Exclusive Interview with Santiment CEO Maksim Balashevich: Unveiling the Future of Crypto Analytics

In this in-depth written interview, we explore the insights and expertise of Maksim Balashevich, CEO and Founder of Santiment. Maksim has over 15 years of experience leading international teams and a decade-long background in financial markets analysis. He is a distinguished sentiment analyst and a recognized authority on crowd psychology, making him a pivotal figure in the cryptocurrency space. Under his guidance, Santiment has carved out a niche as a leader in cryptocurrency analytics, renowned for its innovative features and comprehensive data insights.

In this discussion, Maksim shares how Santiment differentiates itself from other financial data platforms, the unique tools and strategies it offers to traders, and its role in the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency market analysis. Join us as Maksim provides an in-depth look at how Santiment continues to empower traders with actionable data and insights, while also addressing the challenges of navigating an often opaque and rapidly changing market.

Exploring Santiment’s Insights: Key Questions and Answers Ahead

1. How does Santiment differentiate itself from other financial data platforms in the cryptocurrency space?

Santiment has a few notable features that do not exist on any other cryptocurrency analytics platforms.

1) Santiment considers itself to be the only true “holistic” data platform for cryptocurrency. We believe that in order to make a sound and proper analysis of the markets, one needs to truly use a combination of social, on-chain, market and development activity data and metrics. If any of these factors are disregarded, you are likely missing a vital part of the information needed to make accurate assessments. On-chain metrics reflect “what is actually happening with the network/token”, social metrics reflect the community’s power and emotional pull of the markets, and development activity tells us the story of how much is truly being built. So, you get a complete picture by combining all of these valuable elements together.

2) Development activity event tracking is something Santiment is known for being the worldwide leader on. These events are carefully filtered and predefined to be representative of real programming progress, meaning no low-value actions are taken into consideration. This way, any crypto-curious person can easily see which are the most active crypto ecosystems out there. Santiment has also recently launched an Ecosystem Dev Activity Dashboard that shows how many software development events are created on various blockchains and their associated dApps.

3) Santiment offers (one of) the most comprehensive social tools in the data analytics ecosystem, with information on the top trending keywords and tokens, as well as a fully usable search tool that allows users to see the frequency of any custom keywords in the crypto space (similar to how Google Trends works for search volume over time). The company really puts an emphasis on what the “narratives” are around the crypto ecosystem on any given day or week. As has consistently been shown, the topics that the community are flocking to have a tremendous impact on future price movements and overall bullish vs. bearish sentiment trends.

4) Santiment sets itself apart in the cryptocurrency analytics space by focusing on comprehensive market behavior and network intelligence. Santiment leverages a unique blend of on-chain data, social media analysis, and development activity. Santiment offers custom-built metrics that are not available elsewhere. For instance, we utilize social volume spikes to signal market tops, especially in mid and low-cap coins, and our Mean Dollar Invested Age metric has been a reliable indicator for Bitcoin’s behavior over time. Furthermore, Santiment’s tools are designed to predict market movements by analyzing these behavioral cues, rather than just reacting to price changes. This proactive approach helps users anticipate market tops and bottoms, making it a crucial tool for traders who need strategic and informed decisions. Santiment is not just about data presentation, it’s about making that data actionable and understandable, which is crucial in the volatile and often opaque crypto market.

2. What are some of the unique features of Santiment that make it an important tool for both new and experienced traders?

Once joined the community, you can participate in our discord, where several major setups and frameworks will be shared with you. Also, the ongoing market analyses, mostly around key events, is done there. It’s a closed group, for the Sanbase Pro members only.

SanR is a rather unique tool.

The SanR app lets traders apply the newly learnt skills (or already existing ones) by predicting market movements on the platform, building up their reputations over time as they do so. Each prediction is recorded on a blockchain in the form of an NFT, preventing tampering. Current copy-trading models on centralized platforms offer no way for users to know if the influencers they follow really are performing as well as they claim, or even making the trades they claim to be making.

“Ultimately, the platform promises to foster open and fair competition among different players, enabling individuals to establish and monetize their reputations,” said Maksim Balashevich, founder of Santiment.

Santiment offers a variety of unique features that cater specifically to the needs of both new and experienced traders. For new traders, the platform provides an intuitive set of tools that help demystify complex market data. Features like our social volume metrics and Mean Dollar Invested Age offer straightforward insights into market tops and potential corrections, which are crucial for understanding market dynamics without needing deep technical knowledge.

For the seasoned trader, Santiment’s depth goes much further. Our platform allows for the customization of alerts based on specific on-chain activities and address movements, enabling experienced traders to react quickly to market shifts and capitalize on opportunities that less sophisticated tools might miss. Additionally, our API and SanSheets integration cater  to sophisticated data analysis, allowing for deep dives into historical data and trend analysis which can be pivotal for making informed trading decisions.

These features, combined with our commitment to providing up-to-date, reliable data, make Santiment a versatile tool in a trader’s arsenal, helping both newcomers and veterans navigate the often volatile and complex crypto market.

3. Could you share any success stories of traders who have significantly benefited from using Santiment?

While we can’t ask our users how successful they are (and, as a matter of fact, we usually suggest to stay low profile), we can share that our own treasury was managed rather active for the last 6-7 years and we’ve been doing pretty well, especially with identifying the tops. Perhaps, we are one of the few who were able to identify and act on each major top so far. The decisions were based on the data, metrics we build and formulated into the frameworks we use and share.

4.  Why is it important to track market predictions on the blockchain, and how does Santiment ensure the reliability and transparency of data?

Crypto markets are known for attracting a bit of a younger and more inexperienced demographic of traders on average. Though there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it can leave many with a feeling of uncertainty and being “in the dark” in terms of trading strategies. The most common and known strategies rely solely on identifying support and resistance levels, which have some major limitations.

At Santiment, we have consistently put out proven examples of markets historically moving the OPPOSITE direction of the crowd’s expectations, which is exactly why relying on previous price levels (created by the crowd) is such a difficult strategy to solely rely on.

5.  Can you discuss the types of data feeds and content streams Santiment provides and how they help traders stay informed about the market?

On a weekly basis, Santiment freely livestreams its “This Week in Crypto” show to hundreds of viewers. On it, we discuss the previous week of news that impacted markets, as well as the overall price fluctuations (including what they meant, and how Santiment’s metrics suggest to prepare for the next week of moves.

Additionally, Santiment regularly puts out pre-recorded videos to go over the various ways to use the platform’s tools effectively. We will often record along with outside collaborators who have a similar interest in crypto, and allow them to discuss their perspectives on the markets and compare them to our own in order to give multiple and fair perspectives from all angles.

Additionally, we have a dedicated channel for Sanbase Pro users, where we discuss events as they happen, based on the data we analyse.

6. What kind of market analysis and trading strategies does Santiment recommend based on its data?

1) Track whales and key stakeholders for hundreds of top assets to allow traders to follow the trading patterns of those that are impacting prices.

2) Track the overall crypto crowd to allow traders to avoid falling into the “crowd think” narratives that are usually the exact opposite assumptions on where markets are moving next.

3) Our market analysis and trading strategies are grounded in detailed stablecoin analyses, offering a thorough understanding of market trends. We use a combination of on-chain, social, and developmental data to get a complete picture of the crypto market, focusing on the behavior of market participants. This approach allows us to predict market movements more accurately. For example, our stablecoin metrics track the flow of stablecoins to exchanges, transaction speeds, and supply ratios. A significant influx of stablecoins to exchanges often signals that traders are preparing to sell, indicating a potential market top.

4) Our social volume metrics are also vital in our analysis. Spikes in discussions around specific coins on social platforms can signal market sentiment changes. For instance, a sudden rise in social volume usually precedes a sell-off, as increased interest can trigger profit-taking. By combining these on-chain and social data points, we provide actionable insights that help traders make informed decisions and anticipate market trends.

5) Moreover, our Mean Dollar Invested Age metric has historically been a reliable indicator for spotting tops in Bitcoin’s price, helping traders decide when it might be time to take profits. We also provide tools like Sanbase, where users can track real-time social trends and development activities to analyze the impact of new updates or community sentiment on asset prices. Additionally, our platform offers the ability to set up custom alerts based on these metrics, ensuring that traders can react swiftly to market changes.

7.  Can you explain the concept of social finance (SocialFi) and how Santiment fits into this emerging trend?

SanR joins SocialFi platforms like https://friend.tech in letting users gradually build and monetise their reputations by selling ‘keys’ to others. On SanR, buying someone’s key lets you see their track record of predictions, known as ‘signals’.

While those platforms are broad in their approach, SanR is targeted by design, catering to those who ride the highs and lows of the crypto price charts. If Farcaster leans “Social” in the SocialFi construction, then SanR is all about the “Fi.”

Social Finance, or SocialFi, combines social media and finance on blockchain technology, allowing for decentralized social interactions tied to financial benefits. Santiment’s SanR app is a vivid example of SocialFi in action. It allows users to make and share market predictions, recorded as NFTs on the blockchain, ensuring transparency and accountability.

Using SanR is also intended to be quite entertaining and fun. We have, for instance, “Dragon” and “Phoenix” leagues, which respectively pay market predictors for both the “best” or “worst” signals. Making consistently incorrect calls is a very useful skill for other community members to see, which can quickly get you labeled as a “counter indicator” for the community. Many actually take pride in this! We also have the “Qilin” league, which you can explore for yourself as to what it means and who gets rewarded.

This setup not only helps in tracking the accuracy of predictions but also in building a reputation within the crypto community. SanR leverages community insights and verified trading signals to enhance user experience and decision-making in the crypto market. You can see the entire platform at https://sanr.app/

8.  What kinds of cryptocurrency prizes or incentives does Santiment offer to its users, and how can traders participate in these opportunities?

Santiment offers various incentives and opportunities for traders and users to engage with our platform and enhance their crypto market analysis capabilities. Our referral program rewards users for referring new customers to Santiment by giving them a share of the revenue generated from those referrals. Additionally, our platform occasionally provides invite codes and special access to tools and features that can significantly aid in market analysis and trading strategies.

Traders can participate by becoming active users of our services, engaging with our community, and utilizing our referral program to maximize their benefits.

Even more, the rewards for being active on SanR include the potential to earn rewards for best market predictions. This setup not only incentivizes participation but also enhances traders’ analytical skills by learning from the community and tracking their performance over time.

9.  How has the feedback from the Santiment community influenced the development and enhancement of the platform?

The feedback from the Santiment community has been instrumental in shaping both the development and enhancement of our platform. Community insights have led to the introduction of new features and the refinement of existing ones to better meet the needs of our users. For instance, based on user feedback, we enhanced our alerts functionality to provide more precise and actionable market insights, helping users capitalize on market movements more effectively.

Additionally, our community’s input has guided the expansion of our social sentiment analysis tools. By closely monitoring discussions across various platforms, we’ve been able to fine-tune our algorithms to better capture the sentiment of retail investors and large stakeholders, thus providing more accurate predictions of market trends.

These improvements not only make our platform more user-friendly but also more robust in terms of data reliability and transparency, which is crucial for our users who rely on Santiment for informed trading decisions. This iterative process of feedback and refinement ensures that Santiment remains at the forefront of market analytics platforms, providing cutting-edge tools that are directly shaped by the needs and experiences of its users.

10.  What are some upcoming features or updates that Santiment users can look forward to?

Extending the data sets for all our major frameworks. Likely adding the data from Base and Solana. We are also working on introducing more sources of social data. Community engagement into data curation and intelligence creation is also planned and coming!

11.  In your opinion, how will the cryptocurrency market evolve in the coming years, and how is Santiment preparing to adapt to these changes?

The cryptocurrency market is poised for dynamic shifts in the coming years, primarily driven by technological advancements, regulatory changes, and evolving market participant behavior. At Santiment, we’re continuously enhancing our analytical tools to adapt to these changes. Our platform integrates a broad spectrum of data sources to provide a holistic view of the market dynamics.

We’re particularly focused on the role of emerging narratives within the crypto space, such as the impact of ETFs, the BTC halving, and regulatory shifts around stablecoins and DeFi. These factors are likely to play crucial roles in shaping market trends, and our ‘Social Trends’ tool is pivotal in monitoring these shifts in real-time sentiment analysis.

Looking ahead, we recognize the transformative potential of Web3 and are gradually transitioning towards models that embrace decentralisation and greater user empowerment. This includes developing tools that support decentralised finance (DeFi) analytics, integrating blockchain-based data verification for enhanced transparency, and creating decentralised applications (dApps) to provide our users with direct, secure access to our insights. By staying at the forefront of these innovations, Santiment aims to not only adapt to the evolving market but also drive the next wave of advancements in crypto analytics.

12.   Some analysts claim that crypto analysis as well as on-chain monitoring platforms are controlled by market makers and they often use these platforms to spread misleading information to change the market sentiment and deceive retail traders. What do you think about these claims?

They are not wrong by any means. Market makers are so abundant in crypto nowadays that they are impossible to disregard in terms of their impacts. However, just like human-controlled or exchange wallets, market maker activity shows up on the blockchain as well. With the understanding that these MM’s are constantly making moves, we can still understand that their behaviors differ from day to day, and utility metrics that reflect their moves (such as circulation, daily active addresses, and funding rates) have shown plenty of foreshadowed price movements throughout crypto’s history.

The concerns about market makers manipulating crypto analysis and on-chain monitoring platforms to mislead retail traders are not unfounded, but they warrant a nuanced understanding. It’s critical to recognize that while some platforms could potentially be exploited for manipulative purposes, not all are influenced or controlled by market makers. At Santiment, we strive for transparency and data integrity, focusing on providing accurate and actionable insights. Our platform collects vast amounts of data from social media, on-chain metrics, and other sources to offer a comprehensive view of market dynamics.

It’s essential for users to critically evaluate the sources of their market information and understand the potential biases that may exist. Educating oneself on how to interpret data correctly and cross-verify data from multiple sources can significantly mitigate the risk of being misled. It’s also beneficial to use platforms that prioritize data transparency and provide tools for independent verification of their analytics. In conclusion, while the potential for misinformation exists, it’s a more complex issue than simply labeling all platforms as deceptive. Traders should seek out reputable sources and use a variety of tools to form a well-rounded view of the market dynamics.

However, an even bigger issue in market manipulation is the influence of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and certain “analytics” platforms that accept or even request payments to promote specific projects or tokens. This corrupt practice can lead investors to make poor decisions based on biased information. In stark contrast, Santiment never asks projects for money. Our publications are always based on our independent assessment of what is significant and what could impact the market. We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and objectivity in our analysis, ensuring our users receive trustworthy and unbiased insights.

Conclusion

As we conclude this enlightening conversation with Maksim Balashevich, CEO and Founder of Santiment, it’s clear that his vision and expertise continue to shape the landscape of cryptocurrency analytics. From pioneering unique data insights to fostering a community-centric platform, Santiment stands out as a vital resource for digital assets traders and investors. Maksim’s deep understanding of market dynamics and commitment to transparency underscore Santiment’s mission to empower users with actionable intelligence and reliable tools. Santiment will undoubtedly keep playing a crucial role in helping participants make informed decisions.

We thank Maksim for sharing his valuable insights and for his continued contributions to the industry. To our readers, we hope this interview has provided a deeper understanding of Santiment’s offerings and the broader crypto market trends. Stay informed and strategic in your trading endeavors, and keep an eye on Santiment for the latest in market analysis and data-driven insights.