DPAD | 2021 The Rise of the IDO Launchpad
The IDO launchpad acts as a community-funded VC. A launchpad is a website that allows project founders to list their projects for investors interested in supporting the start-up. These community members then act as a pool, combining their funds with other investors and becoming a community VC. The crypto asset price is sold at a discount during IDO before the public fundraising round.
How Launchpads Rose In 2021
Launchpads started in 2019 with MakerDAO, and Polkastarter launched their pad in 2020, but the rise of the launch pad can be marked to March 2021 when Binance Smart Chain launched their launchpad to support their native blockchain. With the crypto behemoth onboard, FOMO set in, and suddenly everyone is building a launchpad. They represent an example of the network effect Satoshi wrote about in the Bitcoin whitepaper. These community-driven launchpads are needed so smaller investors can work together just like larger entities in a fair and trustless environment.
The rise of DeFi is the rise of income equality spreading across the globe. We are watching history unfold in real-time. As nation-states began adopting crypto as a currency in this landmark year, it is no wonder communities are banding together on the internet to take back control of their financial freedom.
How Launchpads Have Changed the Crypto Industry
Launchpads, by and large, have had a positive effect on the crypto industry. They are a safer alternative to the ICO of the 2017/2019 bull run days, and they are a more accessible option than the IEOs offered on centralized exchanges. In addition, they allow smaller investors to participate in earlier rounds, eliminating the need to know someone on the inside. When fully realized, the concept of the IDO will undoubtedly help democratize the world of crypto, but they are not without issues.
How DPAD Uncovered the Issues Plaguing IDO Platforms
The DPAD team comprises traders and investors who have been investing in crypto as far back as 2016. They have been through the ICO phase, the IEO craze and have participated in over 50 different launchpads. Unfortunately, every single platform crashed during at least one IDO sale, if not all of them. The user’s experience on the sites is abysmal at best and non-existent at worst. They have a single function, hosting the IDO sale; they are up for several minutes and hold no other use or utility.
DPAD, led by a lawyer with a team of engineers, aims to raise the bar for IDO launchpads in 2022. If 2021 puts launchpads on the map, DPAD will optimize and provide an IDO platform built for investors by investors who have lost funds due to lag, connectivity, confirmations, and other cumbersome steps users face when trying to claim their allocation.
DPAD Acknowledges Launchpad Issues With Targeted Solutions
We quickly realized there were no user-friendly features, a website was hosted, projects listed, and no care for UX was put in at all. Websites perform poorly, and the only use case was holding the IDO. So, they would open up the platform for the IDO sale for a few minutes, which was the only use case.
These traffic spikes tend to crash the website, not every time, but on every platform at least once.
Users, platforms, and projects all knew and felt the pain, but no solutions.
It seemed as if these problems were an afterthought. So we researched how many people are reaching out to these sites during IDO to cause the overload. We found there are only 20k-30k investors, with 2,000 to 10,000 being the greatest hits these websites take and still could not balance the load.
These websites also tend to be barren of information other than a logo and project name. If users want to research a project, they will have to do so independently and search the web for the relevant links and information. This research can be a tedious process.
How will DPAD solve the lag issue plaguing all launchpads?
The engineers will balance the load and design a UX with all the features they use. They are a diverse group of investors, so the tools each require are a bit different, and together it makes up a robust set of tools with an easy-to-use interface designed for speed and simplicity. Whatever can be automated will be automated.
DPAD has numerous features they want to add to the platform once the base version has been stress tested. Detailed tools for portfolio management designed with the IDO investor in mind. There are unique ways to track prices and markets and all kinds of goodies and surprises.
Launchpads are One of the Few Products to Have Real Utility
There are many types of crypto projects, some with genuine utility and some with masked utility. Unfortunately, the industry has some players to exploit the easy fundraising scheme available in a decentralized world. This is why it’s up to consumers to stay educated and do their own research! Understanding whether or not a token is needed for a project is one of the single most significant failure points for IDO investors today. DPAD will expand on point 4 in their research checklist for investors.
Any suggestions are welcome on this review.
DPAD is building a decentralized protocol for crypto launchpad where anyone can raise funds for their business idea. The whole process on DPAD is decentralized and user controlled. DPAD supports the decentralization of crypto, true ownership of crypto assets. Learn more about DPAD on the following links:
Website |Telegram |Announcement |Youtube |Twitter |Reddit| Medium Whitepaper |Token Contract| DPAD on Bloomberg
