As a Creator, i've always felt "bad" about having to take a hiatus due to mental or physical health issues... or just life in general.

With WHALE Members, having poured my heart and soul into the project since 2020 and despite not being able to be around for 2023, I rewarded $WHALE token holders with full ownership through the token structure by fully decentralizing all it's assets (Fungible and Non-fungible) and governance through multi-sig wallet technology. Today, close to $50 million of the world's most valuable NFTs (digital art, not PFPs) lie in the hands of 3,697 token holders.

Similarly between 2023 to 2024 with my growing interest in and return to Web3 gaming, I built a game streaming "career" getting my silver button with YouTube and making Twitch Partner all within 4 months. However, come 2025 with very little content to stream and having to drastically reduce streaming hours, I "refunded" my long term subscribers providing them 1 $WHALEDSHARK for each month they had been subbed with a multiplier depending on the Tier that they had subbed at. Versus the $5 paid monthly, all my subs have held and have seen a close to 40% increase in their holdings and all past payments.

Which leads me to DESO...

DESO 2022/ 2023 really was not the year whereby the technology, platforms or marketing were ready for consistent and longer term building. Given that, I had released NFTs that had been very warmly welcomed by the community with winning bids from @LuisEddie @100 @Seelz @Zane_ and @imoliver.

Support from my community for my projects are far more appreciated than you guys can imagine and the ability to provide additional support to those historical NFTs through @NFTz has helped me make good on promises made.

Now those NFTs that were purchased back in 2022 will not only hold their original utility as intended, but also provide a lifetime stream of daily $DESO rewards to those who afforded me their trust and support.

With the ADHD of today's markets, it's so easy for serial founders to bounce from one project to another with the self-importance that a community "owes" it to them to follow...

My personal opinion however is that loyalty is earned through consistency, mutuality and respect...

And probably the most overlooked "currencies" a founder can have are Trust and Reputation.

Throwback: Attached below is a NFT sent to @luiseddie on December 11th 2022 as a personal thanks for coffee ($5 in diamonds tipped). While at that point in time, the NFT did nothing... today this NFT earns him $22/ month and over $250 a year in daily $DESO drips ❤️