full control of the market cap of your coin is again a different feeling. It felt strangely powerful and I wanted to know more.

The dumb luck

So I knew the only way to know more was to join a pump and dump group. I arrived at a newly started one on Telegram aimed specifically at Harmony projects. At this point the coin was still a self experiment and I introduced myself to the group awkwardly (I am a very awkward person) and started asking questions. The group were nice and quickly I learnt that I needed to burn my tokens so people trusted me. They even taught me how to do this (twist regarding this later). I decided to go for it. They were complaining about a coin that had just rugged and the owner had too much tokens, so I stacked another 200k of my token into liquidity and sent it to a burner address.

The social experiment

So, I decided to explain myself to the chat. My coin was an experiment to me and I decided to be honest about that. That and the fact someone could easily buy the whole supply, I said the truth, I am testing your greed as if you buy too much then you will destroy the token. I thought this would lead to someone going FU and just buying it and me being completely out of all my money, which I was ok with, my experiment would then be complete.

What actually happened

People bought little bits, the price rose. It started under 0.00001c which was the lowest value possible on the analytics. After a few hours it had reached 0.00001c. No more > sign. Nice. I thought that would be the end. People were saying how much they liked how I put things, how I encourage selling. I woke up the next morning to it being 0.001c. I realised at this point I was in control of peoples money in a way and therefore I had to be responsible with that. I would hate to be why people lost money down to my experiment.

Putting the work in

I opened up a telegram and added people. The prices at certain points gets hazy at this time because it was all so surreal and a major whirlwind. They asked the obvious question, what now? What now indeed. I did not want a pump and dump, I couldn't do that to people. Don't get me wrong at some point I will sell some, but for now I just wanted to make sure I didn't lose people money. I set a price target of 1 token = $1, if not 1 token = 1 One thinking it would be unreachable. The price hit 0.01c. I promised to make a website. I looked into ways to add value. With a coin that does nothing the only value it has is the value that people put to it, so I went looking for ways to add value. It became pretty clear to me that the best use case for the token was to use it in liquidity pools. But how do you get one of those when your coin is still under $1k? I joined the token jenny tournament. A tournament where the 1st placed prize would get you an incentivised pool and a nice cash reward. The price hit 1c. I made a website and set up a tournament to create the logo, paying in my token. The website was to be revealed after the tournament. The price hit 6c. My token had a market cap of $60k in the space of a week from creation. 8 One had turned into a value of 1 million One in the space of a week. It rose to 8c.

The dump

I woke up the next morning and the price was 4c. Ouch. My worst fears had happened. It had battled against it but that was it, the end. Or so I thought. People asked what happened and to get people interested I went shilling. Not to pump and dump, but to get new customers. Not all the dump was people selling all, they were just taking profits, good. I had said from the beginning, you sell when you need to, no one knows your story and what that amount of money will do to you. People liked my response. It battled to 10c but dropped again.

The copycat

Someone released a coin called 1 billion. It was a reference to my name and advertised it as homage. It was a memecoin standard, where there were burns, tax and no proof of liquidity burn. I found it a compliment. People were annoyed that I didn't get annoyed, but I genuinely thought it would be good for my coin.

100k Market cap

This weekend was meant to be my wedding anniversary and nephews 1st birthday. I spent all weekend keeping people active. Growing bonds with people and advertising the competition. The competition happened and the response was immense. Immediately I added the winning logo to the website and shared the site. I expected to wake up back at 1c with the hype dying and having to talk down people wanting free crypto. I had made the mistake of paying people who did not win too as I liked their submission. Big mistake.

I woke up with the price at 9c. As soon as I was active again it was at 14c.

Jealousy/FUD

So I had started noticing that certain people were saying not so nice things about my token and me. The main one being the rug pull. Easy to get rid of with proof of liquidity sent to dead address. This did not stop it. Then it was that I will print more. I showed the contract, hard cap 1 million tokens. They created a telegram group to do group research into new tokens. Fine by me, it is needed. 1st post, my token is on their watch list. I lost my rag. I didn't understand what their problem was. I should have stayed out of it, but it was other people's money in my hands. It felt personal. I managed to bat back every FUD except the fact there could be whales, I couldn't argue that, there were 2 or 3. It was inevitable.

Then I went onto viperswap tradeable coins on Coingecko and realised my coin was the only Harmony coin with a green trust score. They soon gave up. They were the creators behind 1 Billion or in the circle. 1 Billion got rug pulled. I came out shining. The price stayed stable.

The tournament

We flew into second place and have stayed there since. The leading coin is probably out of reach, and they know the tournament creator and viper devs. It feels like they were meant to win. I hope I am wrong.

The hype dies down

So this is now getting to present day. Big buyers become smaller sellers, but still selling. We sit at a still very respectable 6 to 7c. I have plans, and will soon start approaching other DEX's for liquidity pools as I now fully understand our value in a pool. Being none deflationary nor inflationary, our value would hold a coin up very nicely. I have to learn social media marketing too, but I will get this coin on a DEX and in a pool. I have to.

What I learnt and how it changed my view on crypto

I genuinely thought that it would get bought immediately and I would be dumped off. I was genuinely ok with that. But I learnt that people just want a chance at a better life and crypto gives them hope. Some make it. Some don't. 1 Billion pumped and rugged so hard I had people apologising to me that they had to sell mine to cover losses there. I always said I understood and I did to a certain degree, at least enough to know it wasn't an act against my token.

The DEX market is really a shit show beneath the hood. Dodgy analytics that lose connection making people think you have rugged (I have been told this is down to Harmony One issues at the moment, which I am inclined to believe). People trying to scam as many people as possible. Harmony was a nice place, but as more comes along the more it becomes like any other. Copies of copies popping up everywhere. It is good, but I wish I could get the message out to everyone, do not dip into it with money you can't afford to lose, even money you don't want to lose. You will lose 9 out of 10 times. There are geniuses in the early days, but they are heavily outnumbered by scammers. It is a shame, but it is inevitable with full decentralisation.

Token value is set by greed rather than worth. A coin with green candles will outsell a coin with red candle any day of the week. People forget the saying sell when there is greed and buy when there is fear so quickly due to FOMO. It is terrifying and something I am going to start drilling into my kids ASAP.

Analytics are easily scuffed, especially at low level crypto. I learnt this myself but also watching other coins in the tournament. Do not fall for green candles, please.

Honesty can win, I was honest from the beginning, I will stay honest. Our little success is testament to this. It pushes me and the community to put more work in and make a genuine project. I know we will get there.

Being responsible for peoples money is scary. Never will I ever trust anyone again who outright fully enjoys this. I thought it would be fun making money for people, but genuinely it has been terrifying, dizzying and has caused so much anxiety. This is why I have to make this work going forward.

Thank you for reading this far down and not deleting it if it doesn't get deleted, I thought I would just tell my story, a story I will never forget no matter what. I couldn't it has changed me.