The Transformation of Web3 Token Issuance: From VC-Led to Community-Driven

Recent data from multiple Web3 token projects shows that the proportion of VC generally ranges between 10% and 30%, which has not changed much compared to before. Most projects still choose to distribute tokens to the community through airdrops, but this method has its problems. Users often sell immediately after receiving the airdrop, resulting in huge selling pressure in the market. This phenomenon has persisted over the past few years, and there has been no significant change in the token distribution method. From the performance of token prices, it can be seen that VC-driven tokens usually perform poorly, often showing a one-sided downward trend after issuance.

Among numerous projects, a certain project adopted different strategies, allocating 4% of the tokens through IDO, with an IDO market capitalization of only 20 million USD. Additionally, two other projects chose to distribute over 50% of the total token supply through a fair launch method, while also combining a small number of VCs and KOLs for large-scale community fundraising. This way of benefiting the community may be more easily accepted. Although the project party no longer holds a large amount of tokens, they can buy back chips in the market through market making, which not only conveys a positive signal to the community but also allows them to recover chips at a lower price.

The Memecoin market has recently been in a low atmosphere. As retail investors realize that Memecoins are essentially still difficult to escape the control of various parties, the fairness of token issuance has been lost. The sharp losses in the short term have quickly affected user expectations, and this issuance strategy may be nearing a phase of termination. Although the AI Agent narrative has driven market enthusiasm, it has not actually changed the nature of Memecoins. A large number of AI Memecoin projects disguised as "value investment" have emerged, but community-driven tokens are often maliciously manipulated in price, causing negative impacts on the long-term development of projects.

The main issue faced by VC-driven tokens is the inability to gain early advantages during token issuance. Users no longer expect to achieve ideal returns by buying coins at issuance, as they believe that project teams and exchanges hold a large amount of tokens, placing them in an unfair position. At the same time, the return rates for VCs in this cycle have significantly decreased, and the investment amounts have also declined. Furthermore, users are unwilling to take over at exchanges, which poses significant challenges for VC token issuance.

The frequent occurrence of token issuance followed by immediate declines in the market has reinforced user awareness, leading to "bad money driving out good money". Even when fully aware of the significant risks, retail investors may engage in retaliatory short-selling behavior. When short-selling in the futures market reaches an extreme, project teams and exchanges may also be forced to join the ranks of short-sellers. This further exacerbates the trend of issuing coins only to see them dumped, and the number of teams willing to maintain the market is gradually decreasing.

In the face of these challenges, a new token issuance model is emerging: collaborating with leading KOLs and a small number of VCs to promote projects through a large community launch and a low market cap cold start. This model builds consensus through the influence of KOLs, locks in profits in advance, and exchanges high liquidity for market depth. Although it gives up the advantage of short-term control, it allows for low-price repurchases of tokens during bear markets through a compliant market-making mechanism.

The IDO model of a certain project showcases a new attempt. Through the transparent on-chain IDO process, it brings new users to wallets while ensuring fair participation opportunities. The project side can ensure reasonable price increases through market maker operations. This approach resolves the contradiction regarding transparency between the project side and VC, while also providing new solutions to the dilemmas faced by traditional centralized exchanges.

Overall, the core conflict between users and project parties lies in pricing and fairness. Fair launches or IDOs aim to meet users' expectations for Token pricing. Only by fairly distributing Tokens to the community and continuously promoting the construction of the technical roadmap can the true value growth of the project be achieved.