Community sales are the future of crypto fundraising
Opinion by: Darius Moukhtarzadeh, Research Strategist at 21Shares
A new wave of crypto fundraising is emerging, changing how Web3 projects launch and who can invest at an early stage: Community Sales. At first glance, community sales may seem reminiscent of the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) era from 2016–2017. Yet, they represent a significant evolution that better aligns with crypto's core values of democratization, transparency, and inclusivity.
Projects should include community sales as a core element of their fundraising strategy, besides raising from angel investors and VCs. Professional investors should embrace community sales as they highly increase the chances of sustainable success of Web3 projects.
The ICO era
The original ICO boom promised broad retail participation and democratized investment opportunities previously reserved for well-connected insiders. The lack of clear regulatory frameworks led to widespread fraud, rug pulls, and market manipulation. This chaotic environment, rampant exploitation, and regulatory uncertainty eventually forced projects to abandon ICOs, shifting instead to private rounds accessible to well-connected angel investors and venture capitalists.
Private funding problems
While private funding initially brought much-needed stability and credibility, it also introduced new problems. Over the past two years, many tokens have launched at excessively high FDVs (Fully Diluted Valuation) with a low circulating token supply. These tokens entered exchanges with the majority of supply locked and sky-high valuation, which did not meet the demand. Retail investors, attracted by initial hype, often became collateral damage. The result? Devalued tokens and damaged trust. Most of these tokens will most likely never recover. This market dynamic discouraged investments in new projects and undermined community-building efforts, weakening the overall sustainability of Web3 projects.
Airdrops as an unsustainable alternative
Airdrops appeared as another alternative, designed to distribute tokens widely and spark interest in the community for a project. Airdrops frequently fail to produce meaningful, sustainable engagement. Instead, they often became targets for Sybil attackers employing multiple accounts to maximize token gains or airdrop mercenaries hopping from one project to the next, quickly dumping tokens, depressing prices and undermining project credibility. Without genuine financial commitment and interest in the project beyond the airdrop, recipients had little incentive to hold tokens or participate actively in the community.
Community sales as the new cool kid on the block(chain)
Community sales represent a practical, strategic alternative to private funding and token airdrops, offering a structured way to engage retail investors meaningfully and transparently. Modern community sales on platforms like Legion and Echo feature robust regulatory frameworks, with thorough KYC and AML processes ensuring regulatory compliance and security. These inclusive fundraising opportunities require participants to make real capital commitments, even if modest, cultivating genuine stakeholder interest and reducing short-term speculation.
Recent: Blockchain needs efficient use cases for AI agents: X Spaces recap with VCs
One of the most significant advantages of community sales is their ability to democratize access. Investors gain entry under equitable terms, similar or sometimes superior to those previously reserved for venture capitalists. With minimum investments often as low as $100, community sales encourage broad participation, helping to build a genuinely decentralized and committed investor base. Investors who financially commit are far more likely to become long-term holders and active community members.
Win-win for projects, other investors, and the community
For Web3 projects, community sales offer profound benefits beyond immediate capital raising. Early community involvement leads to a more distributed investor base, reducing concentration risk and diverse future users. Projects with broadly distributed tokens consistently exhibit more stable prices, higher community activity, and healthier onchain engagement.
Community sales significantly enhance a project's market reputation. Embracing transparent, inclusive fundraising sends a clear signal to the market and prospective users — the project prioritizes collaboration and community involvement over the extraction of value. This transparency builds grassroots evangelism, drives organic growth, and creates a loyal community base committed to the project's ongoing success. Professional investors should embrace community sales and actively encourage their portfolio companies to allocate to the community.
The broader crypto market benefits substantially from a shift toward community sales. Projects that raise funds transparently and inclusively from their communities tend to attract more stable, supportive investor bases. This stability positively affects token markets, reducing volatility, restoring investor confidence, and accelerating broader adoption and integration of blockchain technologies into everyday financial services and applications.
Community sales represent far more than a revival of ICOs. They mark a mature approach, combining early crypto ideals with today's regulatory clarity and technological possibilities.
Projects committed to community sales position themselves for initial fundraising success, enduring market resilience, and community loyalty. The crypto ecosystem, founded on principles of decentralization and inclusivity, should embrace this model to fulfill its potential. Founders should, where possible, include the community when raising capital, as in the end, everyone wins: WAGMI.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, 21Shares, or any affiliated organizations.
Opinion by: Darius Moukhtarzadeh, Research Strategist at 21Shares.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The US's most advanced Apache attack helicopter is losing its battlefield edge
A US Army official said the Apache helicopter faces threats that may reduce its battlefield prowess. Lt. Gen. Joseph Ryan said the older Apache AH-64D is no longer a "war-winning capability." Efforts are focused on upgrading the latest Echo model to integrate it with drone technology. The US's formidable Apache attack helicopter is increasingly under threat on future battlefields, a top US Army official said this week. Lt. Gen. Joseph Ryan, the US Army's deputy chief of staff for operations, plans, and training, described how and why the Army is phasing out older versions of the Apache, and modernizing the most recent variant. The older AH-64D, which is now into its third decade of service, "is not a war-winning capability that we can fight with and win today," Ryan said at a conference at the Center for a New American Security. The Delta model has also become prohibitively expensive to fly and operate, he added. Even the most recent upgrades to the AH-64E — the most advanced Apache helicopter — "are also on the cusp of being capabilities where we don't necessarily see them contributing to the fight the way they have done perhaps in the past," Ryan said. Apache attack helicopters have the speed and firepower to destroy an enemy's fortified positions or to rout an ambush on friendly positions, but they are increasingly threatened by the proliferation of accurate air defenses. First introduced into Army service in 1986, the Apache has long been one of the most — or even the most — feared multi-role attack helicopters. Armed with a 30mm chain gun and Hellfire anti-tank missiles, Apaches dominated the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, upgraded air defenses and cyber tactics capable of interfering with the Apache's complex digital systems may end its reign as an apex predator that can support ground forces. Meanwhile, although the Apache's Hellfire missiles have successfully taken down drones in exercises, drones have also been known to return the compliment. Either way, the shift towards uncrewed systems has prompted a rethink of the helicopter's dominance overall. At the CNAS conference, Ryan alluded to a recent classified call between top military brass that gave a bleak picture of how comparable Ukrainian and Russian helicopters had fared in Ukraine. "I'll leave it to your imagination about the effectiveness of those platforms on the battlefield over there today," he said, but added, "Extremely limited. Extremely limited." This would include the Russian Kamov Ka-52 "Alligator" — long considered a close rival to the Apache — which, despite its advancements, has been repeatedly shot down. Both sides are armed with modern air defenses that have limited the operations of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, turning the war into a slug-it-out ground fight that plays to Russia's numerical advantages in soldiers and artillery. Open-source intelligence site Oryx has identified 64 Ka-52s damaged or destroyed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ryan's statements came amid an efficiency drive at the Pentagon aimed at building what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called "a leaner, more lethal force." In April, Hegseth directed Pentagon leadership to take on a wide-ranging transformation of the armed forces, including moving to "reduce and restructure manned attack helicopter formations and augment with inexpensive drone swarms capable of overwhelming adversaries." At the CNAS conference, Ryan said that "we just simply spread ourselves too thin, and now we're making a bold correction again." As part of this, the retirement of Delta-model Apaches is being accelerated, with only the latest Echo model being focused on for modernization. Personnel tasked with maintaining and flying the older aircraft are to be transferred to the newer formations, in what will be a welcome staffing boost, Ryan said. The AH-64E features more powerful engines as well as flares designed to fool heat-seeking missiles. Nonetheless, according to manufacturer Boeing, demand for the latest Apache variant remains strong worldwide, and efforts to make it work more closely with drones, known as Manned-Unmanned Teaming, or MUM-T, have been underway for a decade. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
The US's most advanced Apache attack helicopter is losing its battlefield edge
A US Army official said the Apache helicopter faces threats that may reduce its battlefield prowess. Lt. Gen. Joseph Ryan said the older Apache AH-64D is no longer a "war-winning capability." Efforts are focused on upgrading the latest Echo model to integrate it with drone technology. The US's formidable Apache attack helicopter is increasingly under threat on future battlefields, a top US Army official said this week. Lt. Gen. Joseph Ryan, the US Army's deputy chief of staff for operations, plans, and training, described how and why the Army is phasing out older versions of the Apache, and modernizing the most recent variant. The older AH-64D, which is now into its third decade of service, "is not a war-winning capability that we can fight with and win today," Ryan said at a conference at the Center for a New American Security. The Delta model has also become prohibitively expensive to fly and operate, he added. Even the most recent upgrades to the AH-64E — the most advanced Apache helicopter — "are also on the cusp of being capabilities where we don't necessarily see them contributing to the fight the way they have done perhaps in the past," Ryan said. Apache attack helicopters have the speed and firepower to destroy an enemy's fortified positions or to rout an ambush on friendly positions, but they are increasingly threatened by the proliferation of accurate air defenses. Ukraine battlefield issues First introduced into Army service in 1986, the Apache has long been one of the most — or even the most — feared multi-role attack helicopters. Armed with a 30mm chain gun and Hellfire anti-tank missiles, Apaches dominated the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, upgraded air defenses and cyber tactics capable of interfering with the Apache's complex digital systems may end its reign as an apex predator that can support ground forces. Meanwhile, although the Apache's Hellfire missiles have successfully taken down drones in exercises, drones have also been known to return the compliment. Either way, the shift towards uncrewed systems has prompted a rethink of the helicopter's dominance overall. At the CNAS conference, Ryan alluded to a recent classified call between top military brass that gave a bleak picture of how comparable Ukrainian and Russian helicopters had fared in Ukraine. "I'll leave it to your imagination about the effectiveness of those platforms on the battlefield over there today," he said, but added, "Extremely limited. Extremely limited." This would include the Russian Kamov Ka-52 "Alligator" — long considered a close rival to the Apache — which, despite its advancements, has been repeatedly shot down. Both sides are armed with modern air defenses that have limited the operations of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, turning the war into a slug-it-out ground fight that plays to Russia's numerical advantages in soldiers and artillery. Open-source intelligence site Oryx has identified 64 Ka-52s damaged or destroyed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Upgrading the Apache Ryan's statements came amid an efficiency drive at the Pentagon aimed at building what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called "a leaner, more lethal force." In April, Hegseth directed Pentagon leadership to take on a wide-ranging transformation of the armed forces, including moving to "reduce and restructure manned attack helicopter formations and augment with inexpensive drone swarms capable of overwhelming adversaries." At the CNAS conference, Ryan said that "we just simply spread ourselves too thin, and now we're making a bold correction again." As part of this, the retirement of Delta-model Apaches is being accelerated, with only the latest Echo model being focused on for modernization. Personnel tasked with maintaining and flying the older aircraft are to be transferred to the newer formations, in what will be a welcome staffing boost, Ryan said. The AH-64E features more powerful engines as well as flares designed to fool heat-seeking missiles. Nonetheless, according to manufacturer Boeing, demand for the latest Apache variant remains strong worldwide, and efforts to make it work more closely with drones, known as Manned-Unmanned Teaming, or MUM-T, have been underway for a decade.
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Forbes
Why The Next Internet Isn't Web3—It's Interchain
Wesley is the CEO of FPBlock , helping clients with the latest techniques in functional programming, cloud, DevOps and containerization. getty The early internet wasn't built in neat layers. It was chaotic and fragmented with competing protocols, no clear standards and certainly no centralized gatekeeper. But from that chaos emerged a global network—not by unification but through interoperability. Web3 is following a similar arc. We're witnessing the birth of a new digital terrain—one not owned or ruled by a single entity but composed of many sovereign networks working in parallel. Not one chain to rule them all, but many chains, cooperating across boundaries. Welcome to the Interchain. For years, Web3 debates revolved around dominance. Which chain will win? Will it be Ethereum with its first-mover advantage? Solana with its speed? Bitcoin with its simplicity? But these questions assume a flawed premise—that the blockchain world must mirror the Web2 model: one platform to rule them all, everything else a plug-in. That's not what's happening. Blockchains are emerging as digital nations, not Web2-style platforms. They have unique cultures, governance structures and economies. Ethereum, Solana, Celestia, Bitcoin—each has its own purpose, priorities and strengths. Like nations, their power lies in their sovereignty. Interchain is not about centralizing power—it's about collaborating across it. Sovereign, Composable And Specialized Established networks and emerging modular blockchains are pioneering this vision. They're not trying to consolidate chains. Instead, they're making them interoperable by making them: • Sovereign: Each chain operates under its own rules, governance and upgrade schedule. • Composable: Chains can exchange assets and messages freely via standards like Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) or trust-minimized bridges. • Specialized: Chains are optimized for what they do best—whether that's decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming, identity or AI. This is the Interchain philosophy: Build small, build sovereign and connect everything. Understanding The Kolme Framework For The Interchain Era The Kolme Framework is a modular blockchain infrastructure that enables developers to build application-specific chains with native cross-chain communication. Designed for the Interchain era, Kolme simplifies interoperability, abstracts the complexities of multichain development and accelerates time-to-market without compromising sovereignty or security. This framework introduces structured interoperability to a diverse blockchain ecosystem. Rather than enforcing uniformity, it standardizes communication while allowing each chain to maintain its independence. This approach strengthens the Interchain in four key ways: • Seamless Cross-Chain Experiences: Asset and data transfers are not only technically smooth—they're intuitive for users as well. • Scalability Through Modular Architecture: By distributing processing across sovereign chains, Kolme reduces bottlenecks and enhances performance. • Security-First Interoperability: Robust standards reduce vulnerabilities common in early bridge technologies and improvised integrations. • Support For Modular Blockchain Design: Chains can remain specialized and agile, while Kolme ensures they stay connected and collaborative. Kolme isn't just building tools—it's laying the digital highways between decentralized cities. The outcome: a thriving digital economy marked by fluid movement, shared innovation and resilient infrastructure. The Impact Of Interchain While monolithic blockchains concentrate power and risk, Interchain helps disperse both. The benefits are: • Resilience: There is no single point of failure. If one chain halts, the others continue. • Innovation: Sovereign chains evolve independently, pioneering and sharing breakthroughs. • Freedom: Builders and users can move between ecosystems—or create entirely new ones—with fewer barriers. Where Web2 stacked vertical layers, Interchain is horizontal—a flat, open space where ideas travel, chains specialize and users roam. What This Means For You Whether you're a founder, investor or everyday user, the rise of the Interchain is reshaping core assumptions. For founders, it's no longer about building for a single chain—it's about building for a network. Applications should be designed to plug into an evolving, interconnected ecosystem rather than being tied to one specific host. For users, the expectation is shifting toward seamless portability—your identity, assets and permissions should move with you across chains, wallets and decentralized applications. For investors, the strategy must evolve beyond backing isolated winners; the real opportunity lies in funding foundational primitives, interoperability standards and coordination layers. This isn't a move toward one dominant chain, but rather a platform shift toward a cooperative constellation of networks. The Road Ahead: Friction, Then Flight The vision is clear, but the path to get there is still bumpy as Interchain adoption comes with challenges. For starters, security is a major concern—cross-chain interactions add complexity and introduce new risks, and the guardrails to protect against them are still evolving. Scalability also presents a tension between sovereignty and efficiency; not every interaction requires validation on a global ledger, and systems must account for that. User experience is another critical area—signing multichain transactions and juggling multiple wallets is cumbersome, and these processes must become significantly more seamless. Finally, governance must adapt. As chains increasingly cooperate, governance structures will need to evolve from isolated forums into coordinated networks capable of managing collective decision making across ecosystems. However, these are growing pains, not fatal flaws. To overcome Interchain's challenges, the ecosystem must adopt a few key principles: 1. Security must be standardized across bridges and messaging layers through rigorous auditing, formal verification and shared security models. 2. User experience needs to become seamless: wallet providers, user interface (UI) designers and protocol teams should collaborate on abstracting away chain-specific details. 3. Interoperability standards like inter-blockchain communication (IBC) should be adopted broadly to reduce fragmentation. 4. Governance coordination must evolve by enabling on-chain collaboration across networks, not just within them. Together, these steps can turn early friction into future fluidity. The early internet didn't start with clean user experiences or rock-solid standards. It grew into them. I believe Interchain will, too. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
