2021: Dawn of the Democratization Launchpad

Launchpad is one of the main reasons many modern blockchains have experienced such an explosion of Cambrian innovation over the past few months.

Those around 2017 may recall the hype around the Initial Coin Offering (ICO), when there was a flood of new projects over several weeks or months, many of which brought incredible profits to participants.

While many ICO-funded projects have failed, a small percentage have grown to become heavyweights of current blockchains, including Ether (ETH), Filecoin (FIL), Polkadot (DOT), and Cardano (ADA) – each of the 30 largest cryptocurrencies. assets by market capitalization.

Medium ICO was created A whopping 1,320% return for short-term investors, making them one of the most attractive investment options in recent years, although their long-term results are generally not so good.

But there is one big problem. An accurate assessment of the strength of a project is not only extremely difficult due to the large number of ICOs and the simultaneous euphoria in the market, but it is also extremely important for securing a place in the top-tier ICO, which is impossible for the average user. often luck, a clean connection, or a big investment to secure space.

Start of change

That started to change in 2019 with the arrival of Binance Launchpad, which for the first time provided a roadmap for opening projects early on to the masses, or more precisely, anyone who owns the code. BNB).

While Binance Launchpad is said to have pioneered crypto-democratic crowdfunding, it is becoming less and less user-friendly. Users now need to hold a large number of BNBs to guarantee a fair size of initial DEX services (IDOs) that do anything other than fair access.

But in the past year, many alternative platforms have emerged with a single goal: democratizing access to next-generation projects and transactions. These platforms are known simply as Launchpads and contain carefully curated listings of new projects that they can offer to their users.

Most of the top performing assets this year have completed their final token sale through one or more launchers. These include Job Seed, PulsePad, WagyuSwap and My Neighbor Alice, each of which has achieved a maximum return on investment (ROI) of over 30,000%.

Democratic launchers provide access to new capabilities for hundreds or thousands of potential users, each with a chance to participate or a guaranteed grant, depending on the details of the platform. Because these designs are manually reviewed, they help reduce fraud, fraud and fraud.

But the massive growth of these platforms has begun to take its toll on users, who, as the number of users increase, gradually find that their assignment size is shrinking. Many decentralized launch sites also raise the minimum bar of entry, with the lowest on some launchers requiring an investment of thousands of dollars.

Starting industry

These days, the launcher industry is overflowing with various platforms, many of which target projects that run on specific blockchains or in specific sectors / niches. While there is usually a wide range of platforms providing launch pad services for each blockchain, some of them dominate their respective chains and attract the highest quality projects.

Currently, DAO Maker currently dominates the Ethereum project landscape and has launched big names like XCAD Network, Opulous, Orion Funds, GameFi, and DeRace in the past few months. With recent successes such as NFTLaunch, BitOrbit, WagyuSwap, and ADAPad, BSCPad is often seen as a suitable launching pad for Binance Intelligent Chain projects.

Other upcoming blockchains also have prominent launch sites, including Solanium, a Solana-focused startup that hosts Challenge SEED, Cryowar, and the hugely successful DeFis cash-to-play projects. Land, like Avalaunch, has a number of desirable properties in the Avalanche ecosystem.

BlueZilla, on the other hand, has grown by leaps and bounds, developing and launching a launch program across multiple blockchains including Cardano (ADAPad), PulseChain (PulsePad), and KuCoin Neighborhood Chain (KCCPad). This strategy seems to democratize access to the projects that create these new chains.

Launch sites are one of the main reasons why Avalanche, Solana, Terra and many other modern blockchains have experienced the Cambrian innovation boom in recent months, as they represent a simple roadmap for new blockchains. The project not only provides funding and distribution for their tokens, but also increases their initial user base.

Some of them are now large enough to be officially supported and verified with their own blockchain they maintain, such as VelasPad, in collaboration with the AI-powered Solana fork known as Velas.

Touchpad and blockchain space

Providing a solid starting point for new projects, launchers have become a vital service in the blockchain landscape, and the most popular launch platforms can have tens of thousands of users.

While launch vehicles have successfully democratized access to promising investment opportunities, not all launch vehicles are created equal, and those on the less successful end of the spectrum can compete in an increasingly competitive environment to deliver high quality projects.

There are now a large number of launch vehicles, but a relatively small number of promising projects. This has led to fierce competition between launch vehicles as each side strives to provide the best designs for its community. However, only the most popular launchers have the community and track record of being picky about their designs, which often leaves less reputable platforms with low quality designs.

The further we go into a bull market, the wider the quality gap becomes, which can be a problem for investors and less experienced investors who may find themselves stranded by entrusting their money to an ever-growing number of dim boosters. …

Kalani Mo is the director of ecosystem development for Velas, a decentralized smart contract platform provided by Solana. As a serial entrepreneur and one of the early master builders in the blockchain space, Mo previously founded Project Divi and, as a former creative director, helped make CoinPayments the world’s leading cryptocurrency payment processor.