What is an ASA? Let me tell you…

So, what is an ASA? In laymen’s terms it’s an alt coin on the Algorand blockchain. It’s a coin that anyone and I mean ANYONE can create on the Algorand blockchain. ASA’s can be created for fun, for utility in a Dapp (Decentralized app), for a meme, or for no reason at all. There are many of them, and they are not all equal. Each one is vastly different and has a different use. Some have no uses other than to make you laugh and question humanity.

Algorand Standard Assets are the fuel for most project’s in the Algorand ecosystem. This is where majority of the wild wild west activities take place in the Algorand space. ASA’s are both a blessing and a curse upon this world. They can be super awesome and create wonderful communities based around them, or they can be used to dupe people out of money in the form of a rugpull.

A rugpull is what happens when someone creates an ASA, starts a small liquidity pool on a DEX (decentralized exchange), then “hypes” up the coin by tweeting fancy words, or promising things that will never happen. By hyping up the coin and promising it will 100x they convince people to provide liquidity on the DEX. Once there is a lot of liquidity, the creator of the ASA sells all of the asset that wasn’t given away and tanks the price. They then run off into the sunset and live a guilt ridden life.

The easiest way to avoid a rugpull is to use common sense and ask a few questions. Is the team behind the ASA doxed? Do they have VC funding? Do they have a legitimate website, and business email? Are they lizard people in disguise? Was their twitter created 4 days ago and already have 7,000 followers? This is where common sense comes into play.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Majority of ASA based projects are building really helpful products and services. Multiple Algorand based companies have created projects that allow you to help the environment, identify bird species for rewards, safely trade anything on the internet, and many other awesome applications…

Here’s a few off the top of my head:
https://www.lofty.ai/ The future of Realestate, not really an ASA…
https://www.headline.dev/ Building many projects
https://www.nexusasa.info/ Securing the internet
https://tinyman.org/ A decentralized exchange

When deciding if you want to purchase an ASA or invest / provide liquidity always consider the previous questions. If the utility of the ASA interests you, by all means dive in and take the plunge. The community surrounding ASA’s is one of the best in the cryptocurrency space. Most people will want to engage with you and I encourage you to engage with them back. They really are quite awesome.

Well, at this point you should have a pretty good understanding of ASA’s and you might want to just leave it there. But what if you wanted to make your own ASA? Well, it’s possible and fairly easy. If you have an idea, and that idea could include an Algorand Standard Asset then I encourage you to integrate it! But first, ask yourself ‘do I really NEED to use an ASA?’ Or can Algos be used. Hell, you might just want to create a meme token just for fun! So here is the site you need to navigate to if you want to make your own:

https://app.dappflow.org/asset-manager/created