VCs have already cashed out, are we still picking up the pieces? The unfair truth of the project distribution mechanism
When you FOMO into a new coin in the public market, do you know that its VCs have already 'launched into space'? This is one of the most ironic phenomena in the crypto market: retail investors rush to buy at high prices while primary investors have already realized multiples of their returns long before the TGE. This is not a coincidence, but a form of 'structural exploitation'.
There is a clear inequality in the token economics of most Web3 projects: only 5%~10% is in circulation at the TGE, with a fully diluted valuation (FDV) reaching billions of dollars. Early investors can easily recoup their costs through small releases, and they even have their incentives locked up slower than VCs. This institutional design is essentially a 'asymmetric game' — retail investors are buying liquidity, while VCs are profiting from exit rights.
This is not a critique of the existence of VCs, but a reminder: before you hit the buy button, make sure to clarify three things: who unlocks first? How much is in circulation? What is the true valuation? The decentralized future cannot be built on centralized distribution. When distribution is unfair, value will ultimately backlash.
