This is incredible good news…
Wouldn’t it make sense to stake the 1101ETH, until it’s needed to fund stuff?
https://www.kraken.com/en-us/features/staking-coins/
Not to sound overly fanboy, but wouldn’t it make more sense to sell the ETH, buy up Maidsafecoin and use it as funding mechanism?
Nevertheless super happy to see this 
I’ve been thinking about this too, having the fund in only ETH could be a bit tricky. But I also don’t encourage having just MAID (even though the fund will probably only be used when network is proven and therefor MAID price probably higher.
What we do need to note here is that I’m (and others most likeky) am so happy about how MAID is already so distributed amongst holders, no big fund that is hanging over peoples head. Transferring the fund into MAID would eventually mean it will be sold at a higher price to new buyers, which will hold back the price in later stages.
Personally I would like to see this fund being spread to something like 40% BTC, 40% ETH and 20% MAID. It would definitely show our own trust in the valuation. I figured not to speak up because I thought the team/donator(s) thought of this too and probably came to a different conclusion.
I’m fairly sure ethereum is getting very close to exploding in price. I can see that $2 million doubling of even tripling within the next 6 months.
To stake ethereum it has to be locked up until ethereum 2.0 is launched which could be a 2/3 years.
$10k is actually a fair target for the ethereum price this year, so I would be moving some of that ETH once we hit $10k and scale out a fair bit up to $20k.
I might be wrong here, but staking on Kraken, you get payouts every 3 days and you don’t have a minimum requirement (32 ETH) like “normal staking” through the network/hardware.
seems like Maidsafecoin could do the same, especially with the new and improved testnet around the corner.
bitcoin and ETH are fairy dust to do transactions/smartcontracts execution, SAFE is computing resources to A.I. not to mention that
This is only good, it means the collective has become the fund instead of a small group of bored members 
Also, this isn’t an investment fund and to treat it like one would be tricky. Whoever controls this also has to monitor their tax position because if it rises in value, each time they use it they may create a tax event. I’m sure MaidSafe will have already worked out a good way to do this, maybe via the foundation, so let’s see.
I tried to stake some on kraken the other day and it said it will be locked until 2.0.
You may be right, but unfortunately the maidsafe token doesn’t have the liquidity yet. If you wanted to sell a few million dollars of maid it wouldn’t be easy. Liquidity and volume is very important when holding an asset, especially one you intend to sell and use.
Not to mention there is really only one exchange you could sell it on. If that disappears what do they do? The risk is too high IMO. After launch and there are multiple exchanges supporting it, I would probably agree.
Ethereum is looking to change to a deflationary currency, which is great for holders. That could be happening in July.
A hard fork is coming in April too.
Could end up with two tokens as a split sounds likely at the moment. I will probably be dumping them and buying more ETH or maid.
Hmmmmm good point, then used it on a DEX (Aave/Bancor/Balancer/Uniswap/Sushiswap) in combination with MAID ERC20.
That’s a minimum of 2,9 M MAID ERC20 that could be minted, whatever this crypto got to go to work…
Not to sound like a party pooper of any kind but the funds were donated in ETH and they should probably stay ETH. There are other addresses we can donate to to diversify the fund. ETH should have a lot of upside this year.
You guys heard what David said! So I hope you community members with bright ideas are stewing up some great app ideas. 
Would it be possible / helpful to see if community members would have interest in buying out this tiny minority to get them out of the way? Glad the majority are supportive though!
Possibly, I have a few ideas to get these people something they would be happy with. Let’s see though. Some folk just want more and that’s unachievable. We will work something out as they only slow things up and never help. It’s like trying to stop a child from burning themselves in the fire at times but they keep going back to it 
What does this minority have on us/you? If nothing, I say, screw them. If they do have something and it’s a blackmail/hostage type situation, I don’t believe a single pay-off will work anyway.
EDIT: By “screw them” I mean “ignore them”.
I was wondering when the discussion about what other coins to buy, how to increase the value etc would begin I assure you I know it is well intended and I know the temptation myself. If we could make some smart investments, increase the fund, we could get more work funded. more is more, right? some of your suggestions might well work. But there are a few problems…
changing the purpose of the fund to something that is supposed to generate a return might have implications for taxation, reporting and more.
whenever you have the funds outside your wallet (CEX, DEX, smart contracts etc) there is a risk
of losing it all. small risk but real.
probably more issues that we cant even see right now.
Truth be told I had these eth up on several DeFi platforms prior to this fund. I was going to double it, triple it, 10X it! none of that ever happened but at least i didnt lose any. in the end it just felt like greed on top of something that was already too much.
it also had this addictive quality to it. sitting late at night, looking at the rates, see how much interest i got. is there a better APY somewhere? should i stake it somewhere else? did i miss out on a few %? only afterwards did i realize how much of my thinking revolved around only this.
and no surprise about that addictive element. because gambling is what this is. the idea of winning a few while constantly at risk of losing it all. DeFi is gambling, buying the dip is gambling and investing in that low-cap altcoin and hoping it goes to the moon is gambling too (except for MAID, obviously 
).
Not to sound like our parents here (kids dont do drugs!) or some recovering DeFi-addict. and I’m not saying everybody gets hooked this way. But I found it distracting to say the least. I would prefer we stay away from such temptations, at least with this fund. If we are trying to build the next internet, surely a focused mind could be of use.
In my opinion, the one thing that might make sense at some point is trade part of it into fiat or stablecoins to protect from the next crash coming (and come it will). but nobody here has a crystal ball to know the timing. so maybe just keep the funds the way they were donated?
In any case I suggest to entirely leave it to MaidSafe. Where to keep it, if/when to trade into sth else or not. The ring-fencing, the multi-sig, the reporting requirements… they have this figured out. Ideally MaidSafe could do this with minimal interference or requirement to justify or report to the community here. this is additional responsibility and overhead for them already.
If we all get involved then this thread will soon look like a busy day at wallstreet.
Instead focus on how to spend it in a useful way, I hope that remains the focus here. it is all just numbers anyway until you build something with it.
It takes a high degree of self awareness and transcendence to reach the conclusions you did. Your choice to consciously detach from (and thus take power over) “the game” is both inspiring and empowering.
I’d be interested in buying some investors shares if some people want out.
I agree with everyone else here - fantastic stuff! - and with lots of gratitude from people who have been following SAFE for a long time.
For my 2c worth:
I think one of the first projects should be a minimal SAFE DAO - based on votes per number of tokens held. I have been watching Aragon for a long time - and more recently Cardano - but SAFE is the way to go for DAOs . .
@dirvine I take this opportunity to ask if there are any plans for MaidSafe to grow for profit? From your last posts on this topic, I am left with the impression that the best I can hope for from my investment in shares of the company is to receive some Safe Tokens. Can you make a statement. Thanks!
The intention for MaidSafe is to provide significant returns, but not try to monopolise the network. It may grow in many ways, but not in that way.
That is a mistake many folks make continually. The offer of SNT for shares is 100% optional to investors. It is in addition to all the many ways investors can get a return, i.e. by selling shares.
Hope that helps?
@dirvine, is there a way I can get in touch with you in private? There is something I would like to discuss.