CRYPTO MOVED AWAY FROM RETAIL

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Crypto fundraising has shifted from open-access ICOs to more exclusive strategies dominated by insiders, with retail increasingly sidelined. While retail briefly regained ground during DeFi Summer by providing protocol liquidity in exchange for high APYs, the rise of professionalized early-stage liquidity provision has created a new edge largely inaccessible to them. This model allows VCs and angel investors to supply critical, high-risk liquidity to nascent protocols in exchange for premium incentives – a game retail can rarely play. As valuations climb and dilution worsens, retail investors face diminished returns and limited opportunities, marking a return to a cycle of asymmetric access and outcomes.