Retail investors can reclaim crypto's promise through IDOs

Initial DEX offerings have strayed from their retail-first promise, becoming dominated by institutions and high barriers to entry. IDOs could reclaim their promise.

Opinion by: Hatu Sheikh, founder of Coin Terminal

Crypto has largely failed retail investors. Insiders and institutions scoop up lucrative opportunities before they hit the open markets. Memecoins and purely speculative plays are the only ways for retail investors to reclaim their stake in the pie. 

They remain exposed to a “crime supercycle” that began with unregulated initial coin offerings (ICOs) in 2017-18. At the time, initial DEX offerings (IDOs) emerged to provide retail investors with open, fair access to early-stage projects. Gradually, though, high threshold requirements, long vesting periods and information asymmetry put most IDOs off-limits for retail investors. 

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