I launched a crypto leaderboard and got banned everywhere. Here’s what happened.
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I built TopCryptoWaster — a gamified leaderboard where you compete to waste the most crypto. The idea is dumb in the best way: send crypto to a wallet, get ranked, earn a title like “Crypto King” or “Diamond Waster”, flex on the internet.
The tech took a few weeks. The launch took about 4 hours and went completely sideways.
Twitter/X: Banned before the first tweet
Created a new account. Uploaded an avatar. Added the site URL in bio. That’s it. Within minutes — permanent suspension. No warnings, no strikes, no explanation beyond “your account broke X Rules.”
Submitted an appeal. Still waiting.
The best theory I have: X’s anti-spam system sees a new account + crypto URL and just nukes it. Doesn’t matter that you haven’t posted a single thing. The URL alone is enough to look like a scam bot.
There’s probably no fix except launching from an older personal account. Which means no branded presence on day one.
Reddit: Every door was locked
Tried r/SideProject — post auto-removed by filters, no explanation.
Wrote to the mods. Politely. Got no response.
Tried r/CryptoCurrency — “you don’t meet karma requirements.”
Tried r/IMadeThis — gone.
Reddit protects its communities from spam, and that makes sense. But from the outside, with a new account and a link to share, it’s just wall after wall. I get it. Doesn’t make it less frustrating on launch day.
Product Hunt: 0 upvotes
This one’s on me.
Product Hunt works if you have an audience coming in. Followers, hunter connections, people who already know your name and will show up to upvote in the first hour. I had none of that.
The listing is still live. The screenshots look good. Nobody saw it.
PH without a pre-built audience is just a directory entry. It’s not a launch platform — it’s a reward for builders who already did the distribution work beforehand.
Hacker News: “Get to know the community first”
Tried to post a Show HN. Got this:
”We’re temporarily restricting Show HNs because of a massive influx, mostly by users who aren’t yet familiar with the site or its culture. You’re welcome on HN! Take some time to get to know the community, become a good contributor, and then it will be fine to post an occasional Show HN.”
Honestly, fair. HN has a real culture and they guard it. I respect it. But it meant the last door I had for launch day was closed too.
What actually went wrong
None of this was bad luck. It was a predictable outcome of trying to launch into communities I had no presence in.
Every platform — X, Reddit, HN, Product Hunt — rewards existing members. New accounts get filtered, rate-limited, or ignored. The algorithm doesn’t know you’re legit. It just sees patterns that match spam, and you match them.
The lesson isn’t “these platforms are bad.” The lesson is that distribution takes longer to build than the product does.
What I’d do differently:
- Post on X for months before launch, even casually
- Build Reddit karma in relevant subreddits before you need it
- Contribute to HN threads before you have something to promote
- On Product Hunt, hunt other products first so people know your name
The product is live. The leaderboard is real. The current #1 spot was taken for about $5.
If you want it — topcryptowaster.com.
