The Ups and Downs of CoinList: How to Regain Its Former Glory as the Wealth Effect Fades

CoinList Overview

CoinList is a blockchain-based crowdfunding platform that emerged from the vision of pioneering figures in both traditional finance and cryptocurrency. Founded by Naval Ravikan, the renowned angel investor and creator of AngelList, alongside Juan Benet, the founder of Filecoin, CoinList was established to democratize access to blockchain projects during the ICO boom. The platform brought together experienced talent from AngelList's product and operations teams, establishing itself as a credible venue for token sales and project launches.

The platform has been led by several notable figures in its evolution. Andy Bromberg, a Stanford University graduate with expertise in mathematics and computer science who co-founded the Stanford Bitcoin Group, served as the initial CEO before redirecting his focus to other ventures. Graham Jenkin and subsequently Raghav Gulati, who joined from his leadership role at Apex, took the helm to guide the platform through its various growth phases. Under this leadership, CoinList has developed a comprehensive business model encompassing both user-facing and developer-facing services.

CoinList's current product ecosystem is strategically divided into two major business segments. The user-facing side offers trading, over-the-counter (OTC) transactions, and staking services, providing comprehensive cryptocurrency trading solutions. The developer-facing side facilitates project launches, test networks, seed funding, and registration functions, supporting blockchain projects from inception through community engagement. Despite market volatility and industry disruptions, CoinList demonstrated resilience by adding 1 million KYC-verified users in 2022 and 600,000 new users in 2023. The platform now serves more than 1.5 million registered users globally, with particularly strong growth from European and Asian markets, and has facilitated cumulative token sales exceeding $20 million. As a significant platform within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, CoinList's net worth and valuation reflect its position as a key infrastructure provider for blockchain project launches and community engagement.

A defining characteristic of CoinList's operations is its stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance framework. This rigorous approach arose from earlier challenges when users would circumvent account limits by purchasing verified accounts through intermediaries. When CoinList discovered this practice, it implemented severe penalties including account terminations and asset freezes. In May 2023, the platform issued formal warnings detailing the risks of account transfers, including potential fund loss and account recovery by original account holders. This strict compliance stance was further reinforced in December 2023 when CoinList paid a $1.2 million settlement to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for violations related to sanctions evasion, specifically for opening accounts for 89 users with Russian residency claims who provided addresses in Crimea. While this compliance rigor protects the platform's regulatory standing and brand integrity, it has also limited user accessibility and contributed to market criticism regarding wealth distribution opportunities.

Star Projects with Higher Return Rates (2020-2021)

The period from 2020 to 2021 represents the golden era for CoinList, establishing the platform as a premier venue for blockchain investment. During this bull market cycle, projects launched on CoinList delivered extraordinary returns, creating wealth for early participants and solidifying the platform's reputation in the cryptocurrency community. The success of flagship projects during this period became legendary within crypto circles, demonstrating that participation in CoinList offerings could yield life-changing returns.

Solana Public Chain emerged as one of the most spectacular success stories. Solana's development journey included multiple financing rounds before its CoinList launch: a seed round in March 2018 at $0.04 per token raising $3.2 million, a genesis round in June 2018 at $0.20 raising $12.6 million, a validator round in July 2019 at approximately $0.225 raising $5.7 million, and a launch round in February 2020 at $0.25 raising $2.4 million. The pivotal moment came in March 2020 when CoinList conducted an auction of 8 million SOL tokens, raising $1.76 million at an effective price of $0.22 per token. This early participation proved extraordinarily profitable: SOL subsequently reached a historical high of $260, representing a phenomenal 1,180x return. This exceptional performance captured the imagination of the cryptocurrency community and established CoinList as a legitimate pathway to significant wealth creation.

NEAR Protocol delivered similarly impressive returns and demonstrated the platform's ability to host successful community-driven fundraising. In August 2020, NEAR offered participants three distinct investment tiers on CoinList, each with different pricing structures and lock-up periods. The first option provided tokens at $0.40 per unit with a 40-day lock and per-user limits ranging from 500 to 100,000 tokens. The second option offered $0.34 tokens with linear lock-up over one year, permitting individual purchases up to 5 million tokens. The third option featured $0.29 tokens with a two-year linear lock-up and the same 5 million token individual cap. The offering generated approximately $30 million in total capital. The exceptional community participation created such overwhelming demand that CoinList experienced server congestion and was forced to postpone the public sale to accommodate the volume. NEAR subsequently reached a near-record high of $20.6, translating to a 60.5x return for investors who purchased at the $0.34 cost basis. This success underscored both the quality of CoinList's project curation and the platform's infrastructure capacity.

FLOW Public Chain, developed by Dapper Labs, exemplified how CoinList could attract marquee endorsements and deliver massive returns. In August 2020, Dapper Labs completed an $11.4 million financing round that included participation from 20 institutional investors and 5 NBA stars, indicating mainstream crossover appeal. The round's previous investors included prestigious firms such as Samsung NEXT, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Union Square Ventures, Venrock, and others, while new participants included Coinbase Ventures and Distributed Global. In September 2020, CoinList facilitated the community token sale at $0.10 per unit, with 100 million FLOW tokens available. Despite the timing coinciding with the late stages of the bull market, which caused price volatility and initial underperformance after major exchange listings, FLOW achieved a historical high of $35.6, representing a remarkable 356x return. Notably, some participants exploited multi-account strategies to maximize their allocation, highlighting the platform's accessibility advantages.

Mina Zero-Knowledge Proof Public Chain showcased CoinList's ability to support cutting-edge cryptographic protocols. In March 2022, Mina completed a substantial $92 million strategic and private financing round led by prominent venture firms and institutional investors including Alan Howard, Amber Group, Blockchain.com, Circle Ventures, and Pantera. The protocol gained significant attention for pioneering zero-knowledge proof technology. When launched on CoinList in March 2021, the offering consisted of 75 million MINA tokens across two rounds priced at $0.25 per unit. Due to overwhelming demand, CoinList reduced individual purchase limits from $1,000 to $500 to ensure broader distribution. MINA achieved a historical high of $6.68, delivering a 26.72x return for participants.

Celo Public Chain (now operating as an L2 solution) demonstrated the platform's success with infrastructure projects serving emerging markets. In February 2021, Celo completed a $20 million financing round featuring participation from a16z, Greenfield One, and Electric Capital. The project conducted a Dutch auction on CoinList in May 2020, raising $10 million total with an average settlement price of $1.00 per token. CELO subsequently reached a historical high of $10.95, providing returns exceeding 10x for public sale participants.

Projects During the Fading Wealth Effect Period (2021-Present)

The period following the 2021 bull market peak marked a significant shift in CoinList's project performance trajectory. As market conditions transitioned from exuberant expansion to contraction and eventual stagnation, projects launched on CoinList increasingly delivered disappointing returns or fell below their public offering prices. This performance deterioration sparked widespread criticism and raised questions about the platform's project selection methodology and market timing capabilities. Projects such as NYM, AXLER, GAL, Arch, and CYBER exemplified this troubling trend, with many becoming forgotten after launch. Analysis revealed that projects launched during the late bull market phase were particularly vulnerable to broader market dynamics. When capital flows reversed and investment activity declined, even projects backed by reputable venture capital firms with strong fundamental value propositions struggled to overcome cyclical market headwinds and negative sentiment.

Casper Public Chain illustrated the challenges faced by infrastructure projects in a bear market environment. In 2020, Casper raised $28.5 million in financing from prominent investors including Consensus Capital, HashKey Capital, AU 21 Capital, Blockchange Ventures, and GSR. In March 2021, CoinList offered 100 million CSPR tokens—representing 1% of total supply—at $0.015 per unit. Following listing, the token briefly surged through $1.30, generating substantial initial returns. However, the subsequent price action proved devastating: CSPR entered a prolonged decline, eventually settling at approximately $0.04, representing a 73% loss from the public offering price.

Axelar Cross-Chain Protocol exemplified how even well-capitalized projects with strong technical credentials and institutional backing struggled in unfavorable market conditions. Founded in 2020, Axelar developed interoperability solutions on Cosmos technology to bridge Ethereum and other blockchains. The project attracted prestigious investors across multiple funding rounds: a $25 million Series A in July 2021 led by Polychain Capital with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Galaxy Digital, North Island Ventures, and Robot Ventures, followed by a $35 million Series B in February 2022 involving Dragonfly Capital, Polychain Capital, North Island Ventures, and Rockaway Blockchain Fund. Despite this institutional support, when CoinList sold 50 million tokens at $1.00 per unit in March 2022 (with minimum participation of $100 and maximum of $750), the token subsequently declined throughout 2022 after its secondary market listing. While the token briefly recovered to $1.00 in early 2024, it currently trades below its public offering price.

Ondo Finance represented a new category of DeFi projects focused on real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and institutional-grade financial products. Founded in 2021 by former Goldman Sachs employees Allman and Pinku Surana, Ondo aimed to create decentralized protocols for U.S. Treasury products and money market funds tailored to institutional, DAO, and high-net-worth clients. The project secured $20 million in April 2022 in a round jointly led by prominent venture capital firms and Pantera Capital, with additional participation from Coinbase Ventures, Tiger Global, GoldenTree Asset Management, and Wintermute. In May 2022, CoinList distributed 400 million ONDO tokens at $0.055 per unit (2% of total 10 billion token supply) with minimum participation of $100 and maximum of $2,000. The offering attracted over 16,500 participants. ONDO subsequently launched for trading in January 2024 with a peak price exceeding $0.30, delivering returns below 6x—a stark contrast to prior-cycle star projects.

NYM Privacy Public Chain exemplified how privacy-focused projects, despite strong institutional backing, failed to sustain value through market downturns. Nym Technologies completed a $2.5 million seed round in 2019 with participation from NGC, Lemniscap, and Edenblock, followed by a $6 million Series A in July 2021 led by Polychain Capital, and a $13 million Series B in November 2021 led by a16z with participation from DCG, Tayssir Capital, Huobi Ventures, HashKey, and Fenbushi Capital. In February 2022, CoinList facilitated the sale of over $30 million in NYM tokens, generating record-breaking demand with 1.19 million unique registrants during the 5-day registration period. The token was priced between $0.25 and $0.50. NYM briefly exceeded $1.80 following listing before entering a prolonged decline, currently trading below $0.20.

Galxe (Project Galaxy) demonstrated how even projects successfully capitalizing on emerging trends like NFT infrastructure could underperform market expectations. Galxe positioned itself as Web3 credential infrastructure enabling brands to build communities and products. In January 2022, the project secured $10 million in funding led by Multicoin Capital and Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Spartan Group, Sky 9 Capital, Coinbase Ventures, major blockchain ecosystem growth funds, Folius Ventures, Jump Capital, Sfermion, HashKey, Injective Protocol, Matrixport Ventures, Solana Ventures, and other prominent investors. In February 2022, CoinList offered 10 million GAL tokens (5% of 200 million total supply) at $1.50 per unit. The sale completely sold out within 50 minutes, with over 1.07 million users registered. Despite initial NFT market tailwinds that briefly pushed GAL to $17, the token entered a sustained downtrend, currently trading at $1.80—merely $0.30 above the public offering price.

CyberConnect Social Protocol illustrated challenges facing decentralized social graph projects in a contracting market. CyberConnect developed a multi-chain protocol enabling DID ownership and social application development. The project completed a $10 million seed round in November 2021 led by Multicoin Capital and Sky 9 Capital, with participation from Animoca Brands, DraperDragon, Hashed, and Mask Network, followed by a $15 million Series A in May 2022 led by Animoca Brands and Sky 9 Capital. CoinList distributed 3% of total offering volume at $1.80 per coin (versus a $3.00 institutional Series A price), raising $5.4 million. Despite an initial surge to $17 (representing 10x returns), the token subsequently declined significantly. At the current price of $7, returns have moderated to 3.8x.

NEON Solana EVM Compatibility Solution demonstrated how even infrastructure solutions addressing real technical needs struggled in bear markets. NEON provided full Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility for Solana, enabling developers to leverage familiar Ethereum tools. In November 2021, Neon Labs completed a $40 million financing round led by Jump Capital with participation from Three Arrows Capital, Solana Capital, and IDEO CoLab Ventures. When CoinList distributed 50 million NEON tokens (5% of circulating supply) at $0.10 in May 2023, the token remained dormant before surging to $3.80 by late 2023—delivering 38x returns. However, subsequent price action resulted in a decline to $1.40, indicating partial profit-taking and reduced speculative interest.

Chainflip Cross-Chain Transaction Protocol represented attempts to address crucial interoperability challenges across blockchain ecosystems. Chainflip provided decentralized, trustless value transfer between BTC, EVM, and other networks. The project completed a $6 million seed round in August 2021 led by Framework Ventures, followed by a $10 million Series A in May 2022 with participation from Framework Ventures, Blockchain Capital, and Pantera Capital. In September 2023, CoinList sold 4,500,000 FLIP tokens (ERC-20) at $1.83 per unit. Following listing, FLIP exceeded $7 before retreating to above $5, indicating sustained but modest investor interest.

Archway Public Chain exemplified challenges facing Cosmos ecosystem projects during market consolidation. Archway provided fast, low-cost transactions through built-in developer incentives within the Cosmos ecosystem. Developer company Phi Labs completed a $21 million seed round in March 2023 led by CoinFund and Hashed, with participation from 1confirmation, IDEO CoLab, Figment, Blockchain Capital, Wintermute, Chorus One, and stake.fish. In May 2023, CoinList offered ARCH tokens at $0.20 per unit. Following launch, the token declined to approximately $0.05 before recovering to $0.28 by year-end, subsequently retreating to $0.18—trading below the public offering price.

Subsquid Zero-Knowledge Cross-Chain Data Query addressed critical data infrastructure challenges for developers. Subsquid evolved from a Kusama hackathon project supporting Substrate-based DApps by reducing data retrieval time and improving API reliability. The project completed a $3.8 million seed round in November 2021 led by Hypersphere Ventures with participation from Zeeprime Capital, Lattice Capital, Illusionist Group, and Digital Finance Group. In January 2024, CoinList distributed 53,480,000 SQD tokens (4% of total supply) at $0.094 per unit.

zkLink Multi-Chain DEX leveraged zero-knowledge proof technology to address cross-chain trading fragmentation. zkLink developed a ZK-Rollup-based multi-chain integrated trading platform linking multiple ecosystems and enabling native DeFi asset trading. The project completed an $8.5 million seed round in October 2021 led by Republic Crypto with participation from Arrington Capital, DeFi Alliance, Huobi Ventures, and GSR, followed by a $10 million financing in May 2023 involving Coinbase Ventures, Ascensive Assets, SIG DTI, BigBrain Holdings, and Efficient Frontier. In January 2024, CoinList distributed 31,250,000 ZKL (ERC-20) tokens (3.125% of total supply) at $0.15 per unit.

Conclusion

CoinList's trajectory reflects the cryptocurrency market's dramatic cycles and the fundamental challenges of timing token launches across different market conditions. The platform achieved legendary status during the 2020-2021 bull market, when projects including Solana, NEAR, FLOW, and Celo delivered extraordinary returns exceeding 10x to 1,180x, creating generational wealth for early participants. These successes established CoinList as the premier venue for blockchain project launches and attracted millions of participants globally. Understanding CoinList's net worth and valuation requires recognizing both its historical success as a wealth-creation platform and its current challenges in an evolving market.

However, the subsequent bear market and fading wealth effect have fundamentally altered CoinList's value proposition. Projects launched from 2021 onward—including NYM, Axelar, Ondo, and Galxe—have consistently underperformed initial expectations, often falling below public offering prices. This performance deterioration reflects broader market dynamics beyond the platform's control, particularly the cyclical nature of cryptocurrency markets and the challenge of launching projects during market contractions.

CoinList's strict KYC compliance framework, while protecting regulatory standing and brand integrity, has limited user accessibility and created friction in an increasingly competitive ecosystem. The platform's future success depends on balancing compliance requirements with market accessibility, maintaining rigorous project curation standards, and capitalizing on renewed market interest as the cryptocurrency cycle progresses. As market conditions have evolved into 2024 and beyond, CoinList has positioned itself to launch infrastructure projects, and the platform has an opportunity to recapture its former glory by combining its proven project selection capabilities with renewed investor confidence and more favorable market conditions that enhance CoinList's net worth and platform valuation.

FAQ

What is the revenue of CoinList?

CoinList is a regulated platform for token sales and trading. As a private company, detailed revenue figures are not publicly disclosed. However, CoinList generates revenue through token sale fees, trading commissions, and premium services for both projects and investors.

Who is the CEO of CoinList?

CoinList is led by founder and CEO Andy Bromberg. He established CoinList as a platform for token sales and crypto asset launches, serving as the company's visionary leader since its inception.

What is the valuation of CoinList?

CoinList, a leading platform for token sales and crypto asset management, maintains a valuation reflecting its significant market position. As of 2025, CoinList's valuation is estimated in the multi-billion dollar range, driven by its institutional adoption and growing user base in the Web3 ecosystem.