Sonar Seeks to Improve ICO Model

Olivia Capozzalo & Camila Russo
May 28, 2025

gm Defiers!

Today’s big story:

Cobie’s Echo fundraising platform launches Sonar, a way for project founders to self-host public token sales with “configurable compliance.”

Plus:

Circle freezes USDC connected to LIBRA scam
GameStop buys ~$500 million of BTC, stock tanks 9%
U.S. Dept. of Labor is now ok with crypto in 401Ks
Lending protocol Euler launches a DEX, continuing its comeback
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We’re back! Here’s what you need to know in web3 today

Sonar Brings ‘Configurable Compliance’ to ICOs

Ever since we overcame PTSD from the 2018 post-ICO crash, founders have been trying to improve the token fundraising model. The latest iteration is Cobie’s Sonar. It marks a bold move, and it’s a step in the right direction, but a slick token launch software is only one part of what it will take to cure the deeper ills of Web3’s fundraising playbook.

Jordan Fish, aka Cobie, unveiled Sonar, a project owned by his Echo platform, which aims to democratize private venture funding. But unlike Echo’s “close-circle” community rounds, which require a lead investor to back a project and present it to other investors in their group, Sonar enables any project to host a public token sale directly on the platform.

The first project to launch a token on Sonar will be Plasma—the Bitcoin-anchored, EVM-compatible stablecoin chain. Plasma will offer 1 billion XPL tokens (10 percent of the total supply) in a two-week public sale priced at $0.05 per token, targeting a $50 million raise at a $500 million fully diluted valuation.

Sonar vs other launch platforms

Many have innovated in the token launch and fundraising space. A few examples include CoinList, Fjord Foundry, Believe (Launchcoin), and a smaller but still interesting experiment, Quadratic Accelerator (q/acc). Of course, I’m missing many more.

Sonar says it differentiates itself by offering founders full control over their sale mechanics and geography. Issuers can select from auction, options-swap, points-based systems, or variable valuation and allocation scales, and deploy their sale on chains such as Hyperliquid, Base, Solana, or Cardano.

Also, the platform integrates Echo’s electronic identity passport, allowing one-click registration for existing users, and provides compliance features like region-based purchase restrictions (e.g., excluding UK or US residents) and tailored lock-up periods. These features aim to bridge the community-driven ethos of the original ICO era with the regulatory and privacy requirements of today’s market.

Notably, unlike other token issuance platforms like CoinList or even memecoin launchpads like pumpfun, Sonar doesn’t promote or showcase token launches. It’s up to founders to promote their sale directly to their users and community.

Better launchpads aren’t enough

Despite these innovations, most tokens still carry zero real economic skin in the game. To appease the SEC and conform to U.S. securities laws, projects have been forced to layer on equity rounds while granting tokens only governance rights and an optional “fee switch” that is rarely, if ever, flipped on. Take Uniswap’s UNI: conceived to share protocol fees, the switch remains dormant, leaving UNI as little more than a voting voucher while all economic upside flows to equity holders and early VCs.

The recent SEC decision to drop its enforcement investigation into Uniswap Labs is a welcome reprieve for DeFi builders — but it didn’t deliver clear guidance on when or how tokens can safely participate in on-chain revenue streams. Projects like Maker/Sky and Maple have worked around that by implementing token buybacks, which indirectly drive value to token holders.

But until U.S. regulators provide explicit guardrails that allow founders to bake real revenue-sharing or profit rights into tokens, every launchpad will be fighting an uphill battle. Who cares if you have a great place to sell tokens, when founders are forced to make them “valueless” or “for fun only.”

“Tokens should be onchain equity,” change my mind

True token innovation demands two halves: the right tooling and the right legal frameworks. Platforms like Sonar are sharpening our fundraising tools—now we need regulators to clarify the legal framework so tokens can finally carry genuine economic claims. Only then can tokens transcend speculative IOUs and become the on-chain equity instruments they were meant to be.

With love,

Cami, founder of The Defiant

📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs:

TICKER	VALUE	24H
Bitcoin	$107,663	-2.31 %
Ethereum	$2,651.56	-1.54 %
XRP	$2.25	-3.78 %
BNB	$687.09	-0.48 %
Solana	$170.98	-4.42 %

This is the news that mattered in the past 24 hrs:

Circle froze nearly $58 million in USDC linked to the LIBRA memecoin scam, reportedly as a result of an ongoing class action lawsuit led by controversial law firm, Burwick Law.
GameStop, the company whose stock became a meme in 2021, joined the BTC treasury bandwagon, buying 4,710 Bitcoin (roughly $507 million), after first announcing its plans to raise $1.3 billion to buy BTC back in March. Its stock plummeted over 13% on today’s news before recovering slightly.
The U.S. Department of Labor rescinded a Biden-era guidance letter that effectively banned workplace retirement plans, aka 401(k) plans, from allowing crypto investments.
DeFi lending protocol Euler is launching a DEX, EulerSwap; Euler was wiped out in a $200 million hack back in 2023, and this latest move marks a continuation of the protocol’s comeback since launching its v2 last fall.

🎬WATCH

In our latest video, we take a look at how stablecoins are bridging the gap between traditional financial systems and digital currencies, making everyday crypto adoption more accessible for businesses and consumers alike.

Earlier this month, payments giant Stripe, which processed $1.4 trillion in payments volume in 2024, announced that it’s stepping into the world of stablecoins with its new Stablecoin Financial Accounts.

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