So I've written about the dangers of investing in masternodes and what you can do to avoid getting scammed.

Now it's time to write about one of the few new masternode cryptocurrencies that seem to be doing everything right.

In short, Stipend is a blockchain based freelance platform. You can read more on their website (https://stipend.me) as I am just going to focus on why this is a solid pick.

Reason #1: Experienced and active team

The team is one the most important factors when evaluating any new masternode coin. Stipend satisfies all my requirements:

1) Have worked on other crypto projects in the past.

2) Are actively engaged with the community and approachable.

3) Have revealed themselves to the public. This means that the project is important enough to them to risk getting doxxed and harassed by the low-lifes that squirm the depths of the crypto world.

Reason #2: Track record of crushing roadmap goals

It is obvious this team is working hard because of how quickly they are tackling items in their roadmap. In just a month we have seen them expedite team reveal due to popular demand, get listed on an exchange and CoinMarketCap, release a demo of the platform, whitepaper, wallet updates, and more.

In addition to this, they are also keeping themselves accountable for progress made every single week: they post a weekly blog where they list the items each team member has worked on.

Reason #3: Quality product & content

I found it refreshing to see some professionalism for a change. The videos, demo (https://demo.stipend.me) and other content they deliver are all consistently high quality. They have released a demo environment of the platform you can play around with prior to the Alpha release.

You might not think this is a big deal, but how many coins out there are valued at $50M+ and have nothing to show?

Now even though Stipend seems to be doing everything right, it is not immune from the cancerous behaviors from the worse of the crypto world. If you are concerned about the current price, understand the following.

Over the past week we have witnessed price manipulation and an alarming rate of FUD. If you haven't read my previous post:

There are people who time the selling of a large number of coins. Some of these new coins have 2-10BTC of daily volume. All it takes is 2BTC worth of coins to clear the top buy orders and cause panic. They usually time this during a slow week because they know new investors will not come fast enough for the price to recover. Herd mentality kicks in and other investors start selling because of FUD. Their end goal is usually to buy in at a cheaper price so they can do it again when the price has recovered.

In addition to this, an individual has started to spread rumors and false claims in an attempt to delegitimize the project. You can see them in some discord channels and the Stipend bitcointalk announcement thread. I am constantly amazed at how much energy, time and effort some people are willing to put into these activities.

This is nothing new and happens to every new project that starts getting exposure. However, Stipend is particularly susceptible to these attacks because of how many masternode scams have happened lately.

Whether you are an investor or a contributor, we are all here because we believe cryptocurrencies will play an important role in every day life, and we want to be part of this change. Will Stipend succeed? Despite all the positives of this project, this is a very tough environment to be successful in. Assuming it takes off, it will face the same scaling issues the larger coins have: financial viability, infrastructure, marketing, etc.

If you believe that masternodes can succeed as a long term investment vehicle, then this is probably the most solid pick out there. If you are passing on this, I would be very interested in knowing which ones you are buying into.

Other Stipend links:

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/stipend

Discord: https://discord.gg/Q6vyckx

CoinMarketCap: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/stipend/