Crypto Launchpads: How to Invest in Private Sales

A guide for crypto launchpads on any budget.

Launchpads are THE best way to capitalize on a bull market, bar none. In the course of the bear market, they were all left for dead. Even the best launchpads were trading like malnourished meme coins, and it was not until recently that they have begun to heat up again. That said, they have lagged the general markets, and are as yet predominantly phenomenal deals. You can still front run the crowds, but not for long.

Buying into launchpads is like investing in a money printer with a best-before date. Every launch prints you a fresh batch of money, and as the bull market ages the timer counts quietly down to that unknown best-before date. When the timer ends, it all explodes in a flurry of altcoin debris. If played carefully and responsibly, launchpads can yield life-changing gains.

Why Launchpads?

The term “Launchpad” has morphed over the last few years. It refers effectively to a project that offers exclusive gated access to seed, private and IDO-style sales (Initial DEX Offerings). They are typically membership gated, and require you to own and/or lockup a membership NFT or Tokens, which then allow you access to deal flow.

The value of launchpads derives directly from the exclusive, discounted access to early-stage deal flow they provide. The return on investment has two main sources:

• Primary Benefit: Returns on sales
• Secondary Benefit: Price increase of the membership (tokens or NFTs)

To understand the value of launchpads, we need to take a closer look at how they performed in the previous cycle. The 2021 & 2022 bull cycle was for all intents and purposes the first real Launchpad cycle. In the early stages of the bull run, the industry was brand new and launchpads were crude, disorganized and entirely unregulated. I recall investing in projects where you indicated interest via email, sent funds to a wallet address, and received the tokens to your wallet; no KYC, no smart contracts, no vesting, no geographical restrictions. Now it is more formalized, better UIs, mostly KYC, and more complex deal terms as well.

In the peak of the 2021/2022 bull run, mid tier memberships to solid launchpads were trading in the $200K — $300K range for access alone. The top tier memberships cost in excess of $1M. The sales they gave access to could pay off the cost of the membership in 2–3 sales, and continue to throw off 40–50X returns weekly. Two notable examples are Duck Dao and Trustswap. A Gentlemen’s Club membership at Duck Dao (mid tier) was selling for $250K in 2022. An equivalent membership at Trustswap was trading for roughly $200K, and there were a myriad of other projects with similar (or more expensive memberships).

Types of Launchpads:

Generally speaking, there are three main types of launchpads, all with varying degrees of overlap.

1. IDO Platforms: These are launchpads that focus on Initial Dex Offerings that typically occur much closer to the time of public listing. They offer shorter vesting with lower discounts to market price.
2. VC Style Platforms: focus on seed and private sales deals. These typically operate as intermediaries that are able to secure larger tranches of early stage seed & private deals, and offer them out to their member base. Longer vesting, deeper discounts to market.
3. Pooled/Managed VC: These are a variation of #2 in which the VC manages the investments as a pool, and distributes profits pro-rata to deal contributors. I try to avoid these platforms for the most part, as I prefer the control and flexibility of self directed.

Launchpad Strategy

Investing in in launchpads is a bit like running a farm: plant the seeds, let them grow, and harvest them when ready. You invest the capital in sales, wait for them to mature and launch their token, then harvest rewards and rinse and repeat.

Your strategy will depend heavily on your budget and experience. The more restricted your capital, the more careful you will need to be. The less experienced you are, the higher the importance of a smooth uncomplicated user experience. Your budget will also influence which platform you use. Not to worry, I have options for all levels of budget and experience.

The key factors to evaluate when contemplating a launchpad are: the types of deals they access, how long they have been around (did they make it through the bear?), the history of the deals they have offered, allocation sizes, cost of membership, guaranteed or FCFS (first come first served), fees (if any), user interface (if any), staking APY (if any), and token/NFT lockups.

Top 4 Launchpad Projects:

Launchpad #1: Trustswap ($SWAP)

• Membership: Requires you to lock their token $SWAP between 1 month to 5 years. The longer the lock, the higher the allocation multiplier. Minimum is a 4,000 SWAP score, which can achieved by buying as little as 400 SWAP ($120) for 5 years (10x multiplier).
• Type of Launchpad: Mainly IDOs, some private rounds. Shorter vesting, larger unlock at TGE, smaller discount to public listing.

PROS:

• Flexible membership from as low as $120.
• Allocations scale proportionally to the number of SWAP tokens locked (and the time lock multiplier)
• Guaranteed allocations with 24 hours window to invest. No rush or gas wars.
• Beginner friendly. Easy-to-use dashboard (and simple funds send tx to contribute to deals)
• Higher quality deals
• Multichain access to token and staking
• Claim tokens direct from their dashboard (some exceptions)
• 5% APY on staked tokens paid in SWAP
• Real crypto-as-a-service business model that generates revenue, and plans for their app “The Crypto App” with over 4M downloads.

CONS:

• Requires KYC (most do now)
• Less frequent deals
• Must lock tokens, 5 yr lockup effectively means considering the tokens as a cost of access. Offset is you can use less tokens for larger access if locked.

Launchpad #2: Duck Dao ($DD)

• Membership: 4 main tiers of membership ranging from 40 DD to 40,000 DD, with a few sub-tier benefits. Tokens need to be staked, but are not locked.
• Type of Launchpads: Offers all types. Primary deals are seed and private deals, but also offers IDO’s via their DuckStarter platform (now fully integrated). Longer vesting, longer lead time to TGE, large discounts to public listing.

PROS:

• Tiers for any budget, from $75 to $50,000

• Allocations are excellent for all tiers. At the time of writing, even lowest tiers had no cap as demand is still limited. This will not last.
• DL is guaranteed allocations, GC is effectively guaranteed (may have some sold out sales mid bull), BC and FC are FCFS.
• Frequent deals, often high caliber.
• Contributions are via BSC, no gas wars.
• RWA (real world assets) are planned in the coming cycle.
• Incubated deals are particularly good, many hit 50X plus last cycle.
• Allows OTC trading once allocations secured (great for liquidity when needed)

CONS:

• Not beginner friendly. Contribution is a tad onerous (not that complex), reasonable crypto experience is needed.
• Requires some tweeting and social interaction (minimal)
• Claims process is a bit clunky, but has improved quite a bit.
• Requires KYC
• No APY on staked tokens.
• 9% fees on most deals.

Launchpad #3: BSCPad

• Membership: Tiered. Lower 3 tiers (1K to 5K BSCPad) are FCFS and require some social interaction . Top 3 tiers ( 10k to 75K BSCPad) are guaranteed allocations with no social requirements.
• Type of Launchpad: Mainly IDO pre-public sales, short term vesting, smaller allocations, very high returns on investment (currently BSC only)

PROS:

• Capital cost of membership is relatively low
• Guaranteed allocations are excellent value.
• Smaller investment sizes with very high ROI based on last cycle
• Dashboard is super user-friendly, easy to contribute and track investments
• Excellent marketing brings huge attention to deals.
• Only a 7 day lockup on staking tokens
• Pays a 15% APY on staked BSCPad
• No fees on top of deal

CONS:

• Late getting back into the sales (was dormant most of the bear)
• Allocations are smaller (offset by high ROI)
• Requires KYC

Launchpad #4 Nexus Gaming

• Membership: Tiers based on NFT Pass holdings, ranging from 1 NFT to 20 NFTs. High allocations, high quality deals to date. Guaranteed allocations for all tiers.
• Type Of Launchpad: All sales, higher focus on seed and private deals.

PROS:

• Highly connected founder in 0xHustlepedia, bringing in high quality deals
• Guaranteed allocations
• Solid allocation sizes
• NFT Passes also have revenue share with new innovative toolset similar to Messari/Dextools mix, releasing soon
• No KYC
• No lockups or staking required
• No add-on fees to date
• First deal performed exceptionally well so far (20X plus)

CONS:

• Expensive capital cost of membership
• New project which may have growing pains

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Seedify / Neo Tokyo / Based VC / CitiCap

Conclusion:

Launchpads are a narrative that has run in recent weeks, but which is still severely under-appreciated. These are very much like buying into money farms that continue yielding for the course of the bear market.

The odds of hitting a 20X, 50X or 100X Altcoin on the open markets are perhaps 1 in 20 if you know what you are doing, and even 1 in 10 if you get in at the right times. On pre-sales via launchpads those odds increase dramatically. Even on sales that are only moderately successful, you are able to recuperate your investment in the launch frenzy as the tokens pump on listing, and hang on to the remainder as a sort of moonbag in search of the unicorn portfolio-makers.

Fading launchpads at this time in the markets would be a critical oversight. Even on a shoestring budget, getting in on the right launchpad and working your way up the tiers with profits is a great way to build your portfolio.

Good luck out there, and see you on the next one!

Sovereign Crypto

I release regular altcoin and crypto updates, subscribe for more info and to keep up to date!

Referral Bonuses/Codes:

• Cross Chain Swaps & Bridge: RocketX Exchange: https://app.rocketx.exchange/?ref=LG5RWYCO
• Best Exchange (non-us): Swissborg https://join.swissborg.com/en/r/alexanLHJA
• Best Exchange (US & Others): Kraken (no code yet)
• Perpetuals DEX: Level Finance https://levelling.io/p77a

Disclosures:

• I own or am accumulating the above mentioned tokens/investments.
• Not financial advice.

Social Media:

• Twitter https://twitter.com/fourthesauri
• Phaver App: https://phaver.app.link/fourthesauri