As cryptocurrencies continue to develop, the trend of innovation through new concepts brought by blockchain is gradually emerging. The success or failure of these innovative methods is critical to our understanding of the future of the cryptocurrency market and choosing which token projects to support.
The recent airdrop boom has funneled billions of dollars from venture capital protocols to the hands of the earliest users and supporters, completely changing the way tokens are launched. Before Web3 , technology companies usually developed products first, raised funds to support their development, attracted new customers, and then went public after a few years of development before everyone could trade the company's shares.
Now, cryptocurrency companies can distribute "equity" to users directly through built-in systems and operate in a highly financialized environment. As a result, some projects have shortened the time from development to token release to less than a year, which traditionally could take several years. Companies like SpaceX choose to remain private because they can make decisions without interference from ordinary investors, who may not understand why they are more focused on long-term growth rather than short-term stock price increases.
When users are faced with the choice between protocols that offer stable but modest returns and those that promise high returns, the temptation to make quick profits often prevails. This creates a flywheel effect: high returns attract large amounts of capital into the project, increasing the value of the token and maintaining high returns until demand is fully saturated. In this case, a perverse incentive mechanism is created in cryptocurrency protocols that encourages unsustainable returns and sacrifices long-term sustainability to attract users and capital. Projects that are more conservative and focused on long-term development may struggle to gain the necessary attention and liquidity, even if their fundamentals are good.
Using tokens as a bootstrapping mechanism is not without precedent. Silicon Valley has long recognized the “cold start problem” faced by new platforms, often addressed through venture-backed subsidies and aggressive user outreach. In theory, issuing tokens to early users should create greater cohesion and stickiness. After all, the success of these tokens is tied to future returns for users, giving them reason to stick around and contribute to the growth of the ecosystem. In practice, however, the results are often mixed. The lack of a lock-up period, combined with the fact that most participants care more about themselves than the group, leads to a phenomenon where users accumulate tokens through early participation and sell them as soon as they are issued, which is detrimental to the long-term health of the project.
Furthermore, even if tokens have no actual cash flow and only confer governance rights, treating them as “equity” may still lead users to overestimate their expectations. Users may consider these tokens to be more valuable than simple cash rewards, although cash rewards generally provide greater flexibility and growth potential across a diverse range of projects.
Essentially, the issuance of these tokens increased the attention and user awareness of the project. Some projects realized that in this economic environment, the importance of attracting attention is not limited to the issuance of tokens, so they began to invest heavily in social media marketing and community interaction. Today, the marketing model of cryptocurrency is a mixture of buzzwords, hype, and the promise of potential excess returns.
Take Pendle Finance for example. In addition to the official Pendle account, they also have an account on Twitter called "Pendle Intern" that regularly posts information about earnings opportunities and new ways to interact with the protocol. The information provided by these accounts has a clear goal: to make potential users remember their protocol and better understand their product.
Other projects are taking this approach a step further. Two emerging L1 projects, Berachain and Monad , have built communities on Discord and Twitter full of fun buzzwords. Berachain, in particular, has attracted attention with its “Berachain Baddies” avatar, which features an attractive woman wearing a bear mask and a branded shirt. While some may see this as a gimmick, it is a strategy to gain more attention in an increasingly competitive market. It is uncertain whether this marketing strategy will work after their token launch, whether the community will get the rewards they deserve, and whether another innovative technology will emerge with higher returns.
As the cryptocurrency industry matures and becomes standardized, they must focus on the attention-driven economy in the long term. It is undeniable that economic incentives can effectively drive short-term participation, but this may bring instability in the future. Only those projects that can strike a balance between attracting attention and achieving sustainable development are likely to become long-term winners. Similarly, cultivating a loyal user base and effective community building are more effective than a marketing strategy that is purely hype.
As users and investors, we have a responsibility to support projects that value long-term sustainability over short-term gains, thereby building a stronger ecosystem. The attention-driven economy is here to stay, but how we participate in it will determine its ultimate impact on the future of the industry.
Author: BitpushNews Lincoln Murr
Compiled by: BitpushNews Scott Liu
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