The ICO

Overview

NOTE: We're still experimenting with different launch mechanisms and this is all subject to change. If you have a novel idea or user feedback, send it to us.

Participants have four days to commit USDC to a raise.

Sales have a discretionary cap, which means that the founder can choose how much of the USDC committed goes to the project.

Allocations and refunds are based on how much money users commit and how early their commitments are.

10M tokens are distributed proportionally among all participants.

Why a discretionary cap?

The purpose of the discretionary cap is to allow believers to participate while preventing projects from over-raising.

If you look at other launch mechanisms, they all have issues:

• Capped first-come-first-served launches can be captured by automated or faster participants
• Capped pro rata launches can be gamed. If a sale is twice oversubscribed, someone may commit twice the USDC, making it even more oversubscribed and creating a poor experience for participants.
• Uncapped sales are more likely to over-raise
• Dutch auctions are too complicated

How do allocations work?

For most allocations, the basic idea is "the earlier you commit, and the more money you commit, the more allocation you'll get."

For a more in-depth explanation:

• Your USDC grows an accumulator every second it stays committed: accumulator += committed_amount × elapsed_seconds.
• Your allocation share is proportional to your accumulator weight: share = your_accumulator / total_accumulator.
• On top of this, a fill boost multiplies the accumulator of funders who committed when the pool was still sparse — rewarding those who discovered the project early, not just those who committed early.
• Everyone pays the same price per token at the same fully diluted valuation (FDV). Committing earlier and while the pool is emptier produces a higher accumulator and a larger allocation for the same commitment.

Can funds and strategic backers get guaranteed allocations?

Before a raise, founders and MetaDAO may speak with funds and larger backers about non-binding commitments.

Founders can give guaranteed allocations to strategic backers who can materially help the project.

This process helps ensure that raises fill and that we bring quality to market.

What happens when a sale is successful?

If a sale is successful, the following happens:

1. All USDC goes to a market-governed treasury.
2. The authority to mint new tokens is transferred to the treasury.
3. That treasury provides 20% of the USDC and 2.9M tokens to liquidity pools. In effect the project will buy back tokens below the ICO price and sell them above the ICO price.

The team can then spend their configured monthly budget out of the treasury. To make larger spends or issue new tokens, they need to raise governance proposals.

What happens when a sale fails to reach its minimum?

When a project fails to reach its minimum, everyone is refunded their USDC back.

How are teams incentivized?

Teams can optionally decide to have some tokens allocated to a price-based performance package.

This package is split into 5 equal tranches: one that unlocks at 2x ICO price, one that unlocks at 4x ICO price, and so on for 8x, 16x, and 32x.

The minimum unlock time on these tranches is at least 18 months from ICO date but can be extended by the founder.

Teams may also forego this route and instead figure out incentives later, as MetaDAO did.