Primalbase is working in the coworking space industry, similar to the startup WeWork in the US. On its website, Primalbase listed Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, as an advisor to the board. However, a series of development surfaced yesterday after WhalePanda wrote a medium post discussing the current state of ICO and Ethereum.​

What Happened ​In response to the Medium article, one of the developers of the Ethereum foundation wrote on Reddit that “Vitalik is NOT a member of the “all star team” of Primal base, unlike they are promoting on their site and promoted facebook ads”. You can read more about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6grsqz/whalepandai_was_wrong_about_ethereum/dite6yt/ ​Primalbase also posted a picture of Vitalik shaking hands with the CEO of Primalbase, implying Vitalik is working closely with the team:

​So Primalbase exaggerated Vitalik’s role in the company. Maybe Vitalik talked to Primalbase’s CEO during a party and took a picture together, but it doesn’t mean that all of a sudden he is an advisor to the board. After the incident, Vitalik tweeted that he “will not be an advisor for future ICO projects.” So other than OmiseGO and Kyber, stay away from any future ICOs listing Vitalik as an advisor.

Back in January 2016, Vitalik wrote a post on Bitcointalk saying that “I am generally happy to help just about any projects building on Ethereum.” Perhaps this is why some ICO projects are listing him as an advisor. If you are looking into the Primalbase ICO, I strongly suggest not to invest in the project because they are trying to attract more investors by namedropping Vitalik on their website. This speaks to the integrity of the team behind Primalbase.

​Brief Analysis of the Primalbase ICO ​I am not going to provide a detailed analysis for this ICO because the fact that they put Vitalik as an advisor when he is not, is a strong enough reason not to invest in the project. Generally you want to invest in tokens that provide network effect – the more people use the token, the more valuable the entire ecosystem is. Value proposition for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum is also based around this concept. In Primalbase’s case, because it operates office space, the tokens are only useful if you use their facilities. They are useless if you are not located in the same area as their offices. Therefore, it doesn’t really make sense for Primalbase to be issuing tokens. This ICO seems more like a money grab to me.

Takeaway from This Incident The scope for advisor varies greatly. It can range from 5 minutes on the phone to 20 hours per week working closely with the team. Just because a famous person is listed as an advisor to a project doesn’t mean that the project is going to do well.