A follow-up of 20 selected public token sales examines product delivery, token access and market activity as separate outcomes.
By CryptoTotem Research
Product delivery and token availability can follow different timelines after the same sale. A CryptoTotem follow-up of 20 selected public token sales examined those timelines alongside development activity and trading records to trace what happened in the year after fundraising.
The research covers sales completed in April through June 2025, with reviews around their first anniversaries in 2026. Each project was counted once. The selection includes documented operating activity and outcomes that could not be established. It provides individual follow-ups, without estimating a success rate for the wider token-sale market.
Delivery Has More Than One Date
A product announcement, an available release and evidence of actual use mark different stages of delivery. For tokens, a distribution announcement, an open claim process and completed delivery to every eligible participant also describe different events. The review examined these milestones alongside the original commitments.
One project, for example, announced the launch of its mainnet, or live blockchain network, on January 20, 2026, 243 days after its sale closed. That fell within the first year but after the third-quarter 2025 target stated during the sale. The annual assessment therefore recorded a reported launch alongside a missed target.
The starting point mattered as well. Some services were already operating before fundraising. Their continued activity at the anniversary documented continuity, while subsequent releases showed additional development. Keeping those records separate avoids attributing an existing product entirely to money raised in a later sale.
Six projects had substantive changes in the selected public code repositories during the 90 days preceding their review dates. The material included developer examples as well as core software. These changes documented development activity; deployment and sustained use require separate evidence.
Market Data Answers a Different Question
A quoted price is one market observation. It does not show whether all sale participants could access their allocations at that moment. Claim arrangements, unlock schedules and withdrawal availability affect that access, so the research examined distribution records alongside price histories.
Operating metrics need similar care. Total value locked measures assets deposited in a protocol. Its dollar value can change with asset prices as well as deposits and withdrawals. Fees describe payments for using a service. Neither figure, by itself, establishes the proceeds a token holder could receive from selling.
CryptoTotem's market analysis also examined 168 historical order-book snapshots covering six tokens. The records showed quantities at the 25 best bid prices on selected dates before the anniversaries. These buy orders provided a basis for modeling sales of different sizes, adding information about trade size that a price history does not provide.
As liquidity analysis explains, larger transactions can consume orders at several prices, changing the average execution price. This gives order-book depth a practical meaning: it describes how much trading interest is recorded at successive prices. Historical snapshots capture those conditions at specific moments; they do not guarantee future execution.
What the First Anniversary Tells Readers
Some anniversary outcomes remained unconfirmed. A dated release or transaction can document a specific activity, while a missing record leaves that activity unresolved for the period examined. This distinction prevents an absence of evidence from becoming an unsupported claim that a project closed.
The findings show why delivery dates belong beside the original roadmap. A launch within the first year can follow a missed deadline, and a service operating at the anniversary may have existed before the sale. Software updates add evidence of development, while deployment and actual use answer what changed for users.
For readers, CryptoTotem's follow-up offers four questions for interpreting a first-year update: What was promised? What was delivered by the anniversary? Could participants access their tokens? What trading conditions were documented at the time? Answering them connects product announcements and price charts to the experience of users and sale participants.
