Nikolas Sargeant
Web3 today is built from the foundations of blockchain technology, tokenization, and artificial intelligence (AI), which present new forms of innovation almost daily. Although the speed at which the Web3 space innovates is impressive, the traditional methods of funding and development remain stagnant — receiving increasing levels of scrutiny for their stagnancy.
In the Web2 space (the internet we know today), traditional funding models involve remaining funds or receiving funding from venture capital (VC) firms. Though they offset the initial capital requirements to get off the ground, they regularly pose substantial trade-offs, arresting control, influence, and long-term viability from platforms receiving their funding.
The paradigm shift in method is immediately apparent compared to fair launch platforms like Qubic—it is community-driven, transparent, and decentralized. Fair launch platforms don’t sacrifice user-centric development for the financial support needed to see a project thrive. Instead, they boost Web3 success and benefit all involved in the funding process to ensure decentralized real-world impact.
To truly understand the potential of fair launch platforms, we must first consider the modern drawbacks of platforms that use traditional funding models.
Premining and VC Funding Drawbacks
VC funding and premining for funding both have a history of ascending both AI and blockchain projects into the limelight, facilitating fast development, scaling, and marketing to the public. Some renowned examples could include Ethereum, Polkadot or Solana, all of which used VC funding to accomplish market and technological milestones.
However, the drawback to VC investment and the influx of funding often comes with the caveat of needing a tasty return on investment (ROI) in the long run. This pressure applied to VC-funded projects can shift the perspective from necessary long-term sustainability and innovation to short-term gain to state VC ROI requirements.
When considering premining, a process involving allocating a portion of tokens to founders and early investors prior to a public launch, the resulting unequal distribution can negatively affect the platform fast. By undermining the principles of decentralization and granting a concentration of power to pre-selected individuals, the fairness aspects fade away before the project even takes off the ground.
Fair Launch Benefits
Unlike the traditional VC or premining funding models, fair launches completely circumvent the centralization and pressure pitfalls, ensuring no tokens are allocated pre-launch and ensuring equal distribution. Companies like Qubic take this decentralized and fair approach, starkly contrasting the drawbacks of VC or premining-funded projects.
Founded by the brain behind IOTA and NXT, Sergey Ivancheglo, Qubic offers a fair launch model while championing an ethos geared towards community empowerment and governance. Qubic integrates blockchain technology with AI through its Quorum Protocol, a quorum-based computer (QBC) system, and its Useful Proof-of-Work (uPoW) mechanism.
Through the uPoW mechanism, Qubic utilizes mining capacity to train AI instead of simply using it solely to secure the network. This approach facilitates productive AI tasks via energy-efficient computational production and ensures democratic and decentralized access to AI technology — without sacrificing growth.
Community Governance Growth
A fundamental strategy of fair launch platforms is that they focus on community-driven governance to ensure any external pressures from VCs and no premining inequality are eliminated from the equation. By aligning platform governance and development with community needs and interests, fair launch platforms create stronger ownership principles and encourage user participation for long-term growth.
Through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), like the one employed by Qubic, decisions can be made by the community as a collective to determine the future direction of the platform. This removes centralization risks, places the power evenly in the hands of the users, and builds trust in the decision-making process. Among a plethora of VC-funded platforms, Qubic is a rarity that ensures community governance comes first.
What’s Best Part of Fair Launches? Fairness
Fair launch platforms are inherently akin to their name, fair, promoting transparency and fairness for all users whether they’re developers, investors, or newcomers. Separated from premined inequality and VC influence, fair launch platforms offer users far greater levels of accountability and public visibility behind the inner workings.
The transparency offered by fair launch platforms ensures trust can be created evenly throughout the community that builds it and maintains stakeholder involvement in all platform operations. For Qubic, fairness is crucial, evidenced by the lack of VC funding and the promotion of fair launch methodology to align with community development's best interests.
Through Qubic’s Computer Controlled Fund (CCF), the Arbitrator Fund, and donations, the fair launch platform ensures growth in all areas and operations by putting the community before financial gain. Using this decentralized model to ensure Web3's success in the space, Qubic promotes fairness and democracy throughout all elements of its inner workings, creating a user-centric, community-empowering ecosystem.
Real-world Statistics and Accomplishments
Where fair launch platforms truly shine is when we observe their real-world impact and the achievements they make in the Web3 space. When reflecting on Qubic’s impact on Web3's success through its fair launch, the company has accomplished substantial milestones.
From hitting a market capitalization of $1 billion and establishing a mining network with approximately 500,000 machines to launching a decentralized exchange (QX); Qubic quickly became a Web3 heavy-hitter. These achievements mirror the support and trust of fair launch platforms like Qubic and show that community engagement and governance are key to creating viable and effective Web3 innovation.
Taking it a step further, Qubic’s integration of blockchain and AI has made it possible to eliminate previously inefficient systems through feeless transfers, fast Turing-complete smart contracts, and user-empowering development. These Web3 advancements stand as a testament to the power of fair launches.
As fair launch platforms like Qubic continue to prioritize community-driven governance, long-term viability, and transparency, and avoid VC funding and premining pitfalls, Web3 will be successful.
