Leofinance – Incentivization & Decentralization Getting An Overhaul

A Season Of Change

Change is often a difficult pill to swallow, especially if you are comfortable and enjoying life the way it is. Well, within a very short space of time, Leofinance has seen a complete overhaul with the launch of the new UI and other adjustments to tokenomics and internal structuring. The legacy UI is no more, and the pride is now on a new and exciting chapter of the Leofinance journey.

Growth seldom takes place outside of change. Even growth that appears to take place sporadically will require change/adjustment in order to accommodate the change. If you are wanting to see development, adoption, and growth within the Leoverse you are going to have to accept that change is inevitable. The new UI still has a number of issues that need to be ironed out, as well as a few additional enhancements, at least in my opinion.

Eventually, over time, the legacy UI will no longer be remembered. It will require time for the community to settle and become comfortable. It is also difficult to grow accustomed to a new experience if there are issues, which is why it’s imperative to sort out the remaining bugs as soon as possible. A recent post by @anomadsoul left me with somewhat of a positive outlook when it comes to curation.

Stake-Based Curation & Leo.voter

Something that became glaringly obvious to me during the days of the old UI was the centralization of upvotes coming from Leo.voter. There was virtually zero guesswork. I knew exactly where the upvotes were landing, provided the authors published a post that day. To me, this was a concern. Firstly, due to the subtle messaging that anyone with a certain level of emotional intelligence will pick up on.

Secondly, it encouraged mediocracy. Knowing your article for the day is virtually guaranteed a Leo.voter upvote creates a “leach” mentality. Quick question. What’s driving the growth of Leofinance at the moment, or better yet, who? Second question. Who is reaping the benefits of the ecosystem? Third question. Why is this happening? Anyone who can answer these three questions honestly will be able to identify an enormous issue.

The centralization of the “benefits” of the network being distributed amongst the upper echelon. Everyone talks a good game. Never listen to what is said, rather monitor what is done. In the abovementioned post by @anomadsoul, this issue appears to be gaining some attention. I can also understand that it can sometimes be difficult to discover great content. To be fair, I have seen a little more diversification of late.

A new update will enable the community to put forward articles for curation. The amount of articles each person can suggest is linked to their staked LEO holdings, which is fair. This will definitely aid in providing and promoting a more diversified vote. There are a lot of changes currently taking place, as well as more in the pipeline. OGs will argue that they have somehow earned their claim on a Leo.voter upvote.

That’s true… but only if you are operating within a centralized entity. The only thing you earned is directly linked to your last publication. In a decentralized world, a quality article gains a reward. It’s a big shift to a strong level of decentralization. It will be interesting to see how Leofinance fairs in this endeavor.

Two Points

Running and managing legacy businesses for two decades taught me a lot. Two of the most important aspects that you need to address when working with a team or a community are as follows:

• Encouragement
• Dealing with issues

There’s nothing worse than a bootlicker. Give encouragement and praise where it’s due, but then also speak out against what needs adjustment or correction.

An army of bootlickers won’t get you far. Why? Because, like all bootlickers, they find a shinier shoe to kiss. Work with people that challenge you, that encourage you… not those who just simply agree with everything you say. If this doesn’t sit well with you… you might have to consider that you are better suited to a centralized world. Although pure decentralization is a myth, there are definitely higher levels attainable than what most decentralized platforms are currently experiencing.

Final Thoughts

Anyway, hats off to Leofinance for attempting to deal with this particular issue. I won’t congratulate yet, as we actually need to see how this idea plays out. Either way, it’s a noble move. The growth and engagement on Threads has been an encouraging journey to have been a part of. I hope to see more. Hopefully, we can see that 100K mark being obliterated soon. All the best, catch you in the next one!