The real priority: users and revenue, not tokenomics

Many founders in web3 projects fall into the trap of thinking that tokenomics is a business model. They design elaborate charts showing supply allocation, vesting schedules, staking yields, and burn mechanics, and they convince themselves that this structure alone will carry their project. While tokenomics can be powerful when aligned with real demand, history shows that it rarely sustains a project without a strong product and real customers.

A Nansen report analyzing over 400 token launches showed that 65 percent of projects with no working product lost more than 90 percent of their market cap within one year, regardless of how innovative their tokenomics seemed. By contrast, projects with working products and user growth retained significantly more value, even when their tokenomics were simple. The key insight is that tokens reflect, rather than create, demand. Without a product people actually use, tokens become speculative chips.

The psychology of real value versus perceived value

Psychology explains why customers and investors behave differently toward real products than toward financialized narratives. Kahneman and Tversky’s research on prospect theory demonstrated that people overweight immediate, tangible gains compared to abstract future promises. A working product that solves a real problem generates daily satisfaction and trust, while a token with potential utility depends entirely on belief in the future.

The endowment effect also matters here. People value what they already use and own more highly than equivalent things they do not. A customer actively using a web3 protocol for lending or payments will attribute more value to the token than someone who simply speculates on it. This is why usage and customer satisfaction must precede token engineering. Tokens amplify value, but they cannot manufacture it from nothing.

Customer satisfaction as a survival mechanism

Customer satisfaction is not a nice-to-have, it is a survival mechanism. Research published in the Harvard Business Review has shown that increasing customer retention by just 5 percent can increase profits by 25 to 95 percent across industries. For web3 projects, where user churn is often extremely high due to volatility and speculative cycles, satisfaction is the only anchor that prevents collapse.

Practical advice for founders is to measure customer satisfaction with tools like Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys, Trustpilot, or specialized crypto platforms like Rated Network (for validator performance) and Token Terminal (for protocol financials). Customer sentiment can also be tracked on social platforms using tools like LunarCrush or sentiment analysis dashboards on Dune Analytics. Measuring satisfaction is only the start, however. Teams must act on feedback quickly, showing users that their voices shape the roadmap. This builds loyalty, which research in consumer psychology shows is more resilient when it is rooted in identity and trust rather than short-term incentives.

Revenue as proof of demand

Revenue is the most honest metric in business. It proves that customers are willing to pay for the value provided, which validates both the product and the business model. In web3, many teams rely on token sales or liquidity mining rewards as substitutes for revenue. This is dangerous because those sources are not sustainable, they are transfers of speculative capital, not payments for value delivered.

The DeFi summer of 2020 illustrated this. Protocols like Compound and SushiSwap attracted billions in liquidity through token incentives, but much of that liquidity vanished when incentives declined. By contrast, Uniswap built a product people genuinely wanted to use, and its revenue from trading fees has remained among the highest in the ecosystem. Revenue aligns with utility, while token emissions align with speculation.

Founders should build clear monetization models early. This could include transaction fees, subscription models for premium services, tiered access to features, or SaaS-style revenue from APIs. Tools like Stripe for crypto, Superfluid for streaming payments, or even stablecoin payment rails through Circle or Coinbase Commerce can help projects implement reliable revenue streams.

Dangers of token-first thinking

Token-first thinking creates several dangers. The first is misaligned incentives. When teams focus on token price, they start optimizing for speculation rather than customer experience. This creates pump-and-dump cycles, alienates users, and damages long-term credibility.

The second danger is regulatory exposure. Tokens designed primarily as fundraising mechanisms without real utility are more likely to be classified as securities. This has led to enforcement actions in multiple jurisdictions, with projects fined or shut down for relying on token sales as substitutes for business models.

The third danger is psychological. Research in organizational behavior shows that teams under financial speculation pressure make short-term decisions, often sacrificing innovation for temporary price support. A token-first roadmap increases the risk of burnout, mission drift, and collapse.

Models for prioritizing product and customer satisfaction

A healthier model starts with product-first development. The lean startup methodology, popularized by Eric Ries, emphasizes building a minimum viable product (MVP), testing it with users, and iterating quickly based on feedback. Applying this to web3 means launching small, testable features, gathering user data through analytics tools like Mixpanel or PostHog, and then deciding whether token mechanisms can amplify, rather than replace, product demand.

Customer development frameworks from Steve Blank’s work are equally important. Founders should spend time interviewing potential users, mapping their pain points, and testing whether blockchain technology actually solves those problems better than alternatives. A web3 lending app, for example, must show that it offers faster access, lower cost, or greater transparency compared to traditional lending. Without this validation, no tokenomics design will save it.

Opportunities in regions and adoption trends

Prioritizing product and customer satisfaction also unlocks regional opportunities. Emerging markets such as Latin America and Africa show some of the fastest crypto adoption rates, not because of token incentives but because web3 products solve real problems like inflation, remittances, and limited access to banking. Nigeria, for example, leads the world in peer-to-peer crypto trading volume, driven by demand for stablecoins that protect against currency devaluation.

Projects that focus on delivering stable, useful products in these regions gain loyalty and resilience. Token incentives can help bootstrap growth, but without product-market fit they will evaporate. Successful companies in web3 will likely follow the same trajectory as successful tech startups: solving urgent, real-world problems for specific user bases before scaling globally.

Conclusion: the future belongs to product-first web3

The history of technology shows that sustainable companies are built on products, not on financial engineering. Tokenomics can amplify success, but it cannot substitute for solving real customer problems. Behavioral psychology, organizational research, and market data all converge on the same truth: customer satisfaction and revenue are the foundations of survival.

For web3 founders, the advice is clear. Focus first on building a product that people want and use. Ensure that customers are satisfied and willing to pay. Design tokens as a layer that enhances utility and alignment, not as the core business model. This is how projects create durable value that survives cycles, avoids regulatory pitfalls, and builds communities that last.