Internet Capital Market ( ICM ): New Trend or Another Hype?

The Internet Capital Market ( ICM ) serves as a crypto-native alternative to traditional Capital Market, allowing entrepreneurs to raise funds directly from the online community through tokenization, bypassing the cumbersome venture capital and IPO processes. Platforms like Believe App lead this transformation on the Solana chain, where users can easily issue and invest in projects by simply @ the platform on X.

Despite facing criticisms such as lack of regulation and low entry barriers, ICM still has strong potential for widespread adoption, particularly in promoting Web3 to Web2 users through a streamlined experience, fiat payments, and viral dissemination. However, to achieve long-term development, platforms like Believe need to move beyond short-term speculation, promote founder accountability, optimize token economic models, build DAO governance, and achieve real utility, thereby transforming ICM from a Meme craze into a new paradigm of Capital Market formation.

Limitations of Traditional Capital Markets

In traditional Capital Markets, entrepreneurs often rely on expensive and time-consuming IPOs or venture capital financing. This model presents numerous challenges:

For entrepreneurs, lengthy application processes, complex legal procedures, and the constant need to cater to investor preferences often distract them from focusing on product development and community building.

For investors, early investment opportunities are basically monopolized by large institutions, and ordinary investors often can only enter the market after the project valuation skyrockets.

This inefficient and closed model has led to a serious misalignment of incentives between creators and supporters. The market urgently needs a more open, direct, and participatory financing method, which is precisely the core issue that ICM aims to address.

Definition and Characteristics of ICM

ICM is a new narrative in the crypto industry that allows entrepreneurs to raise funds for their products directly through the internet, without going through the cumbersome processes of traditional Capital Market, and can immediately gain investor support by simply tokenizing their ideas.

Unlike traditional markets, under the ICM model, investors directly hold token assets through self-custodied wallets, fully controlling asset ownership and liquidity. This approach not only significantly lowers the threshold for ordinary people to participate in investments but also allows project parties to obtain startup funding more efficiently.

Current Status of the ICM Ecosystem

Currently, the leader of the ICM ecosystem is the Believe App on Solana. This platform allows founders to directly issue tokens by @ing an account on X, attempting to disrupt traditional venture capital models and provide a decentralized, community-driven alternative.

The development of Believe began with the $Pasternak token launched by Web2 entrepreneur Ben Pasternak in January. In late April, the platform was officially renamed Believe, shifting its focus from "individual" to "creativity and projects," and introducing a new core token $launchcoin. Subsequently, several projects such as $GOON and $NOODLE achieved success on the platform, temporarily boosting the overall market value to 314 million dollars.

Success Factors of Believe

Compared to the competing product Clanker, Believe has obvious advantages in multiple aspects:

1. Ecological Impact: The transaction volume and activity of the Solana chain far exceed that of the Base chain, providing greater growth momentum for Believe.

2. User Experience: The issuance process of Believe is simpler, the interface is more intuitive, and a mobile application has been developed that supports credit card purchases, greatly lowering the barriers to participation.

3. Narrative and Vision: Believe emphasizes issuing tokens around real projects to support their development, rather than merely speculating on worthless memes. This higher-level vision is more likely to resonate with the community.

Challenges Faced by ICM

Although the ICM concept is attractive, there is a trade-off between efficiency and security:

1. Lack of Founder Responsibility: Unlike traditional IPOs, founders in ICM are not required to fulfill any delivery commitments or legal obligations, lacking a safeguard mechanism to ensure the achievement of objectives.

2. Tokens are disconnected from projects: To avoid being classified as securities, tokens must not represent equity or returns; they are essentially more like digital collectibles rather than investment products.

3. Narrative is Misused: Many projects, under the guise of "supporting innovation", are essentially still creating meme fads, deviating from the original intention of ICM.

Future Development Direction of ICM

To achieve long-term growth, the ICM platform should consider the following improvements:

1. Optimize the economic model: Set a penalty mechanism to incentivize the founders to continuously update the project.

2. Establish a DAO mechanism: empower the community with voting rights and feedback rights, increase transparency and the sense of responsibility of the founding team.

3. Strengthen Practical Value: Build deeper application scenarios around the concept of "Internet Capital Market".

4. Attract mainstream users: integrate projects with real-world applications to expand the user base.

5. Improve the governance framework: Promote meaningful community governance and establish a system of ongoing responsibility for founders.

If ICM can transform from a simple token launch platform to an innovative platform that stimulates creativity, drives projects, and connects the public, it is expected to truly promote the popularization of Web3 and achieve long-term growth.