Opinion by: Jake Antifaev, CEO of Thrust
Every token launch is a story about belief. Crypto narratives abound Romanticize early buyers as visionaries who saw potential when others did not. The truth is less noble.
The bonding curve, currently the dominant mechanism for price discovery in crypto, sets the stage: the price increases with each purchase, rewarding those who arrive early at the best entry point. On the surface, this seems fair.
Early buyers, however, are not early believers. The speed of the purchase does not show about convincing or commitment to the project. What is the speed of the curve curve is speed. And in crypto, speed is determined by access to tools and insider knowledge.
The strongest advocates for “getting in early” are often the first to exit, using actual believers who arrive a little later as a means of exiting liquidity.
The broken dynamics of bonding curves
The bonding curve has become the standard for most launch platforms. Its purpose is to attract liquidity by rewarding early buyers. The structure is extractive yet straightforward: increasing prices with each purchase, creating a ladder where position determines potential income.
True Believers—Users who truly care about a project’s mission, creators who want to support change and fans who see long-term value—usually come only a short time later. After that, the Snipers Whoever gets there once the contract is live is ready to exit, throwing their positions at the very people who are most likely to hold and participate authentically.
The bonding curve just won’t enable it. This is an effective incentive structure program. Contestants buy to dump because it’s a game of chicken where everyone understands the rules: Get in early, find the bigger fool and get out before the music stops.
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Platforms have little incentive to innovate as long as there is a flow of new entrants willing to try their luck. Activity and, most importantly, the bills are generated, and thus it does not matter how much will burn. But over time, the pool of willing participants shrinks as more people learn the hard way that they are playing a rigged game. What looks sustainable in a bull market falls apart when the tide slows.
This is important as crypto goes mainstream
The current paradigm can be tolerable and even attractive to insiders and crypto natives. Finding the right Telegram group and getting alpha for a certain subset of participants is the game.
This group is a small part of the potential crypto user base. As the industry moves towards the mainstream, the tolerance for acquisition will decrease. Mainstream users will not forgive drags and confusing mechanics.
If Crypto wants to shed its reputation as a casino and establish itself as legitimate financial infrastructure, the industry must internalize a fundamental truth: acquisition is not a form of growth. Treating newcomers as scores destroys trust. And without trust, there is no sustainable adoption. Models that reward genuine participation rather than greed are not only ethically desirable; They are necessary for the industry to mature.
Fair alternatives that reward belief
There are launch mechanisms that better align incentives between projects and their communities.
Presales with flat pricing represent one strategy. Everyone pays the same price, regardless of their position, whether they bought the first or the forty-first. The incentive to snipe and dump is greatly reduced.
With the launch of the bonding curve, having a token contract address minutes before the public can access it can translate into massive profits. Sniping tools have created an environment where even being the first on a launch page means nothing against someone being the first onchain. A fair launch 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 method is applied worldwide in traditional markets, among others: transparency, advance notice and restrictions that allow the market to price liquidity events in advance.
Trading fees can completely replace a team’s token allocations. The logic is that the team should deliver ongoing value to holders and earn their compensation through sustainable revenue instead of token dumps. After all, if a team sells its allocation, confidence usually crumbles.
All of these alternatives reward belief rather than speed.
Pump and dump release
The bonding curve is dominant because it works – not for projects or communities, but for platforms and snipers. The problem isn’t any single platform design choices, though. It is a culture that has normalized short-termism and zero-sum thinking. When industry leaders celebrate sniper gains and treat retail participants as exit liquidity, it sets a precedent.
People internalize this and begin to assume that exploitation is how the game is played.
For crypto to achieve its potential, the industry must foster this culture. West’s wild aesthetic served a purpose in the early days of Crypto, but it becomes a liability when chasing legitimacy and scale.
Fairness is the only sustainable mechanic
As the industry scales into the mainstream, fairness becomes a requirement rather than an optional feature. Trust, once destroyed, is nearly impossible to rebuild, and major users have no shortage of alternative places to put their attention and capital.
The future of crypto is not about perfecting extraction; It is about achieving alignment between all participants: developers, investors, traders and users.
True belief, sustainable contribution and long-term involvement will emerge from acquisition.
Opinion by: Jake Antifaev, CEO of Thrust.
This article is for general informational purposes and is not intended to be and should not be construed as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
