In the fast-paced world of cryptocurrency, launchpads play a pivotal role in bringing new tokens to market. They help teams raise funds while giving early participants a shot at substantial gains. But striking the right balance between rewarding degens—those high-risk traders chasing quick profits—and ensuring projects have the resources to build solid products is no easy feat. Recently, EtherMage, a core contributor at Virtuals.io, shared a thought-provoking proposal on X (formerly Twitter) that could reshape how token launches work.

EtherMage's post quotes an earlier tweet from everythingempty, another Virtuals core contributor, reflecting on their Genesis launchpad launched five months ago. The original goals were straightforward: enhance team token transparency, curb snipers (bots that buy up tokens instantly to dump later), and spotlight new projects. Now, seeking community feedback, EtherMage dives into evolving the system based on input from both degens and founders.

The core challenge? Creating a "wealth effect" for participants without shortchanging teams on operational expenses (OPEX). EtherMage outlines key design principles: amplifying upside potential for degens, providing teams with runway funding, drawing attention to launches, and shutting out opportunistic capital extractors like snipers.

Enter the "WHAT IF" scenario—a fresh mechanism built from the ground up for simplicity and fairness:

• Low Starting Market Cap on an XYK Curve: Launches kick off at a modest $100K USD market cap using a standard XYK bonding curve. This isn't a fixed-price sale; prices rise as more people buy in, meaning the second buyer pays more than the first. This setup allows for higher potential multiples and better position sizing for participants.

• Novel Fundraising for Teams: Why start so low? A new method lets teams raise funds directly along the curve, supplemented by trading taxes, ensuring they get the capital needed without inflating the initial valuation.

• Anti-Rug Measures: To prevent teams from pulling a rug (abandoning the project and running off with funds), they can't access tokens until hitting specific market cap milestones or after a one-year lockup. If they need liquidity sooner, they can use raised OPEX to buy back tokens from the market.

• Sniper Deterrence: A reductive tax starts at 99% in the first second of trading, dropping to 1% over the first hour. This makes early sniping prohibitively expensive—essentially buying at 100x the initial cap.

• Reward Flywheel: To foster loyalty, a small percentage of each launch's token supply rewards stakers of veVIRT (likely a governance or staked token in the Virtuals ecosystem) and active traders of agent tokens. This creates a (3,3) flywheel, a nod to Olympus DAO's staking model where participants benefit from holding and engaging.

• Mitigating Overhang: EtherMage ponders solutions like "jeet jails" (mechanisms to penalize early sellers) to ensure airdrops don't flood the market with supply.

This proposal isn't set in stone—EtherMage invites the community to "chime in" with evolving thoughts. A reply from Denys.casper echoes the sentiment: "That balance is crucial."

For meme token enthusiasts, this could be a game-changer. Meme coins thrive on hype and fair launches, but snipers and rugs often kill momentum. By integrating these features, Virtuals could attract stronger teams building "giga products" while giving degens more upside. It's a step toward agentic networks—decentralized systems where AI agents and humans collaborate seamlessly, as Virtuals positions itself as the first agentic network state.

If you're diving into meme tokens or blockchain launches, keeping an eye on Virtuals' developments is a must. Check out the full thread on X and join the conversation. What do you think—could this mechanism kill snipers for good?