The real reason Web3 projects stall after launch

For many founders, the early milestones come fast:

‍

✅ Product launch

✅ Roadmap delivery

✅ Token generation

And then… growth stalls.

‍

Your team is overloaded. Users drop off after the first interaction. Partnerships don’t bring the traction you expected.

Meanwhile, competitors are gaining market share, closing funding rounds, and launching new features.

‍

This post-launch slowdown isn’t rare — it’s a common trap in mid-stage Web3 projects caused by the lack of a real strategy.

‍

In traditional startups, no strategy often means bad marketing or a weak sales pipeline. In Web3, the problem is more complex: your product, token, community, and funding are interconnected. Without a strategy binding them together, short-term wins can’t turn into long-term growth.

What strategy means in Web3

In Web3, the word “strategy” is thrown around so often that it’s lost meaning. Some founders equate it with their roadmap. Others think their whitepaper is the strategy.

Let’s break it down:

‍

• Roadmap → Outlines what will be done and when.
  
  
• Tokenomics → Explains how the ecosystem functions economically.
  
  
• Strategy → Defines why your project will keep growing over the years — and the clear path it will follow to scale. It shows how product, token, community, and resources work together, and how each step drives long-term growth and resilience.
  
  

A good Web3 strategy isn’t static. It’s a decision-making framework that guides you through unpredictable market cycles, regulatory changes, and evolving user expectations. It answers questions like:

‍

• Which user segments should we focus on right now?
  
  
• How should we prioritize between short-term token distribution goals and long-term ecosystem needs?
  
  
• When is the right time to expand beyond the initial product?
  
  

📌 If every big decision in your project sparks internal debates and frequent reversals, you don’t have a strategy — you’re improvising.

What’s inside a solid Web3 strategy

Think of your strategy as the operating system for your project.

It’s not a glossy PDF or a marketing deck — it’s a practical tool you and your team use to make choices under pressure.

‍

A robust Web3 strategy contains:

1. Target positioning

Where you stand in the market — and why users and investors should pick you over alternatives.

‍

Example: a DeFi lending protocol runs market research and finds that institutional players care most about safety. Instead of competing on “the cheapest rates,” it positions itself as “the safest lending experience for institutions,” with security audits and risk models as its core.

2. Product logic

How your product solves a pain point or fulfills a desire that people are actively seeking.

In Web3, “because it’s decentralized” is not a value proposition. The logic must connect to measurable outcomes: faster transactions, exclusive access, higher yields, lower risk.

3. Token role & utility

How your token fits into the ecosystem. Is it just a governance tool, or does it power core user actions?

‍

Weak utility leads to inflation without engagement; strong utility gives users a reason to hold and interact with the token.

4. Growth & retention model

Acquisition is easy to buy; retention is earned. Your strategy should define how you keep users — through incentives, product stickiness, partnerships, or network effects.

Example: A gaming project might drive retention by designing NFT assets with evolving in-game utility, not just as collectibles.

5. Priorities & limited resources

In early and mid stages, everything feels urgent. Strategy forces trade-offs: what you do now, what you postpone, and what you skip entirely.

In Web3, this often means deciding between exchange listings, protocol upgrades, and marketing pushes — with a limited treasury.

6. Contingency scenarios

“What if it doesn’t work?” is not pessimism — it’s risk management. Your strategy should have pivot options for low liquidity, regulatory shifts, or competitor moves.

7. Long-term roadmap

Yes, you still need one. But a roadmap informed by positioning, token model, and resource allocation is far more powerful.

‍

📌 Strategy isn’t a document to store in a folder. It’s the process your leadership team uses to navigate uncertainty without losing direction.

‍

What strategy actually gives you

Clear focus

You know exactly where to invest — whether it’s developer resources, liquidity mining, or institutional partnerships. You stop chasing shiny objects.

A synchronized team

Everyone — from engineers to community managers — is working toward the same outcomes. Internal conflicts fade.

A predictable path to growth

Growth stops being a string of random marketing stunts and becomes a sequence of deliberate wins, where each milestone builds on the previous one.

Flexibility without chaos

Markets will change — and your strategy will change with them. The difference is, you’ll pivot intentionally, not reactively.

Credibility with investors and partners

Investors fund confidence. When you can present a clear business model, growth logic, and market position — supported by realistic numbers — you’re not “asking for money,” you’re offering a compelling case.

‍

📌 A strategy won’t make you bulletproof. But without it, any success you have is a lucky accident.

When strategy becomes critical

The best time to build your strategy is before product launch. Ideally, your tokenomics, growth channels, and product design should stem from that strategy — not exist in isolation. That way, every decision supports sustainable scaling instead of creating contradictions later.

‍

But if you’ve already launched and skipped this step, here are warning signs it’s time to act:

‍

• Team burnout with no growth — everyone’s working hard, but KPIs are flat.
  
  
• Loss of focus — marketing pushes, product experiments, and token incentives happen at random.
  
  
• Investor interest but no deals — you have meetings, but no traction story that survives due diligence.
  
  
• Roadmap dead-end — you’ve delivered everything promised, and now the community asks, “What’s next?”
  
  
• High uncertainty — decisions are made reactively, chasing short-term trends.

‍

📌 The earlier you define your strategy, the less likely you’ll face these scenarios. The later you wait, the harder — and more expensive — it becomes to fix them.

Strategy is the operating system behind real growth

Without a strategy, your team works longer hours, spends more budget — and still loses direction.

With a strategy, you gain focus, adaptability, trust, and confidence.

‍

Web3 will always be volatile. But the projects that endure — and scale — are the ones that treat strategy as their operating system.

‍

In a market driven by hype cycles, your strategy is your anchor. Without it, you’re just drifting.

Want to build one?

At Mezen, we help Web3 projects replace chaotic growth with strategic growth.

We don’t copy-paste templates — every strategy is built around your goals, resources, and current market position.

Here’s what you get:

• A model integrating product, token, and user acquisition
• Clear priorities your whole team can align on
• Contingency plans to keep you in control, even when the market isn’t

🔗 Explore our Strategy Service

📩 Or book an intro call to discuss your growth path.

Not long ago, crypto and banks were seen as opposites. One promised freedom from centralized control, the other represented everything crypto wanted to escape.

‍

But 2025 tells a different story. Once dismissed as a bubble by much of traditional finance, crypto is now being explored — and, in many cases, adopted — by some of the world’s largest banks. They’re running custody platforms, tokenizing bonds and gold, and piloting stablecoin initiatives. Regulators are shifting from blanket restrictions to structured rules that bring clarity and confidence.

‍

At Mezen, we see this shift up close. We’ve helped banking clients explore stablecoin development and launch crypto-card programs, so we know how fast institutions are moving. That’s why we set out to do this research — to better understand the processes now unfolding at the intersection of traditional finance and crypto, and how these two worlds are blending into one financial system.

The numbers that prove it

Crypto is steadily moving toward the mainstream. In 2025, global ownership reached 12.4% of the population — that’s around 700 million people.

‍

• United States: 22–24% of the population
  
  
• United Kingdom: 24%
  
  
• France: 21%
  
  
• Vietnam: over 20%
  
  
• Nigeria: a staggering 47%
  
  
• Latin America: sharp rise to 15.2%
  
  
• Africa: fastest-growing region, up 19% year over year
  ‍

‍

For comparison: online banking adoption in the early 2000s took over a decade to hit similar numbers. Crypto did it in half the time.

‍

For banks, these numbers leave no room for doubt. Crypto is no longer a niche — it’s becoming part of everyday financial life.

Regulation: From fear to frameworks

The “wild west” days of regulation are fading. The new trend: structured frameworks that allow innovation but demand compliance.

‍

• United States: The GENIUS Act (July 2025) gave stablecoins an official green light, with strict rules on reserves, audits, and dual oversight (federal + state). At the same time, the government outright rejected CBDCs — betting on private-sector innovation instead.
  
  
• Asia: Japan, Singapore, and South Korea have fully fleshed-out rules for custody, tokenization, and stablecoins. Vietnam and Thailand are testing sandbox models and even tax breaks for crypto. Hong Kong wants to be a crypto hub, but with tough restrictions on who can issue and advertise stablecoins.
  
  
• Latin America: Here, regulation is driven by necessity. Inflation and weak currencies push people toward crypto, so governments are catching up. Brazil legalized crypto as payment, Argentina rolled out VASP licensing, and Peru approved sandbox pilots for Bitcoin trading.
  
  

The message is clear: regulators are no longer asking whether crypto belongs in the system. They’re figuring out how to make it work safely.

Why banks suddenly care

So why are banks — historically slow, conservative, and regulation-heavy — now racing into crypto?

Because they are facing deep, structural problems:

• Security: 79% of U.S. banks reported unauthorized access last year. Fraud cost them $485 billion in 2023.
  
  
• Legacy IT: About 75% of IT budgets are spent just keeping outdated systems alive, leaving little space for modernization.
  
  
• Profitability: Net interest margins are shrinking, deposit costs remain high, and new Basel III rules add billions in compliance costs.

Crypto infrastructure offers real solutions: stronger custody, cheaper settlement, and new revenue streams. What makes them even more appealing is that they often come without the massive IT investment traditional upgrades demand.

The leading use cases

Across regions, several applications dominate:

‍

1. Digital asset custody — secure storage with offline keys and multi-layer protection.
   
   
2. Tokenization — moving bonds, funds, or commodities like gold on-chain for efficiency and transparency.
   
   
3. Integrated trading — giving clients the ability to buy and sell crypto directly inside banking apps.
   
   
4. On-chain data and reporting — using smart contracts to provide real-time reporting and audit trails.
   
   

These are no longer pilots. They are running at scale inside some of the world’s largest financial institutions.

Case studies around the globe

United States — BNY Mellon

The world’s largest custodian bank has been in the digital asset space since 2022, offering BTC and ETH custody. In 2025, it added Digital Asset Data Insights, a platform that streams fund data directly onto Ethereum. Investors now see live, verifiable information without intermediaries.

‍

BNY Mellon is expanding its role, adding on-chain data services for institutional clients and reinforcing its position in digital markets.

Europe — HSBC, Standard Chartered, Börse Stuttgart

• HSBC: Offers custody for tokenized securities and is developing tokenized gold via its Orion platform.
  
  
• Standard Chartered: Began spot Bitcoin and Ether trading for institutions in July 2025, combined with custody.
  
  
• Börse Stuttgart Digital: A regulated infrastructure provider that now earns about 25% of its group revenue from digital services.
  
  

Latin America — Itaú Unibanco and Prosegur

• Itaú Unibanco (Brazil): Integrated BTC/ETH custody and trading into its Ion app. Within months, over $1 billion in assets were processed, with user adoption climbing sharply.
  
  
• Prosegur (Argentina): Built a high-security “crypto bunker” to store private keys offline under regulator approval — a regional first.
  
  

Asia-Pacific — UnionBank (Philippines)

UnionBank launched the PHX stablecoin in 2019, followed by crypto ATMs and custody services through its mobile app. Its focus: bringing affordable, transparent financial services to rural communities.

CIS — Alfa-Bank & Sberbank (Russia)

• Alfa-Bank: launched its A‑Token platform for issuing digital financial assets — tokenized bonds, gold, and stock-linked instruments — under a regulated framework in 2023. In 2025, it enabled a large issuance via a gold mining company Seligdar, with digital assets offered through A‑Token.
  
  
• Sberbank: Announced crypto custody services in 2025 and launched structured products linked to Bitcoin and FX rates.

Where this leaves us

The battle lines between banks and crypto are gone. What we see now is convergence.

Regulators are setting the rules. Banks are modernizing with blockchain. And users — hundreds of millions of them — are beginning to see crypto as a familiar part of their financial lives.

For Web3 founders, this changes everything. Institutional adoption doesn’t just validate crypto in the eyes of investors — it also expands access to a scale that was unthinkable just a few years ago. When a bank like Itaú integrates Bitcoin trading for 60 million clients, crypto distribution reaches levels no exchange could achieve on its own.

It also raises the bar. Compliance, security, and transparency are no longer optional; they’re the baseline for anyone who wants to compete in this environment. And while that raises the bar for projects, it also lays the foundation for a market that is stronger, more stable, and more integrated with global finance than ever before.

The future of crypto isn’t separate from the financial system — it’s becoming deeply interconnected with it.

‍

Why token allocation matters

Token allocation isn’t just a table in your whitepaper. It’s one of the first things investors check — often before your pitch deck, product, or even team. Why? Because it reflects how well you understand incentives, priorities, and risk.
‍

Founders often copy token splits from other projects, hoping it will “look right.” But allocation isn’t about making numbers add up. It’s about telling a coherent story. A careless split reveals a lack of strategic thinking and raises doubts about everything else.
‍

If you can’t clearly explain who gets tokens, why they get them, and how those tokens unlock — investors won’t just be confused. They’ll assume you don’t understand your own business model.
‍

At Mezen, we’ve seen investors pass on otherwise strong products just because the token allocation made them uneasy. In Web3, where trust is fragile and attention is scarce, that’s all it takes.

Who needs tokens — and why

Your token allocation should reflect the utility behind it. Once you’ve defined how your token creates value in the product — and for whom — allocation becomes the quantitative expression of that utility. Each stakeholder group should receive tokens for a reason directly tied to their role, and on a schedule that reflects it:

Team

This is your core. Their tokens should vest longer than anyone else's — often 3 to 5 years. Anything faster signals weak commitment and creates selling pressure.

Investors

They take early risks and expect returns, but smart vesting protects against short-term flips. Structures like 12-month lock-up periods followed by 18–24-month linear unlocks are common.

Community

These tokens should encourage real engagement — participation, not speculation. Airdrops are fine, but only if paired with ongoing incentive mechanisms.

Treasury

Think of this as your capital reserve for future development and unexpected needs. Lack of clarity on treasury usage often spooks both communities and investors.

Ecosystem development

These tokens fuel collaborations, integrations, and network growth. But the allocation should match actual plans — otherwise, it looks like filler.

‍

Each percentage should map directly to your strategic needs. If you're copying numbers from a competitor without understanding why they work, your model will fall apart under scrutiny.

What investors look for

Investors read token allocations like a map of your priorities. Here’s what they focus on:

Circulating supply at TGE: How many tokens hit the market at launch? Too many = instant sell pressure. Too few = poor liquidity. Investors want a healthy float, not a flood.

Vesting and lock-ups: Long vesting with meaningful lock-up periods shows commitment. If the team waits 4 years but VCs can sell in 6 months, it’s a red flag. Vesting doesn’t have to be equal — but it must make sense.

Who unlocks first — and why: Early unlocks should have a reason. If marketing tokens unlock fast to drive growth, fine. If the founding team can sell before the product is live, that’s a problem.

Unlocks vs. roadmap: Tokens should unlock as the project matures. If a large portion of your total supply unlocks before the product is usable, it looks like you’re front-running value. Align unlocks with real milestones — launches, partnerships, user growth.

Total supply and inflation: Is your token supply capped? Can new tokens be minted? If yes — for what? Too much future inflation scares investors. Be transparent. Show you’ve thought about long-term value, not just launch hype.

One infamous case: Aptos launched with 48.98% of its total supply allocated to insiders — including core contributors (19%), the foundation (16.5%), and investors (13.48%). The backlash was immediate, even before full vesting schedules were published. Why? Because perception matters. A fair-looking allocation builds trust. A lopsided one — even with lockups — destroys it.

Mistakes in allocation that kill trust 

Even promising projects can be undermined by mistakes in token allocation. It’s tragic but common: a team with a great idea loses investor interest or community support because their token distribution raises too many concerns. To avoid that fate, watch out for these common token allocation mistakes:

Huge team allocation, no lock-up: If the team takes a large share with no vesting, expect people to walk away. Founders need to earn their rewards over time. Anything else looks like a cash-out.

Early unlocks, no product: If tokens flood the market before there’s anything to use them for, price crashes are almost guaranteed. Align unlocks with actual progress, not just time.

Oversized ecosystem funds with no plan: A big allocation labeled “ecosystem” without clear initiatives looks like a blank check. Be specific: grants, partnerships, incentives — what exactly will it fund, and when?

Simultaneous unlocks: When multiple lock-up periods expire at the same time — team, advisors, VCs — the market gets flooded, and price tanks. Stagger unlocks to avoid panic. Investors hate sudden supply spikes.

These aren’t minor errors. They can sabotage fundraising and damage reputation.

A notorious example is Internet Computer (ICP). At launch, nearly 50% of the supply went to insiders with no lock-up. Within weeks, the foundation moved ~$3.6B worth of tokens to exchanges. The price crashed by 95%. Whether or not it was intentional, the damage was done — and a once top-10 project became a cautionary tale.

If you’re unsure, get a second opinion

At Mezen, we’ve reviewed dozens of allocation plans. 90% of founders who arrive with a pre-made allocation plan think it is "almost final." In 80% of those cases, we find issues — some minor, some critical.

Ask yourself: Can you justify every category? Every percentage? Every unlock date? If not — neither will your investors.

A strong allocation is more than a line item in your tokenomics. It’s a strategic foundation for launch, fundraising, and long-term trust.

📩 Need a second opinion? Book a call to review your allocation plan. We’ll pressure-test your model, highlight weak spots, and help you design a structure that investors will understand — and fund.

Why most tokenomics fail

Let’s be honest: most Web3 projects struggle to explain why their token exists. Many founders still treat tokenomics as a box to tick before launch.

But launching with a weak token model is like flying with a hole in your fuel tank. Investors walk away. The community loses trust. And even if you raise — your token might crash 90% after TGE.

This guide will show you how to approach tokenomics the right way — with a clear structure, strong logic, and real ties to your product. 

You'll learn:

• What good tokenomics really means
• What investors look for in your model
• How to build a structure that aligns with your product and growth
• The most common mistakes — and how to avoid them

What is tokenomics, really?

Tokenomics — short for token economics — is the design of a token’s role, behavior, and value inside your Web3 project. It defines how the token is created, distributed, used, and sustained over time.

Too often, tokenomics gets reduced to just supply numbers or allocation charts. But real tokenomics is much more than that — it's the logic that makes your token meaningful and sustainable within your ecosystem.

Good tokenomics answers three core questions:

• Why does this token need to exist?
• What makes people want to hold and use it?
• How will it retain value — not just at TGE, but in 12–24 months?

If the answer to these isn’t clear — your token might do more harm than good.

Why tokenomics matters to investors

If you're raising funds, your tokenomics will be scrutinized as part of due diligence. For many investors, the token model is a make-or-break factor.

Why? Because your token is the investor's exit. 

They don’t just care about your tech — they care about how and when they’ll get a return. If the tokenomics is broken, the exit is blocked. No matter how good your idea is, they’ll pass.

A simple framework for investor-ready tokenomics

At Mezen, we’ve built and reviewed tokenomics for 50+ Web3 projects. Here's the framework we use to assess whether a token model is both fundable and sustainable:

1. Stakeholder mapping

Who holds the token — and why?

Users, team, investors, partners — each group has different goals, timelines, and risk tolerance. A strong model maps their roles and aligns incentives across the board.

2. Utility design

What does the token actually do inside your product?

Use cases like payments, governance, access, or rewards must be native and meaningful. If utility feels forced — it won’t stick.

3. Allocation & vesting

Who gets what — and when?

Balanced distribution builds long-term trust. Investors expect clear logic behind each bucket — and vesting schedules that match incentives with value creation.

4. Emissions & circulation

How does new supply enter the market over time?
What’s the inflation rate? Are emissions tied to usage or time? Front-loaded emissions and unclear mechanics damage both price stability and credibility.

5. Sustainability over time

Will your model still make sense in 12–18 months?

As your product scales, utility and demand should scale with it. Plan for different stages of growth — and be ready to adjust emissions, rewards, or sinks if needed.

Common pitfalls that kill token value

Here are the most frequent mistakes we see in early-stage token models:

• No real utility — the token does nothing
• Copy-paste allocations — generic splits with no connection to the product or strategy
• Emissions trap — too many tokens too early, or no circulation at all
• Misaligned incentives — founders and users want different outcomes.
  
  

A token that doesn’t drive real utility or user behavior isn’t neutral — it actively hurts your project. Investors see it as a liability, not an asset.

Don’t wait until it’s too late

Many founders come to us after launch — when the price has collapsed and users are gone. At that point, it’s not tokenomics anymore. It’s crisis management.

If you want to raise, launch, and grow with confidence — build your token model before it breaks.

Let’s build your tokenomics together

At Mezen, we’ve helped 50+ projects raise, launch, and grow with token models that work in the real world.

→ Book a free 20-minute call with the Mezen team
We’ll pinpoint the gaps — before investors do.

→ Prefer to explore on your own first?
Get our free tokenomics template and start shaping your model the right way from day one.

‍