In crypto, there are new projects launching nearly every day. Maybe less so at the moment, as everyone is wondering how long this bearish sentiment will last and what to do now that Binance is delisting USDC. I got no advice here just I guess Binance would prefer it if you used BUSD.
Fundraising can be challenging for projects that continue building throughout the downturns, especially when they want to involve their community as early as possible. One of the reasons crypto projects raise from VCs is that when still in testnet, they legally can't just sell the promise of a future token to retail investors. That's what we call investor protection in TradFi.
Things look different when a project already has a token, and users can store them in their wallets. However, there have been many occasions where projects supposedly raised funds, and investors didn't get their tokens. Also, not hehe.
This, among other things, gave rise to launchpads. Launchpads bring together projects in their early stages and a community of investors. Launchpads enable projects to raise funds in a capital-efficient manner and give investors access to early-stage investments in up-and-coming projects.
Another benefit is that they protect investors by ensuring they receive their tokens and by thoroughly vetting which projects they let raise on their platform. Founders, on the other side, gain access to the launchpad's community of investors and don't have to worry about compliance as launchpads often take care of any KYC needs and can tap into marketing support.
On NEAR, a leading launchpad is Pad.Fi — previously known as NearPAD.
Introducing Pad.Fi
Pad.Fi is a leading launchpad and DeFi hub in the NEAR ecosystem. Its purpose is to provide investors easy access to project tokens and founders a way to fundraise.
Since it's built on NEAR, it benefits from low transaction fees and fast finality.
To participate in IDOs (Initial DEX offerings), users will have to stake the native PAD token. There are 5 different tiers available, starting from 1000 $PAD up to 150,000 PAD which comes with different multipliers (more tokens you receive).
Whenever users stake their pad, the tokens will be locked for a specific period. Once that period has passed, they can unstake at any time.
PAD token
The PAD token is an ERC-20 token with a total supply of 150 million. Currently, roughly 4,4 million PAD are circulating. Tokens are used for paying transaction fees and governance.
Another interesting use case for PAD tokens is that they provide developers access to pitch to the community. Despite crypto's innovative nature, there are still some challenges when accessing the "old boy's network" for fundraising. Either you're in or not. If we want to build the future of finance, surely we can do better.
PadFi enables any developer or founder with their token to pitch what they do to the community and make it available for voting. If enough of the community likes the idea, they then have the opportunity to raise through Pad.Fi.
And Pad.Fi isn't limited to just being a launchpad. The project includes a DEX and DEX aggregator to enable traders to access liquidity and the best prices across various DEXes.
It also includes a Yield Farming Portfolio management and auto-compounding tool for the DeFi degens that are always after the highest yield but don't want to sit in front of a screen 24/7.
Initially, the platform started under the name NearPad, associating it heavily with the NEAR ecosystem it was built on and being a launchpad. Since then, the team has rebranded to Pad.Fi to unify the ecosystem. With the rebranding, they also improved the UI/UX to make their product even more intuitive and optimized launchpad and DEX for traders.
At the moment, there is one IDO live on PadFi by TAO. But even if you're just looking for a smooth swap experience on NEAR/Aurora, pad.fi seems like a solid choice. You can try it yourself here.
