As we come to the close of 2021, It's with a heavy heart that I'm making the decision to shut down the MYD project.
As much as I believed the time was ripe in Myanmar for a disruptive new technology, we need to be honest about the current state of the project 8 months on from launch.
1) NUG doesn't want our help.
We originally launched thinking NUG would support us as a decentralised alternative to the military controlled Kyat. This is not the case. They do not support crypto outside of USDT, all they want to use crypto for is donations and to regain control of the Kyat in the future for their own benefit.
2) A global lack of interest in Myanmar.
I originally thought it would be simple for us to get on an exchange, but as a coin with our own blockchain rather than a token, Decentralized exchanges were not open to us. Over the past 8 months I have been in contract with every single major exchange and have heard a wide variety of excuses why they do not wish to work with us. Some want to collect all the private details of the founders before even considering, some wish us the best but do not want to pick sides in an internal conflict, some China based exchanges outright stated that didn't support our aims as they sided with the Tatmadaw. The number of time I heard back "I personally support what you are doing and democracy in Myanmar, but we can't help you" seems to say a lot about the state of the world.
3) The project was started by a foreigner.
I wanted to help Myanmar, a country which I care for and in which I have many friends and family. The aim was to donate my time for free and create a project which was completely free and which everyone could use. Unfortunately with this came bad google translations, as Burmese is not my first language, which was clear as I tried to teach people in Myanmar about crypto and explain the project. Due to the need for secrecy to protect my family, this sowed distrust in the project that we have never recovered from. The fact that we gave MYD away for free also caused it to have no value in the eyes of most people.
4) The project is a negative space.
As much as i tried to encourage fun, sharing and education with learning posts and memes and competitions, the project is now an overwhelmingly negative space. People are constantly complaining, begging and yet never contribute anything new themselves. Leaving everything up to the MYD volunteer team who receive nothing in return. People want to be MYD millionaires but don't put effort into spreading it or countering false claims or lies about us online.
5) A lack of developer & crypto "expert" interest.
We still only have 1 core team member with the technical skills to keep building out and maintaining the project (myself). We have failed to attract crypto experts in the country, who are either too scared to declare their support for a pro democracy crypto, or don't really understand alternative cryptos to Bitcoin. We have also failed to attract any developers who wished to join the closed MYD network and integrate or build upon it.
6) Scammers taint Myanmar crypto.
From the failed Su coin which sowed early distrust, to the multi simmers who crashed MYD's price and destroyed our opportunity for equitable distribution, to the huge number of MYD scams that took place. These are challenges we cannot currently overcome.
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I take all of these as my own failures and I would like to thank all of you who put hard work into the project, but it is now time for me to admit that my efforts have failed, and Myanmar is not ready for this. Please be safe in the knowledge that if you have personally lost any money on MYD, it pales in comparison to the lost $8000 setup fees that I have incurred, but I consider it my donation in at least attempting to bring a better future to Myanmar.
Perhaps one day someone else will succeed in bringing crypto to Myanmar, and I will have the utmost respect for them. But for now, this is MD signing off.
Myanmar Dollar は今年6月に発行されたナノ(NANO/XRB)フォークのちゃんとした暗号通貨で、現在、ミャンマーや欧米の若者を中心に 9,500口座があります。
売り買いもできますが、まだまだ普及段階なので友達紹介、翻訳、SNSでシェアしたり、広告やミーム作成などで報酬で増やしていく方法がメインとなっているようです。