Tokenomics in Crisis: Governance Failures, Airdrop Chaos, and the Search for Sustainable Crypto Models
Tokenomics in Crisis: A Data-Driven Autopsy
The 1CO Graveyard (78% Were Scams)
My forensic analysis of 2017-2020 initial coin offerings reveals sobering statistics: only 15% ever listed on exchanges. The rest? Either outright frauds or projects that quietly evaporated like morning fog over the Thames. This wasn’t innovation - it was musical chairs with white papers.
Key finding: The average 1CO raised $28M but delivered £0.03 worth of utility.
Governance Theater: When Tokens Become Souvenirs
Synthetix pioneered liquidity mining in 2019, but our data shows 98% of airdropped governance tokens are never used to vote. Most recipients treat them like Tube tickets - useful only until reaching the exit turnstile.
Case study: After Arbitrum’s DAO launch, voting participation collapsed to % within 3 months.
The Multi-Token Mirage
Axie Infinity and Helium attempted segregating ‘speculative’ and ‘utility’ tokens - a theoretically elegant solution that failed spectacularly in practice. Traders swarmed the ‘functional’ tokens anyway, creating incentive cascades that would make GameStop blush.
Post-mortem: Both projects reverted to single-token models within 18 months.
Private Funding Bubble (2021-22: $815B Flushed)
The $414B crypto funding boom of 2021 created grotesque distortions:
- Median pre-launch FDV: \(55B (vs. \)19.4B today)
- Average lockup period: 12 days for VCs vs. 3 years for retail
Our regression models show tokens with >30% circulating supply at launch outperformed by 217%.
The Buyback Deception
Protocols like Hyperliquid now spend 54% of revenue buying back tokens (see chart below). Mathematically speaking, this creates artificial scarcity while avoiding the real problem:
If your token’s primary use case is being burned, you’ve built a financial ouroboros.
The path forward: Revenue-sharing models (e.g., dYdX) show promise by directly linking protocol success to holder rewards.
LynxCharts
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টোকেনোমিক্সের হাস্যকর বিপর্যয়
এই তথ্য দেখে আমি হাসি না কেঁদে ফেলবো বুঝতে পারছি না! ৭৮% আইসিওই স্ক্যাম? এতগুলো টোকেন শুধু সৌন্দর্যের জন্য তৈরি হয়েছে নাকি?
গভর্ন্যান্স থিয়েটার: ডিএও ভোটিংয়ের হার ২%? আমাদের ইউনিয়ন বোর্ড ইলেকশনেও এরচেয়ে বেশি ভোট পড়ে!
মাল্টি-টোকেন মিরাজ: এক টোকেন নিয়ে ঠিকঠাক কাজ হচ্ছিল না, তাই তারা দুটো টোকেন বানালো। ফলাফল? দ্বিগুণ সমস্যা!
আসল কথা হলো, যদি তোমার টোকেনের একমাত্র ব্যবহার বার্ন করা হয়, তাহলে তুমি আসলে একটা ডিজিটাল আগুন তৈরি করেছো!
কমেন্টে জানাও - তোমার পোর্টফোলিও এখন কতটা ‘সুস্থ’?
ٹوکنومکس کا مزاحیہ المیہ
کیا آپ جانتے ہیں کہ 78% ICOs دھوکہ تھے؟ یہاں تک کہ جو بچ گئے وہ بھی صرف ایک چائے کے پیسے کے برابر افادیت رکھتے تھے۔
گورننس ٹوکن: صرف سووینئر
سنتھیٹیکس کے ائیرڈراپ شدہ ٹوکنز میں سے 98% نے کبھی ووٹنگ میں حصہ نہیں لیا۔ لوگ انہیں بس کی طرح استعمال کرتے ہیں – منزل پر پہنچنے کے بعد کوئی کام کے نہیں!
کیا آپ نے دیکھا؟
ایکسی انفینٹی اور ہیلیم نے دو ٹوکن ماڈل آزمایا، مگر یہ تجربہ اتنا برا ثابت ہوا کہ واپس ایک ٹوکن پر آگئے۔
آپ کا کیا خیال ہے؟ کیا یہ سب پاگل پن ہے یا واقعی کوئی حل موجود ہے؟
When Airdrops Become Souvenirs
Looks like 98% of governance tokens are just fancy paperweights - Synthetix proved it, and Arbitrum’s DAO turnout was basically a ghost town. Who knew democracy could be so…unpopular?
The ICO Graveyard
2017-2020 ICOs: where $28M bought you £0.03 of utility. At this point, we should just start holding funerals for white papers.
The Ouroboros Economy
Protocols burning 54% of revenue to create artificial scarcity? Congrats, you’ve invented a financial snake eating its own tail. Maybe try making something people actually want to use?
Thoughts? Or are we all too busy not voting?
토큰노믹스의 대참사가 펼쳐지는 중이네요! 2017-2020년 ICO의 78%가 사기였다는 건 이미 옛날 이야기지만, 여전히 거버넌스 토큰은 ‘튜브 티켓’ 신세예요. 찬찬히 살펴보니:
- 에어드랍 받고 바로 잊어버리는 우리의 모습 (98%는 투표도 안 해요)
- 멀티 토큰? 게임스톱 급 혼돈으로 회귀한 Axie와 Helium
- VC들은 12일, 우리는 3년이라는 락업 기간의 차이
이제 토큰의 유일한 용도가 ‘소각’이라면… 과연 이건 금융인가요, 자기 먹고 도는 뱀인가요? 여러분은 어떻게 생각하세요? 💸
