One the most common document requests we get is creating a white paper crypto document. Sometimes this document is also pitched as a litepaper. But the core of both remains the same. Most crypto projects require a white paper to convince the community of investing in that crypto project.
This created a world full of opportunities and problems.
The White Paper Addresses The Public
This is one of the most critical aspects of the white paper that makes it potentially harmful.
- An investor presentation is viewed by a professional investor.
- A crypto white paper is viewed by your amateur cousin.
This allows the industry to allow pump and dump schemes. Promise a few people things based on a few words, then take their money.
This creates difficulty for decent projects that want to change the crypto industry. It’s not wrong to start a crypto project. But the world is now cautious and you can’t blame it.
Critical Tips To See Or Showcase In Your White Paper
The team page is of utmost importance. You need to associate crypto projects with people. If they are anonymous, this is something to be cautious of. Again, it’s not wrong to be anonymous in the crypto world, the founder of Bitcoin is anonymous (probably).
But showing a face, makes this project much more credible.
Then there is the actual utility. You need to read through the document and ignore the jargon. Ignore the recurrence of “decentralized”, “blockchain”, “tokenization”, “open-source”, etc.
Read through the lines, what does this crypto project actually do? That would be your second green flag.
Finally, do your background study if you are investing.
A personal tale of fraud
I was approached recently by a few family members who are part of a new crypto platform. After a few conversations here and there, it was recommended by a friend of a friend. So eventually, it makes sense.
But given my consultancy expertise, I digged deeper. That crypto platform was a copycat of a few other very similar platforms in design. By very similar, I mean, the logo is the only changed element.
This is what they refer to as pig-butchering schemes.
The Proper Crypto White Paper Structure.
Now that you’re ready, here is what we recommend your white paper to look like. Don’t overcomplicate your project. Any crypto white paper should have: Utility, Market, Team, and Plan.
Product and Utility.
Pitch your product and explain it in a simple way. The readers out there won’t fall for jargon. You don’t want that anyway. Be graphic about it.
What will the token be used for. We’ve been approach by multiple founders who force a token into a project when it’s not actually needed. Don’t be one of those.
Market.
You probably don’t have a product yet. So your market study should be extremely strong to prove your market opportunity. Fill it with proper statistics. Not those statistics from websites that project the market till 2080.
Team
As mentioned earlier, tell them who’s working on this. Don’t be shy.
Plan
If the idea and the market is there, show that you have the executional skills for the community to actually have a reference. Your timeline should be the binding agreement that you should, as much as possible, follow and keep them updated accordingly.
A Crypto White Paper Sample.
Here is one of the crypto white papers we created a while back.
We believe you can write it yourself. Some people don’t have the proper time to do so. If you’re in such a case, feel free to check our strategical method that we take for our clients.