How Did You Miss This AI Play?
Crypto AI got a boost from the Sora fallout, and there were definitely some interesting projects out there. There was plenty of garbage, too. I'm on a personal journey to focus on the positive, so that's what we'll focus on here.
Projects like $ENQAI and $VIA that were building before Sora deserved their pumps, which were in the range of 3-5X. The project great we'll be muff diving today, Limewire ($LMWR), didn't quite do that. It pumped, but not as much and it got none of the attention from the influencoors (that may be a good thing).
Why am I focused on Limewire? Because Limewire is a company with actual history and a brand before web3, arguably one of the companies that began the web3 revolution.
Being a pioneer doesn't mean the token is worth investing in, by the way. From Porsche to Fido Dido, sooo many brands have come up with garbage web3 cash grabs. I'll definitely explain why I think Limewire is different.
Peer to Peer Pioneers
Limewire followed Napster into the P2P service market of the 2000s. This is a slightly plebish video on what Limewire used to be. Take it with a grain of salt.
The real deal:
Many of the ideas that fueled today's P2P crypto landscape came from Limewire. The powers that be attempted to reduce Limewire's use in the 2000s to music piracy and child porn distribution, much in the same way that Jamie Dimon, Peter Schiff and those types fart on crypto today. And just like today, the major entities against Limewire were the folks in the industries being disrupted the most, surprise, surprise. It's money, never morals.
In truth, Limewire and other P2P services of the era were the first way in which censored information made its way into the public zeitgeist. Developers used it to share eureka moments and disseminate code breakthroughs. It's fair to say bitcoin might not exist in its current form without Limewire P2P structure as both muse for technical infrastructure and indirect social beta test on the psychology such an infrastructure would cultivate.
So the narrative is there for a comeback, which Limewire did about a year ago under new leadership. Did they do the right things?
The $LMWR Comeback
tl;dr — I don't think Limewire's comeback launch in web3 was anything special, especially looking back on it in 20/20 today. They did the whole NFT-as-ticket-into-token-presale-gag-and-oh-yeah-we-got-celebs-on-board-too. Not my cup of tea, and that's why I faded it when it happened. In my defense, the product wasn't in full swing and I stuck to my morals, which is the most essential thing to do to profit in crypto.
But I mean, look around now. Where are the Limewire NFTs now? No mention of them. I wonder if holders are still getting the value they deserve for being early adopters.
Now that the platform is in full swing (it's an AI creator studio), it's much easier to see what they did with the $17M they raised. In retrospect, the launch was gimmicky, but the team was always set on doing something legitimate with the money. This isn't Tai Lopez and Radioshack — this is a real team that wants to really get into web3.
This Limewire video comes from a guy who hates web3 and NFTs in general, but his take on Limewire's comeback is one that every serious investor should consider. After all, I'm only considering $LMWR for its ability to bring me Xs this bull run, not as some years-long investment. I'm not emotionally married to this or any other AI project.
Making Xs
Speaking of making Xs, we're now up to the present. I believe this mini AI run has showcased Limewire's ability to pivot appropriately within the web3 space to bring its investors big gains. They didn't start off with the best launch, but their pivots have been really good (nice nostalgia and virtue signal in this ad, and they do have the power of the brand behind them.
Also, take a look at the UI of the actual platform. It's attractive. It's the most intuitive UI I've seen in the space. And let's be clear, for this bull run, I don't expect any of these AI platforms to achieve any real userbase. Making Xs is all about virtue signaling to the market that you look like users would consider your platform because it's attractive and intuitive to an AI noob.
One point that yokai makes in the above hater video that is absolutely relevant — the stuff that actually comes out of the Limewire AI studio is not up to par with AI generation today. He showcased the generator still messing up fingers and whatnot... I mean, he has a point. But during this bull run, nobody's going to dig that far. What's more important is the integration the platform has with normie payment methods — not because it will get $LMWR a huge userbase immediately, but because that "bridging web2" narrative is an ultra important talking point in 2024-25.
The bottom line:
In the Sora run, competent projects like $ENQAI actually outpaced $LMWR. I believe that the Limewire team's ability to market itself coupled with the brand nostalgia and slick UI will allow $LMWR to be a frontrunner in outpacing the market, especially if Limewire positions itself as a consumer/content creator brand rather than a dev/trader brand.
My play: Go big $LMWR and divert gains into smaller AI plays as they come up. That way, $LMWR actually pays for my entire AI portfolio.
Don't sleep.
(And don't hold.) 😂
