Why did most ICOs and Launchpads fail?
The ICO frenzy of 2017-2018 marked an important moment in the history of blockchain - an era of innovation, but also one of greed, failure, and misjudgment of human nature. What was the root cause? Human greed and malicious intent, manifested in scams and unsustainable promises.
Greed factors:
- Speculative hype: That era was filled with promises of exponential returns, while ignoring the fundamentals. Investors chased short-term gains, while project founders exploited this frenzy by designing token economics for early cash-outs, rather than paving the way for the long-term development of the project.
- Exaggerated promises: Many projects claimed to have revolutionary potential, but rarely delivered on their promises. Teams lacked the skills or motivation to realize these grand visions, leaving investors with only hollow promises.
Malicious intent:
- Fraudulent schemes: For example, OneCoin, led by Dr. Ruja Ignatova, defrauded billions of dollars by selling a false vision. Her disappearance was as swift as the funds.
- Ponzi schemes: Bitconnect promised massive returns through a so-called trading algorithm, but when the scam collapsed, investors lost $2.4 billion, and the founders vanished into the endless darkness.
These failures were not only due to the fragility of business models, but also the fragility of human nature: greed, short-sightedness, and dishonesty. So, what is the remedy? A system that can be immune to human errors.
"CTO" and Memecoins: A stopgap solution
Solana memecoins introduced the concept of "community takeover (CTO)", where the memecoin community regains control of abandoned or exploited projects. While this trend has potential, it still appears to be a reactive response to deeper issues, seeming too passive.
Advantages of CTO:
- Community leadership: Community members lead the project, driving the roadmap and interactions on platforms like Discord and Telegram.
- Risk mitigation: Developers no longer have full control, reducing the risk of insider trading. Retail investors often view CTO-marked projects as safer choices.
- Market signals: Investors can judge the long-term viability of these projects by observing their activity, morale, and transparency.
Although CTO is an evolution, it does not solve the trust gap in the blockchain industry. For this, we must consider a more ambitious solution - one that goes beyond human limitations.
Why I don't trust humans: Let AI take over
Human-led enterprises, especially in the crypto space, are destined for predictable failure. Greed, unpredictability, and moral fragility are constantly eroding trust, disrupting projects, and leaving investors feeling betrayed. This is not just a problem of a few bad actors, but a fundamental issue with human nature, which makes it unsuitable to lead in environments that require absolute integrity.
Humans are inherently greedy. No matter how noble the intentions, personal interests often take precedence over collective interests. We repeatedly see grandiose promises followed by market dumps, mistakes, or blatant fraud. The problem is not a lack of regulation, but human nature itself - they are decision-makers driven by emotions, self-interest, and opportunities.
So, why are humans still in charge?
From ICO to aICO: AI as our rightful founders
What if the solution is not better humans, but the absence of humans altogether?
Inspired by @shawmakesmagic and @123skely, we propose the concept of aICO (Autonomous Initial Coin Offering): self-governing AI founders, programmed with a sense of responsibility, to replace the chaotic human leadership and bring trust, KPI-based execution.
Predictable intent: Unlike humans, AI is driven by transparency and logic. Every decision is measurable, and every action is traceable. There are no hidden motives, no sudden shifts in mindset - only clear, definitive outcomes.
Incorruptibility: AI will not be greedy. It does not need yachts, Lamborghini memes, or exit strategies. It will not panic-sell or misappropriate funds for personal gain. Instead, it will execute the predetermined strategy and deliver results.
Efficient executors: Human founders are often bottlenecks, with delayed decisions, error introductions, or wasteful spending. AI founders are ruthless executors, able to manage capital, strategy, and operations with the precision of a supercomputer.
The era of ICOs and Launchpads has peaked, and the future belongs to aICO (Autonomous Initial Coin Offering), where automated AI agents replace human founders, bringing new paradigms of trust, efficiency, and governance to fundraising.
AI as the fundraiser: Traditional fundraising relies on entities, foundations, or charismatic founders. But these structures are inherently flawed - prone to greed, mistakes, and fraud. AI founders, on the other hand, can be programmed to be predictable and incorruptible. They operate with transparency, driven by quantifiable KPIs, not human emotions or hidden motives.
AI as the executor: Unlike human-led enterprises, which often deviate from their vision, AI agents can precisely execute the raised funds, aligning every decision with the project's mission. They can independently manage finances, operations, and development milestones, without delays, biases, or self-interest.
Fundraising without human intermediaries: aICO completely eliminates the need for human intermediaries. AI agents equipped with Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) handle the fundraising activities, allocate resources, and execute the strategy. Investors trust the system itself, not the storyteller.
We trust AI, but how do we prove it is tamper-proof?
Skepticism is natural. After all, how can we ensure that the AI founders are truly in charge, and not just puppets hiding human intentions? This is where TEEs (Trusted Execution Environments) become crucial.
Take the example of DoNotPay, a company that claimed to provide AI-generated legal services, aiming to deliver faster and more affordable legal assistance. However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US recently took action against them for false advertising and failing to deliver on their AI promises. What was meant to be a revolutionary AI-driven legal assistant ultimately became a case of false advertising, undermining trust in AI-led solutions and exposing the risks of unverifiable promises.
Building Autonomous ICOs with @ai16zdao Eliza
With ai16z (Eliza), you can build an Autonomous ICO (aICO) program, ensuring transparency, efficiency, and trust. Through Eliza's multi-agent framework, you can configure AI agents to manage token issuance, allocate funds, and interact with the community independently. By integrating TEE plugins, every action, from token distribution to governance voting, is cryptographically protected and verifiable. This ensures your aICO is fully trustworthy, community-driven, and immune to human errors or interference.
First, define the token economics and governance rules in Eliza's modular system, then deploy AI agents to execute and on-chain enforce these rules, making your aICO fully transparent and auditable.
TEE can transform AI into a verifiable founder. By combining cryptographic security and hardware isolation, TEE ensures that every decision, every strategy execution, and every fund allocation can be verified as the actions of the AI. This is no longer a matter of trust, but of proof.
Transparent motives: A TEE-protected AI founder has visible and immutable motives. Its "why" and "how" are clearly visible.
Auditable Strategies: AI strategies are not only accessible, but also locked in a TEE, making them tamper-proof and traceable.
Immutable Execution: Whether it's fund allocation, token swaps, or smart contract deployments, AI's actions are cryptographically signed and verifiable - no human intervention, no second-guessing.
Monitoring AI Decisions: The TEE provides a real-time authenticated view, showcasing the AI's motivations, plans, and actions, creating a transparent system that allows investors to confidently monitor.
Verifying Integrity: Through the TEE, every action taken by the AI is cryptographically protected. Investors and stakeholders can verify the integrity of the agent without blind trust.
Community-Governed, TEE-Secured: The TEE ensures the AI operates within predefined rules, but the real power comes from community governance. The AI's behavior is guaranteed to follow the rules and code encoded on the blockchain, secured by the TEE. This means the boundaries and objectives of the AI are defined by the community - not a single entity - creating a trustless system where governance happens on-chain.
By integrating the TEE, the AI is not only autonomous - it is accountable.
Technical Implementation:
- TEE_HE_HE: This innovative system deploys autonomous AI agents within the Intel TDX TEE hardware. It includes automated account management, TEE-secured security, and remote attestation capabilities to ensure transparency.
- ai16z + TEE: The Phala network integrates the Eliza and Dstack SDK as an ai16z+TEE plugin, ensuring TEE functionality is brought to the Eliza agent, enabling secure, autonomous, and responsible AI deployment.
The Path Forward: TEE-Empowered AI Founders
The transition from human-led to AI-led fundraising and operations is not just an innovation - it's a revolution. It redefines the fundamentals of the financial world, while posing profound challenges to governance and compliance:
- Governance Compliance: How do existing regulatory frameworks adapt to autonomous entities raising funds and operating businesses? Will governments embrace this shift, or resist it?
- Investor Protection: How can we ensure investors are protected in an AI-driven system without human oversight?
- Philosophical Challenges: Can society truly trust machines over humans? Are we ready for a world where algorithms replace founders?
Grounded in the TEE, AI Founders is not just an idea, but a verifiable reality: AI-driven startups, leveraging a trustless infrastructure, will redefine the way capital is raised and deployed. Investors will no longer rely on human promises, but on cryptographically secured execution.
The message is clear: AI is not just the future, it is the antidote to past failures. Let's build together - through ai16z, through the TEE, through Phala.
