Whitepaper's Abstract Promises To 'Revolutionize Finance'; Page 47 Admits Team Has Not Built Anything Yet

A cryptocurrency project's 52-page whitepaper, which opens with the declaration that it will "fundamentally restructure the global financial system through trustless, permissionless, hyper-scalable decentralized infrastructure," contains an acknowledgment on page 47 that the team has not yet written any code. The whitepaper for NexaChain, released last month to coincide with the project's $18 million token presale, features 23 pages of mathematical formulas, 14 pages of market analysis, 8 pages of team biographies, and a single paragraph on page 47, subsection 8.3.2, titled "Current Development Status," which reads in its entirety: "As of the date of this publication, the NexaChain protocol remains in the conceptual design phase. No functional prototype, testnet, or minimum viable product currently exists. The team anticipates beginning development upon successful completion of the funding round." The paragraph is formatted in 7-point font, two sizes smaller than the rest of the document. Investor reaction has been mixed, primarily because most investors have not reached page 47. A survey of 200 presale participants found that 187 read only the abstract, 11 skimmed through page 10, and 2 read the entire document. One of the two who read the complete whitepaper has requested a refund. The other described the admission as "refreshingly honest" and increased his position. "Most whitepapers don't even tell you they haven't built anything," said blockchain analyst Miriam Proof. "They use phrases like 'in active development' or 'testnet imminent.' NexaChain actually told the truth. They just put it on page 47 in small print, which is, I suppose, a form of transparency." NexaChain's CEO has defended the document, noting that "Bitcoin's whitepaper was only nine pages and didn't include a roadmap at all." When asked whether comparing NexaChain to Bitcoin was appropriate, he responded: "We have more pages, so arguably our vision is more comprehensive." The presale sold out in four hours.