Thank you. I’ll try to study it again.
You expect broader participation in staking, but using BLD in DeFi can be more attractive, than using BLD in staking.
Vise versa using IST as fee token and using IST in DeFi reduces these risks.
Why to afraid IST reduces value of BLD?
First step: IST generates fees, next step: distribution IST fees to BLD stakers. In this case I see broader participation in staking.
More IST fees, more attractive is staking BLD. IST fees will stimulate BLD holders to stake more.
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Inter Protocol Community Call Happening this Wednesday
In view of the ongoing signaling discussion for the strategic sunsetting of Inter Protocol, we invite you to hear from: the DCF, Agoric’s Dean Tribble, and Joe Clark, member of Inter Protocol’s Economic Committee.
The community call will take place on Inter Protocol’s X on April 23rd, 2025, at 16:00 UTC | 9:00 PDT.
Set your reminders now 
https://x.com/i/spaces/1LyGBWDmlRoJN
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In an effort to help the community reach a consensus and make this process as open and transparent as possible, the DCF has published a blog post on the proposed sunsetting of Inter Protocol. Check it out to get the reasoning behind DCF’s recommendation.
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It’s sad to see a good, useful product with what I consider to be an excellent, clever realization being scrapped. The probably causal low demand is probably also due to the low level of awareness. I don’t think this is a good decision at this point in time. Are you also in communication with Stride, for me the IST Vaults are currently one of the most important use cases for their liquid staked assets, perhaps this cooperation can be intensified. After the disaster at KUJI, this would be a great opportunity for Inter Protocol or, in the event of discontinuation, a severe loss of functionality for some Cosmos Defi users. Before a capitulation, I would first try to increase fees and try to make Inter protocol at least cost-neutral, as I see it as a flagship for Agoric and at least for me it was the only reason to hold larger holdings in BLD. Perhaps one could also strategically consider an alternative to a USD pegged stablecoin, especially in view of the expected ongoing USD weakness, similar to Silk. I would find it a great pity to lose such a useful product from a user perspective in an admittedly difficult market phase, as the maintenance costs should be bearable compared to the initial development costs. Better marketing and possibly a co-operation with Drop and Stride could significantly improve visibility and profitability. Is there no alternative to the shutdown?
While IST may have had its merits, I believe it’s time to abandon it and shift focus to capturing value through BLD.
The primary focus should be on strengthening the core asset, BLD, which is key to Agoric’s long-term success. By directing resources toward enhancing BLD’s utility, adoption, and integration with other projects, Agoric can create more sustainable value.
Trying to salvage IST may distract from the bigger picture, especially if demand is low and maintenance cost remains high.
Focusing on BLD’s value capture will help ensure Agoric remains competitive and resilient in the market.
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In order to get answer on your question just check this wallet.
agoric1euw2t0lxgeerlpj0tcy77f9syrmgx26ehdx3sq
This is DCF wallet address. In order to cover Inter Protocol costs and, for instance, Tribbles meme costs DCF have to sell their BLD on the open market.
It was probably 100 million BLD on this wallet in 2022.
It is only 51 million BLD on this wallet in April 2025.
Sold a lot.
And now as 51 m BLD equals 1 million dollars it’s clear why they want to shut down Inter Protocol.
As they shared on community call it costs 1 million dollars per year on support IST and they have only 1 million as for today on their balance. Last one million.
The protocol is just code, and you just need a server to make it work. Why do you need a protocol that requires 1 million dollars a year to maintain? I don’t buy that argument.
Oracles, salaries of Economic committee, marketing
Why they sold so much BLD?
These are exactly the things that need to be frozen. But it all sounds very abstract, because there was no marketing at all, except for retweets and a few videos on Yutube on how to use it, one of which I did. Nobody paid me for that. If there had been full-fledged marketing, we would have seen very different results. The whole thing was initially like work for work’s sake with no end goal of usefulness, like many other projects. Then they say the money ran out and the market isn’t fair. They walk away.
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I can answer that. Because it’s their salary, and it’s a very decent one.
This is such a trendy model for monetizing programmers’ skills that the crypto sector has created. They realized that they don’t need to look to work for someone else for hire anymore. You can just come up with a grandiose project, sell it in advance to people like us, get paid for it, and live for 4 years, hoping that after the market will allow you to switch to other things.
But I don’t mean to accuse anyone. I get it. Everyone wants their projects to succeed because all programmers are good people. But our problem is that I personally thinked that good people equal good businessmen. It’s my mistake, my fault alone.
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I don’t agree. Reputation has matter.
Agoric and its owners keep on it’s reputation.
It’s not fail just because it was planned to fail from the very beginning.
Therefore the question is whom they sold these 50 million tokens?
Top 100 accounts hold 85% of allocation and the same indicator was two years ago.
By the way Electric Coin Company also sold 12 million BLD. Who bought them?
Don’t look like retailers.
But it’s only assumptions.
The reality is DCF dumped BLD to 2 cents.
And next step have to be huge pump.
Or shut down of Agoric.
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I wouldn’t rely on the pump, but I like your reasoning and optimism.
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Thanks for the input.
Over the years, Inter Protocol has engaged in numerous ongoing marketing activities, including brand awareness initiatives, promotions for vault openings, incentivized marketing campaigns for community members, participation in conferences, and content marketing campaigns, among others.
We have collaborated on co-marketing efforts with Stride and Drop. Drop incentivized dATOM vault openings with generous droplet incentives. No vaults were opened. There has been co-marketing with every collateral asset partner as well. We’ve incentivized participation in community calls.
Sadly, community (and broader) participation throughout was very low.
We have consistently provided a call-to-action for the community to become more involved, discuss new collateral asset options, propose utility options, and more.
Marketing also involved a non-stop search for utility partners for IST. As well as broader partners that might help with the proliferation of IST and Inter Protocol across the Cosmos.
As Ric mentioned during the community call, we had explored alternatives that would have led DCF to reconsider proposing the discussion to sunset the protocol. These included conversations with both Drop and ICF. Unfortunately, nothing materialized.
We agree; it is sad, and it is a pity to see something that, at the DCF, we have so passionately and vigorously had as a cornerstone of our daily lives for many years. However, for the reasons outlined in the discussion, maintaining it from our perspective is not sustainable. We must keep our broader mission in mind: the health and success of the Agoric ecosystem as a whole. It’s worth mentioning again that the DCF is just a liaison for Inter Protocol. We incurred significant expenses in an attempt to keep it going. Inter Protocol was never a part of our original mission; we took on the task of chaperoning it from Agoric to the community as a matter of public good.
As I mentioned during the community call, I am excited about the focus Agoric is currently working on. I hope you can retain your confidence in BLD.
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Please see my reply to Calcvlvs regarding your thoughts on there being no marketing.
TL:DR -
there has been extensive marketing through the years.
Brand awareness campaigns at conferences. Content campaigns. Co-marketing campaigns. Vault opening campaigns. Community participation campaigns.. Much more.
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Find below the recap of last week’s Inter Protocol Community Call.
It provides a summary of the perspectives shared by the DCF, Agoric, and Inter Protocol’s Economic Committee, and arguments in favor of the sunsetting.
Read the full article to learn more.
I’ve been following the conversation here and just wanted to jump in for a sec and see if I can provide some perspective others might find useful. First, and foremost, I hear you and I empathize. I have bought a fair amount of BLD over the last couple of years and I have also accepted some in lieu of salary, so believe me, I too feel the pain and want this to change for the better.
Now, all that said, let’s course correct on some bad assumptions plaguing this thread. DCF was granted BLD 100m for the seed of our treasury - that is correct. We staked about 50% of that to support the network. That’s the wallet that’s been identified here. We have multiple other wallets, including a custody arrangement with Anchorage. Over the last 2 years, our primary sales of BLD have been private sales that do not touch the market. The largest purchaser of BLD from DCF is Agoric, so, yes, we are using BLD to get access to fiat (as we have no choice), but we’re doing it in such a fashion that it does not impact the market. Moreover, it’s erroneous to think we’ve spent BLD 50m. We have not. In addition to our various operational wallets and Anchorage, we also have about six figures USD worth of BLD in various liquidity positions to help support buying and selling.
Also, just stop and think for a sec — even if we had sold BLD 50m (which we most emphatically have not!) given what you can see about daily BLD volume around the world, there’s no way one actor could tank the price by taking BLD 50m to market across 2 years. I’ll repeat what BCMO stated accurately — it’s in our interest to keep the price of BLD up and going up. I feel for you all, but please appreciate that our interests are aligned.
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The signaling proposal for the strategic sunsetting of Inter Protocol is live for voting.
The BLD community is invited and encouraged to vote!
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Those are not at all the reasons. While we do stay very carefully within the law, IST operations are all non-US and not handled by Agoric. We just build the software.
I’d be delighted for IST to have a relevant amount of traction. It just doesn’t. It’s not self-sustaining, and it distances BLD from Orchestration and building/deploying products on Agoric. Hence I think those line up to pragmatically encourage sunsetting IST (gracefully of course).
And as part of that, setup BLD to have more direct utility in addition to staking and governance.
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