I have been in the crypto space since 2021. I have seen a lot of things. I have seen Lunas and Ftxs. I have seen bear markets that made me question my life choices. I have seen bull runs that made me feel like a genius until I was not a genius anymore.
Most teams build a blockchain. Then they try to convince you that they are the best. They say they are the fastest. They say they are the decentralized. They say they are the best at everything.
Fogo is different. Their documents do not try to convince you of anything. They just explain how Fogo works. They explain the tradeoffs. They explain the decisions they made. They explain the things that did not work.
At first this was confusing to me. Where is the marketing? Where is the hype?. Then I realized that Fogo is not trying to sell me anything. They are just building something.
That is really different.
The Geography Thing
I learned something that really surprised me. Every blockchain says that location does not matter. They say that validators can be anywhere in the world and it will not affect the speed of the network.. Fogo says that physics is real. They say that a validator in Tokyo cannot talk to a validator in New York instantly. It takes time.
So Fogo does something. They put validators in the region for an hour at a time. They put all the validators in Asia together then all the validators in Europe together. Then all the validators in North America together.. Then they rotate them.
This is not smart engineering. This is engineering.. In a space full of lies and hype honesty really stands out.
The RPC Thing
I used to think that RPCs were boring.. I still think they are kind of boring.. I have had a lot of problems with other blockchains. I have tried to use a "chain and I have gotten "connection timeout" errors too many times.
Most blockchains focus on the parts like the consensus algorithm and the block speed.. They do not focus on the boring parts like actually connecting to the chain. Fogo is different. They run their RPC nodes in multiple regions. They make sure they are redundant and well maintained.
The Money Thing
Fogo did something that really surprised me. They canceled a $20M sale. They left a lot of money on the table. In the crypto space this is unheard of. Everyone takes the money no matter what.
Fogo looked at the market and they looked at their community.. They said no to the sale. They gave the tokens to people who actually used the testnet instead.
I am not saying that Fogo is perfect. They are a business. They want to make money.. They made a choice that cost them millions of dollars.. They did it to build goodwill with their community.
The Token Thing
The price of $FOGO is currently $0.024. It is down 60% from January. This is not fun for people who bought early.
I did some research. I looked at the unlocks and the supply and the locked tokens. I found out that 63% of the tokens are locked at launch. The unlocks will happen over four years. The team has a 12-month cliff, which means they cannot sell their tokens for a year. The foundation holds 21% of the tokens for grants.
I like that there is no mystery. I like that there are no surprises. This matters to me more than the price now.
The Big Thing
After doing all this research I have come to a conclusion. Fogo is not trying to be the blockchain. They are trying to be the reliable. They are trying to be the honest. They are trying to be the blockchain that actually works when you need it.
This is not a story. It is not something that you can tweet about.. It is what actually matters when you are trying to build something real.
I do not know if Fogo will succeed. It is still early.. I am watching.. For the first time, in a while I am actually hoping that something works out.
Does anyone else feel this way. Am I just getting old?
$FOGO #fogo @Fogo Official
