Opinion: Jake Antifaev, Thrust CEO
Every token launch is a story about faith. Cryptocurrency stories often glorify early buyers as visionaries who saw potential when others didn’t. The reality is far less sublime.
Bonding curves, which are currently the primary mechanism for price discovery in cryptocurrencies, set the stage. The price increases with each purchase, giving those who arrive early the best entry point. On the surface, this seems fair.
However, early buyers are not early believers. The speed of purchase tells us nothing about their belief in or commitment to the project. Bonding curves provide speed. And in cryptocurrencies, speed is determined by access to tools and insider knowledge.
The most vocal advocates of “early entry” are often the first to exit, using actual followers who arrive soon after as a means of exit liquidity.
Broken dynamics of bonding curves
Bonding curves have become standard for most launch platforms. Its purpose is to attract liquidity by rewarding early buyers. This structure is extractive yet simple. Each purchase increases the price, creating a ladder where your position determines your profit potential.
True believers – users who genuinely care about the project’s mission, creators who want to support innovation, and fans who see long-term value – usually arrive just a little later. By then, the snipers who joined the moment the contract went into effect are ready to exit, surrendering their positions to the very people who are more likely to truly retain and join.
Bonding curves not only make this possible; Effectively program it into your incentive structure. Participants buy to throw away trash because it’s a game of chicken where everyone knows the rules. Get in early, find the bigger fool, and get out before the music stops.
This is important as cryptocurrencies become mainstream
The current paradigm may be acceptable and even attractive to insiders and crypto natives. The trick is to find the right Telegram group and get alpha for a specific subset of participants.
This group is part of the potential user base of cryptocurrencies. As the industry moves toward the mainstream, tolerance for extraction decreases. Mainstream users won’t tolerate lug pulls or confusing mechanisms.
If cryptocurrencies want to shed their casino reputation and establish themselves as legitimate financial infrastructure, the crypto industry needs to internalize a fundamental truth: extraction is not a form of growth. Treating newcomers like marks destroys trust. And without trust, there is no sustainable adoption. A model that rewards genuine participation rather than greed is not only ethically preferable; We need them for the industry to mature.
A fair alternative that rewards belief.
There are launch mechanisms to better align incentives between projects and their communities.
Preselling with a flat fee is one approach. Everyone pays the same price, regardless of their position, whether they bought it in 1st place or 41st place. The incentive to snipe or dump is greatly reduced.
At the launch of the bonding curve, dealing with token contracts minutes before they become accessible to the general public can lead to huge profits. The sniping tool has created an environment where even the first visit to the launch page means nothing to the first person to go on-chain. A fair initiation mechanism levels the playing field, especially when combined with identity verification.
Vesting is another tested solution. Tokens are locked for a significant period of time. This approach has been widely applied in traditional markets, particularly with respect to transparency, advance notice, and restrictions that allow markets to price in liquidity events in advance.
Transaction fees could completely replace team token allocation. The logic is that the team should provide ongoing value to holders and be rewarded through sustainable revenue rather than a mass release of tokens. After all, when a team sells an assignment, trust usually breaks down.
All of these options reward belief, not speed.
Pumps and dumps are reaching their limits
The bonding curve prevails because it works for platforms and snipers, not projects and communities. However, the problem is not a single platform’s design choices. It is a culture where short-termism and zero-sum thinking have become the norm. For industry leaders to publicly celebrate sniper profits and treat retail participants as exit liquidity would set a precedent.
People internalize it and begin to believe that exploitation is simply a way of playing the game.
For cryptocurrencies to reach their potential, the industry will need to grow beyond this culture. While the Wild West aesthetic served a purpose in the early days of cryptocurrencies, it is becoming a drawback when seeking legitimacy and scale.
Fairness is the only sustainable mechanism
As the industry expands into the mainstream, fairness becomes a requirement rather than an optional feature. Once trust is destroyed, it is nearly impossible to rebuild, and mainstream users have no shortage of alternative places to put their attention and money.
The future of cryptocurrencies is not about perfecting extraction. It is about achieving coordination between all participants: builders, investors, traders, and users.
Authentic beliefs, sustainable contributions, and long-term participation persist even after extraction.
Opinion: Jake Antifaev, Thrust CEO.
This article is for general information purposes only and is not intended to be, and should not be taken as, legal or investment advice. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
