Why do 90% of projects' TGEs end in failure?

Author: Antonio Sco

Translation: Luffy, Foresight News

Over the past two years, I've worked with over 30 Pre-TGE projects and identified three unexpected yet critical reasons why most tokens fail at TGE.

Projects that raised millions in funding keep repeating the same mistakes. I’ve observed a pattern: failing projects never disclose their issues and only blame others; successful ones don’t share their secrets either, preferring to take all the credit.

This leaves new founders confused and clueless about where to start. So what are the core essentials for a successful TGE? Without these, a TGE is doomed to fail—founders must dedicate most of their time to them.

As the founder of a marketing agency, I'm reluctant to admit it, but the answer isn't marketing. Marketing amplifies solid fundamentals, but without a strong foundation, even the best marketing is just a house of cards waiting to collapse.

Below are three rarely discussed factors that can destroy a TGE project.

Market Makers

Selecting a market maker is essentially like playing Russian roulette:

• Best case: aligned incentives, shared profits;

• Worst case: they scheme behind your back, destroying years of hard work.

The information asymmetry is terrifying—they’ll only show you their success stories, never mentioning the failures.

So how do you choose a market maker? In 99.9% of cases, go with one strongly recommended by project teams you trust or people you’ve directly worked with.

Don’t trust referrals from strangers—they earn hefty commissions from market makers and will push unreliable ones regardless.

A crucial reminder: when the project fails, you bear the consequences, not them.

No matter how good your marketing, how active your community, or how elite your team, if your market maker crashes your token price by 50%, there’s nothing you can do.

Tokenomics

The same applies to tokenomics. You and your team may not have studied 50 token models or seen their real-world outcomes.

You absolutely cannot copy a successful project’s tokenomics and assume it will work for you. Investor appetites and goals constantly evolve—adjust accordingly if you want them to buy in.

Likewise, advisors only show you their success cases—the failed, zero-value projects remain hidden.

One added note: if your current tokenomics are destined to sink your project, change them immediately.

Don’t care about:

• Airdrop hunters getting angry;

• People complaining on social media;

• Seed investors being unhappy.

If your token drops 90% a week after launch under the current model, they’ll be unhappy anyway—the difference is you’d be out of business within three months.

Ideally, avoid this situation from the start, but as an old Roman saying goes: "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

Exchange Listings

This is the point I want to emphasize most. Issues with market makers and tokenomics only surface post-TGE, but exchange listings are the most painful and dangerous aspect pre-TGE.

Why painful?

• Communication is extremely difficult;

• Aligning timelines is a nightmare;

• They often back out last minute, forcing you to delay your TGE.

Why dangerous?

• Predatory terms can cripple your project;

• Many teams get scammed by fake representatives;

• Spending millions to list only brings selling pressure, with zero buying interest.

The fastest solution: know someone inside the exchange and understand listing cost benchmarks to avoid being ripped off.

Due to information asymmetry, many teams waste hundreds of thousands of dollars during initial negotiations.

Conclusion

Everyone is waiting for better market conditions to launch their TGE, but if you haven’t nailed these three points, no market condition will save your token. As a founder, focus your primary energy here while overseeing your team’s execution in other areas.