There are several ways to bring a cryptocurrency into existence, and they differ most in who holds the coins at the start. Comparing the common models against a fair launch makes the structural differences clear. The focus here is structure, not a verdict on anyone's intent.

The ICO model

An initial coin offering raises money by selling coins to the public, often before the network is fully running. It can fund development quickly, but it also means early buyers and insiders hold significant supply from the start, and the project carries an obligation to those buyers. Coins enter circulation through a sale rather than through work.

The premine model

A premine creates coins before public mining begins, crediting them to founders or backers. Sometimes it funds the team; sometimes it is paired with a sale. Either way, a portion of supply exists for reasons unrelated to mining, decided by insiders. It concentrates ownership at creation.

The allocation model

  • A defined percentage of supply is reserved for team, treasury, or investors.
  • It may be disclosed and vested, which is more honest than a hidden premine.
  • It is still a structural head start that concentrates supply.

The fair-launch alternative

Malairte chose the fair-launch path: no ICO, no premine, no allocation. Coins come only from open CPU and GPU mining under a fixed public schedule, starting from a clean genesis block. The trade-off is real, there is no upfront war chest to fund rapid development, but the payoff is honest distribution and verifiable fairness.

The honest trade-offs

Fair launch is not free of downsides. Without sale proceeds, a project relies on volunteer and community effort, which can be slower. The point is not that fair launch is easy, but that its structure starts the network on equal terms. Different models suit different goals; Malairte's goal was fairness at the origin.

Reading the comparison

This comparison describes how coins are distributed at the start, not how any coin will perform, and nothing here is investment advice. The value of understanding these models is recognizing what kind of start a coin had, which you can confirm on the chain. Malairte's fair-launch structure is the alternative this whole pillar documents.