The history of cryptocurrency fundraising began with Bitcoin, followed by the emergence of alternative coins (altcoins). As new crypto projects started appearing, a need arose for ways to bring them to market. The ICO (Initial Coin Offering) model—essentially an IPO for altcoins—first emerged in 2013 and reached popularity around 2016–2017.Initially, this format worked well: startups could quickly raise capital from a wide audience. However, due to the lack of regulation, minimal entry barriers, and poor project verification, it attracted widespread fraud and scams. As a result, investors began to lose money, triggering a major bear market and a capital exodus.

Despite these challenges, ICOs revealed numerous advantages over traditional equity fundraising: accessibility to crypto-enthusiasts, low entry thresholds, high fundraising speed, and rapid liquidity events. If a project succeeded, early backers could profit quickly once the token was listed. Still, due to manipulation and scams, this model was not effective.

Rise of Launchpads & IDO Models

In response, the IDO (Initial DEX Offering) model emerged, emphasizing project due diligence and limited token allocations to vetted participants. Around 2019, the launchpad model was introduced—platforms that hosted IDOs. This restored some trust, attracted investment, and became the standard.

Why do crypto companies prefer launchpads over equity or SAFEs? 

Token is a crucial component of most crypto startups—serving as an integral part of their infrastructure. Launchpads offer two essential assets: community and capital. The broader and more decentralized the token ownership, the more secure and resilient the project becomes. Launchpads are a tool for attracting early-stage crypto investors and building a strong crypto-native community around them.

However, today’s launchpads are becoming less effective. Many token prices fall below their public sale value post-launch, discouraging participation. If this trend continues, the entire model may collapse, leaving crypto startups with no viable capital and community. 

Tokens vs Equity: Two Different Purposes

Equity represents investment ownership, while tokens represent utility and product engagement. The development of cryptocurrencies has given rise to areas such as: 

• GameFi (Play-to-earn gaming combining gaming and decentralized finance), 
• DeFi (Decentralized financial services without traditional intermediaries), 
• RWA tokenization (Tokenized real-world assets like real estate or commodities on blockchain)

and more.

When launching a token, a crypto startup embeds certain value and utility into it—this is what attracts early-stage investment and later draws the attention of the broader crypto audience. That’s why the IDO format is vital for the market today and remains the most popular method for launching crypto startups. In addition to dedicated launch platforms, all major crypto exchanges have adopted the IDO format. However, the issues mentioned earlier have led to a decline in its effectiveness, which continues to drop—while no real alternative exists. That’s why the launch of ETERNEX™ (name of our platform) comes at the perfect time.

Why ETERNEX™ Exists

There’s no place for loyal investors to truly engage with crypto startups. Projects are forced to use fragmented tools like Discord, Telegram, or Twitter to manage communication—but these don’t allow for segmentation, insights, or real engagement with their investors that participated in IDO or ICO. Launchpads do not provide crypto startups with any real opportunity to communicate with their investors. Their role is limited to organizing the public round—nothing more. In essence, a launchpad acts as a wall: on one side are the crypto startups, and on the other, the launchpad’s investor audience.

The launchpad handles the launch and distributes basic information about the project to its community, but the startup itself has no direct access to that audience—neither before, during, nor after the launch. This lack of connection prevents startups from building lasting relationships with their early supporters and turns the whole process into a short-term, transactional event rather than a foundation for long-term growth.

There’s no unified solution where projects can build investor relationships and activate token utility.

On the other hand, early crypto investors are unable to implement long-term investment strategies. In many cases, once a token is listed on an exchange, its price drops below the public sale price (the IDO price). As a result, investors are left with two options: either accept the situation and continue to hold the token despite losses (a mindset known in the crypto space as HODL) or sell it as quickly as possible after the listing. Increasingly, investors choose the more rational second option—simply because there are no viable alternatives.

At the same time, a crypto startup launching through an IDO has no way to directly engage with its most valuable audience—its crypto investors. They are unable to communicate the token’s long-term value or offer exclusive incentives and benefits to long-term holders. This disconnect prevents projects from building loyal communities and reduces the chances of sustainable post-launch growth.

That’s why, as active participants in the crypto space since 2016—and having personally experienced all of these challenges—we decided to create a solution that offers a much-needed alternative for both crypto investors and crypto startups. 

Our prototype allowed us to test key assumptions, user interest, and monetization strategies. We’ve confirmed strong demand for our solution by gathering a pre-launch waitlist of 100,000 users who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Naturally, these users haven’t been able to use our platform yet, as it’s still in development—but all of them have experience using traditional launchpads. They clearly see the shortcomings of those platforms and recognize the urgent need for our solution. Our surveys confirm they are eagerly awaiting our launch. In addition, according to our financial model, we plan to onboard around 1,000 paying users and approximately 20 crypto startups in the first year. This phased approach reflects our understanding of the importance of gradual growth and ensures we can deliver the highest quality service to all our clients.

Platform Development and Funding Needs

Our initial prototype proved interest and monetization viability. Then why do we need investment if we can simply continue building? It all comes down to speed. We consulted with several qualified development teams specializing in crypto platforms and received preliminary timelines for building our product. The development is structured into stages, and we expect to begin generating revenue at the MVP (minimum viable product) stage.

The final stage, which we call Platform 2.0, will include the implementation of all advanced modules — such as AI-driven launch simulation, a full advertising module, an integrated marketplace, and more. According to our technical partners, this complete version will take approximately two years to develop.

Given the current state of the market and clear demand for our solution, it makes no sense to delay development. There’s nothing preventing us from partnering with the right investors to accelerate the timeline — which is why we launched our fundraising round.

Why Has No One Built a Similar Solution Yet?

The current launchpad model still generates revenue for existing platforms, even though it's deeply flawed. Most launchpads operate on a transactional model: they collect a fee, run a public token sale, and move on. From their perspective, there's no incentive to reinvent the model because it still “works.”

However, the industry is starting to shift. More teams are recognizing the inefficiencies and missed opportunities in this outdated approach. In the next 2–3 years, we expect new solutions to emerge—but that also gives us a strategic head start. ETERNEX™ is positioned to become one of the first platforms to fully address this problem and lead the next generation of crypto project launches.

Key insights:

How the Crypto Audience Participates in Early-Stage Investments in Crypto Projects — and How ETERNEX™ Takes This Process to the Next Level

Today, individual investors in crypto are often left to navigate the investment process alone. Here’s what that looks like in the current system:

• They discover a project through social media, influencers, or a launchpad.
• They participate in IDOs on launchpads or exchanges, hoping to receive a token allocation from a crypto startup. However, the chances of getting an allocation are very low—typically no more than 3%.
• If they do receive an allocation—which typically doesn’t exceed $200 per person—they then go through a phased token release process known as vesting. After receiving the first portion of their allocation, the key stage begins: the investor must decide whether to sell the token or hold it.
• Since the project has no way to segment its investors, communicate with them directly, or clearly convey the value of its token, the majority end up quickly selling (or “dumping”) their tokens. There’s no incentive to hold them and no structured way to remain engaged with the project.
• Moreover, projects are left with little choice but to hope that their investors will subscribe to their social media channels, actively follow project updates, and voluntarily participate in ongoing activities.

As a result, imagine the frustration of investors who finally received a coveted token allocation—only to see the listing price immediately drop below the price they paid. On top of that, their allocation is locked and released gradually through a vesting schedule. Not only did they incur losses, but their funds are also frozen for an average of 8 to 12 months.

On the other hand, crypto projects—knowing that a drop in token price will lead to an exodus and loss of interest from their most valuable audience, crypto investors—do everything they can to prop up the price. This forces them to shift focus away from building their product and instead concentrate on defending the token’s market value.

All of this leads to a decline in the number of quality project launches and growing disappointment among the crypto community.

What Does the Term “Staking” Mean

Staking is a crypto process that allows network participants to earn rewards by locking their coins in wallets. These coins are then used to validate network transactions or as a liquidity source. Staking is applied in networks based on the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Here, consensus is achieved through validators (participants who stake their coins and verify and confirm transactions). Participants become validators by depositing a set minimum amount of the cryptocurrency used in the network into their wallets. This step qualifies them to earn rewards for their staked assets.

The reason why a Proof of Stake (PoS) network (e.g. Etherium) is considered a more environmentally friendly alternative to Proof of Work (e.g. Bitcoin) lies in its significantly reduced energy consumption. In the PoS system, it is not the quickest miner solving a computationally intensive task who is rewarded, but a validator who has staked a certain amount of network tokens and is selected randomly. This method requires significantly less computing power as it does not rely on energy-intensive mining operations. Moreover, the duration and number of staked coins influence which validator is selected, adding a further dimension of fairness and security. This approach maximizes energy efficiency and significantly reduces the environmental impact compared to Proof of Work networks.

In a PoS network, users can lock their tokens in a smart contract, for instance, to become validators. Validators in a network ensure that it is always available and up-to-date and that no participant abuses the network and takes control. The (often native) tokens are staked, meaning they are "locked" on the project's blockchain. The concept behind cryptocurrency staking is like a fixed deposit account with a traditional bank, through which users generate interest. 

Why ETERNEX™ Is the Next-Generation Launchpad

Our Mission:

We’re redefining how crypto projects launch by building an ecosystem where long-term growth, trust, and sustainable returns replace short-term speculation.

How It Works:

• For the Crypto Audience

When users join the platform, they begin with onboarding and education based on our proprietary methodology focused on long-term investment strategies and financial literacy. Their training and future actions are factored into a personal rating system, which influences the range of tools and opportunities available to them on the platform.

• For Crypto Startups (Pre-Launch):

Startups begin engaging directly with the audience even before their launch by offering interactive activities to introduce their projects. Participants may be rewarded by the project through airdrops, and participation also increases the user’s platform rating.

• During Launch

Startups can segment users using customizable parameters—wallet balance, sign-up date, rating, past investments, completed activities, educational progress, and more—to distribute token allocations. Final allocation size depends on the user’s rating, ensuring deeper platform engagement is rewarded. Unlike traditional launchpads, everyone on the platform gets an allocation. And because we’re limiting paid customers to only 1,000 in the first year, allocation sizes are significantly larger than typical launchpads.

• Post-Launch

After listing, projects retain direct communication with their audience and can offer them exclusive perks.  Token holders will benefit from:

• Higher staking APYs (as in finance: Annual Percentage Rate Yields)
• Bonus airdrops
• Voting rights on roadmap decisions
• Access to limited NFT drops

And more - Investor actions (like holding or staking) continue to impact their platform rating.

• For Future Projects

New startups can view investors’ historical ratings and activity on the platform before allocating tokens. After we launch 20 projects and roll out Platform 2.0, AI-powered simulation tools will become available—allowing startups to predict campaign outcomes:

• How much capital could be raised from a specific investor segment
• Expected engagement in an NFT drop, and more.
• Ongoing Engagement

There’s no end date for engagement. Like a social group on Facebook, if an investor is interested in a project, they stay subscribed to updates and activities indefinitely.

IN SUMMARY

ETERNEX™ combines upgraded launchpad functionality with in-demand Web3 infrastructure into a unified platform. It functions as an integrated engine—empowering crypto startups with all the tools for sustainable growth, and giving investors long-term earning opportunities and deeper alignment.

We hope this overview provided clear and detailed answers to each of your questions and helped paint a more complete picture of our vision and approach.