Opinion by: Jake Antive, CEO, Thrust
Every symbolic launch is a story about faith. Crypto novels often Romanticize early buyers As dreamers who saw potential when others didn’t. The reality is much less noble.
The correlation curve, currently the dominant mechanism for price discovery in cryptocurrencies, sets the stage: the price rises with every purchase, rewarding those who arrive early with the best entry point. On the surface, this seems fair.
However, the first buyers are not the first believers. The speed of purchase reveals nothing about conviction or commitment to the project. What the correlation curve is equivalent to is speed. In cryptocurrencies, speed is determined by access to tools and internal knowledge.
The loudest advocates of “getting in early” are often the first ones out, using actual believers who arrive moments later as a way out of liquidity.
Fractured dynamics of correlation curves
The correlation curve has become the standard for most launchers. Its purpose is to attract liquidity by rewarding early buyers. The structure is extractive but straightforward: prices rise with each purchase, creating a ladder in which the position determines the profit potential.
True believers—users who truly care about the project’s mission, creators who want to support innovation, and fans who see long-term value—usually arrive only moments later. By then, Snipers Those who enter the moment the contract is activated are ready to exit, throwing their positions to the people who are most likely to hold them and participate authentically.
The bonding curve not only enables this. It effectively programs them into an incentive structure. Participants buy to get rid of waste because it’s a game of chicken where everyone understands the rules: get in early, find the biggest fool and get out before the music stops.
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Platforms have little incentive to change this dynamic as long as there is an influx of new participants willing to test their luck. Activity and, more importantly, fees are generated, so it doesn’t matter how many people are burned. But over time, the number of participants willing to participate shrinks as more people learn the hard way that they are playing a rigged game. What appears sustainable in a bull market collapses when inflows slow.
This is important as cryptocurrencies spread
The current model may be acceptable and even attractive to insiders and crypto natives. Finding the right Telegram group and getting alpha for a specific subset of participants is the key game.
This group represents a small portion of the potential user base of cryptocurrencies. As the industry moves toward the mainstream, tolerance for extraction will diminish. Casual users won’t forgive the rug pulling and confusing mechanics.
If cryptocurrencies want to shed their casino reputation and establish themselves as legitimate financial infrastructure, the industry must come to terms with a fundamental truth: mining is not a form of growth. Treating newcomers as signs destroys trust. Without trust, there is no sustainable adoption. Models that reward genuine participation rather than greed are not only morally preferable; They are essential for the industry to mature.
Fair alternatives that reward conviction
There are triggering mechanisms that better align incentives between projects and their communities.
Fixed-price pre-sales are one approach. Everyone pays the same price, regardless of their position, whether they buy in first place or in 41st place. The incentive to snipe and unload is greatly diminished.
When Curve Correlation launches, obtaining the address of a token contract minutes before the public can access it can translate into massive profits. Sniper tools have created an environment where even being the first to arrive at the launch page means nothing against the person who was first to arrive in the series. A fair release mechanism levels the playing field, especially when combined with identity verification.
Vesting is another tested solution. The codes are locked for a long period of time. This approach is applied globally in traditional markets, among others: transparency, advance notice and restrictions that allow the market to price liquidity events in advance.
Trading fees can replace an entire team’s token allocations. The logic is that the team should provide ongoing value to token holders and be compensated through sustainable revenue rather than token residuals. After all, if a team sells its allocation, trust usually breaks down.
All of these alternatives reward faith, not speed.
Superior to pump and dump
The interconnection curve dominates because it works, not for projects or communities, but for platforms and shooters. But the problem doesn’t lie in the design choices of any one platform. It is a culture that has normalized short-termism and zero-sum thinking. When industry leaders openly celebrate sniping gains and treat retail participants as exit cash, it sets a precedent.
People internalize this and begin to assume that exploitation is simply the way the game is played.
For cryptocurrencies to fulfill their potential, the industry must outgrow this culture. The Wild West aesthetic served a purpose in the early days of cryptocurrency, but became a liability when pursuing legitimacy and scale.
Justice is the only sustainable mechanism
As the industry expands into the mainstream, fairness becomes a requirement rather than an optional feature. Trust, once destroyed, is almost impossible to rebuild, and everyday users have no shortage of alternative places to direct their attention and capital.
The future of cryptocurrencies is not about perfecting the mining process; It is about achieving alignment between all participants: builders, investors, traders and users.
True faith, sustained contribution, and long-term engagement will outlast extraction.
Opinion by: Jake Antive, CEO, Thrust.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
