Elon Musk's most loved cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, rose 31% two days ahead of his Twitter deal, looking extremely bullish amid a broader crypto market that week. The free speech absolutist is famous for moving markets with his tweets, even when they are not directly targeted to crypto. When it comes to the crypto market, its volatile nature is a fact that cannot be ignored. The price of a cryptocurrency can move up or down at any time. And there are certain factors responsible for this. Understanding these factors that influence its market price can help you decide whether to invest in it, trade it, or continue watching its developments.

Brief History Of Cryptocurrency

A lot of crypto newbies tend to seek this knowledge before investing their money. The rise of crypto was slow at first, but the boom is like that of an object released on free fall. Its origin could be traced back to the 1980s when they were still called Cyber Currencies. However, there was not much news about it until 2008 was birthed. The year bitcoin was introduced by an anonymous programmer or group of programmers that found their peace in the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.

Since Bitcoin was officially launched in 2009, other cryptocurrencies broke free from the shackles holding them in captivity. Fast forward to today, they've become the crush people are dying to get to know.

Factors That Drive The Price Of Cryptocurrency

The Team Behind The Project

A simple analogy to explain this is an organization or a working space. A great team produces great results, a good team has good results and a bad team has bad results. So, the quality of the team behind the project has a role to play in the price of a cryptocurrency. Take, for example, When you put your money into a young project, which is what an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) stands for, there’s usually no working product or service. This means you’re placing a bet on the people otherwise called the team behind the project.

As I mentioned earlier, If the team is strong, there is a high chance the results will be more favorable — even if the idea isn’t disruptive — than an inexperienced team with a powerful idea. Before investing, I recommend you do a thorough assessment of the team behind a Crypto or Blockchain project. The reason is that investing begins with education not spending money.

We hear heartbreaking stories every single day. Sometimes we even sit at a round table to discuss them with friends over bottles of drinks at a gathering. And the stories they share weaken the heart. Many people have lost faith in cryptocurrency because of the amount of money they've lost by investing in crypto projects championed by teams that either do not know how to fulfill their purpose or wasn't planning to do so. We've heard of teams that walked away

with people's money. For instance, in recent months, Confido disappeared with $375,000 from an ICO and no one knows the whereabouts of the founders to this date. Another team seeing the affairs of an alternative coin (altcoin) called Pincoin went away with $660,000,000. As if the damages were not enough, other failures came together to form a company called LoopX, these folks walked out with investors' money worth over $4,500,000.

Four Features To Look Out For In A Team

With the Calibre of damages these folks have caused in our industry, below are a lead of features I'd inspire you to consider regarding the team behind a Crypto project before thinking of investing or not.

• Their identity

Uncovering the Identity of team members behind a Crypto project shouldn't be a Herculean task. As this information should be readily available on their website. Also, their profiles should be searchable on social media. It is not enough to just know their names. Putting the faces to the names is very important. This is because ICOs have been caught using false profiles to conceal the absence of a genuine team.

To be on the safer side, Craft.co lists the details of many major cryptocurrency companies, including the company's history and names of leading team members.

In conclusion, any profile you confirm to be fake or suspicious should be a huge indicator that you need to run for your dear life.

• Knowledge of the crypto world

As an investor, your priority is to make as much money as you can without losing any. So betting on a weaker party is a big risk. One I'm not sure you'd like to take. You need to be sure that they truly know what they are talking about before investing your money. You need to know the roles of each member of the team and if they are competent in the role assigned. You need to know if their goals are achievable. You need to know the size of the team and the amount they are aiming to raise. You need to know who they run to for advice. You need to know a lot of important stuff as regards how they intend to make things happen.

• Their track record

In today's world, it's difficult to hide your activities, especially if you have business with the public. People are itching for attention on social media so they would post or share anything that would bring that their way especially if it has an iota of truth in it. This makes it a go-to place to see if there are any skeletons in the cupboard of team members, its twin is press publication.

You don't want to associate with crypto whose team members are accused of financial crimes or inconsistencies. Do they do the opposite of what they say, are they giving you room for doubts? Do they say they did what they didn't do? It could be a sign to stay far away from them.

• Accessibility

Try to see if you can contact the team directly via social media or other channels they made available.

Are they consistently creating content and breeding a community? Do they give answers to questions and respond to comments? Are they multiple ways provided for you to contact them? Can you reach out to team members individually via social media?

These are questions you need to seek answers to.

Marketing

A product promoted the right way sees success. Crypto-related product isn't an exception. Customers buy the experience they'd get from using a product, not the product itself. They buy the Purpose of the product creation.

Marketing is more about creating a steady flow of knowledge, empathy, and value toward the target audience. But when it comes to marketing in the crypto world, a lot of crypto projects go with what seems to be the industry norm - an account on Twitter, an accessible website, and a whitepaper. But today, things are done differently. They've added the sauce (the real idea of marketing) to their marketing game. Approaches such as word-of-mouth publicity, community building, social media marketing, content marketing, Google SEO marketing, awareness campaigns, blockchain-focused events, airdrops, and a host of others are finding their way into the current marketing mix for cryptos.

Positive News

This is what Elon Musk is doing with Dogecoin. On 14th January 2022, Tesla started accepting Dogecoin as a mode of payment for select merchandise. This saw the price of Dogecoin skyrocket by 10% to reach a high of USD 0.2.

Apart from the Tesla announcement, Elon also made an exciting disclosure as regards Starlink subscriptions. When he was asked by passionate followers if one could pay for the satellite internet service using dogecoin, Elon gave a three-word response "Maybe one day", giving the green light on the possibility.

Mr. Tesla is not even the first person to accept payments in dogecoin. According to Forbes, Billionaire Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks basketball team is the first merchant to accept dogecoin as payment, a big move for a cryptocurrency that began as a joke.

Project Use Case

Bitcoin is accepted as a mode of payment by over 15,000 merchants all over the world including your favorites: Starbucks, Tesla, Macdonald's, Pepsi, Visa, Mastercard, etc. Ethereum has a ground-breaking combination of features like smart contracts, so it is used for the diverse purpose of invention in finance, web browsing, gaming, advertising, identity and access management, and supply chain management. BNB is the signature coin of the largest crypto

trading platform in the world - Binance. Other than that, you can use BNB to pay for goods and services, settle transaction fees on Binance Smart Chain, participate in exclusive token sales, and more.

There are other cryptocurrencies with good use cases but, the three mentioned above have the strongest. So no surprise that their prices are constantly on the high side compared to other cryptocurrencies.

Community

"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about." – Margaret J. Wheatley.

Margaret J. Wheatley explains the power of a community on a deep level. Take, Elon Musk, and how he brought dogecoin from oblivion as an example. He is a part of the Dogecoin community and cares so much about this cryptocurrency that he can't help but talk about it. Some time ago, he was heard to have said in passion and faith 'I find that oftentimes the most ironic and entertaining outcome is the most likely. And the most entertaining outcome would be Dogecoin becoming the global new earth currency.'

One tweet from Elon Musk about Dogecoin and its making the news which then affects the price. A lot of people always wonder why Elon puts his mouth where his money is. The thing is, blockchain projects rely heavily on word of mouth for recognition when it comes to getting the best developers on board or being recommended and supported by community members. So, for a crypto project to succeed, community members have a role to play in the success of the project — they’ll review products and offer their insights as well as highlight market trends and things that need to change.

Billionaire entrepreneur Jack Dorsey said it is “the network and community” behind these projects that he sees as a driving force for change and good when he was asked why he believes in cryptocurrency. Validating Margaret J. Wheatley's quote on community.

Milestone Announcement

On the 22nd day of May 2010, an early Bitcoin miner and programmer that goes by the name Laszlo Hanyecz offered 10,000 bitcoins for two large pizzas on a forum to satisfy his cravings. But, he didn't get a response until May the 22nd, 2010 when a 19-year-old at the time, Jeremy Sturdivant, accepted the offer of 10,000 Bitcoin for two pizzas, valued at around $41 back then. Well, they had a deal. One received 10,000 bitcoin, and the other received two large-sized pizzas.

I find two things from this event interesting. for one, the worth of 10,000 bitcoin today, and the fact that that was the first-ever recorded real-world transaction using crypto. It is said that Hanyecz looks back on that day with a lot of regrets.

Of course, it made the news that Bitcoin was accepted as payment, what followed was the rise in the price of the cryptocurrency. And, May 22nd was crowned a big day in the crypto world. What we now observe as "Bitcoin Pizza Day".

When it comes to the factors that affect the price of crypto positively. Elon Musk has ticked every box correctly. If Elon can influence the price of Dogecoin just as a normal social media user like both of us, we should expect more from him now he owns one. Recently, the billionaire updated the price of renewing the Twitter "verified blue tick". He also made public other dimensions of the "verified tick" to be released and the criteria and prices of getting them. This is an event you should be on the lookout for.

Also, don't be surprised if he starts accepting payments for the "verified ticks" in dogecoin. It hasn't happened yet, but it's a possibility. Start filling your wallet with some dogecoin. Do not let the big fish meets you unprepared. Don't sleep on him because very soon Dogecoin could be a transactional earth currency like he has predicted. You know why? He's probably working towards it.

Don't FOMO Jump On Any Crypto Project

If you are sure that investing in a crypto project is right for you, know that there are hundreds of them happening at the moment. You don't need to take things too fast. It's okay to take time out to research, watch a few plays on the pitch to validate your instincts, then start with what you can afford to lose.

GUEST BLOGGER AUTHOR:

EMMANUEL SUNDAY