CoinTerminal’s Max Stochyk Duarte on token launches, retail protection, and surviving 2026

In the latest SlateCast, Liam “Akiba” Wright and Nate Whitehill sat down with Maximiliano Stochyk Duarte to unpack what makes token launches succeed as the market heads into 2026. Duarte argued that the bar has risen: retail attention is harder to earn, and projects without a real business model risk failing quickly.

CoinTerminal’s launchpad pitch

Wright introduced Duarte as Head of Sales at CoinTerminal, a Dubai based Web3 fundraising platform positioned around “raise capital transparently” while “giving retail investors fair access to early stage token deals.”

Pressed to translate that into day-to-day work — “What do you do when you wake up and get outta bed?” — Duarte said his core job is talking with teams preparing to launch and helping them structure what the token needs to succeed. He stressed that product traction alone doesn’t guarantee a healthy launch: “And even if you have a great product, usually the token is like a separate product.”

Fundraising is central, but Duarte framed CoinTerminal as both capital formation and distribution. “We have a 650,000 user. Community that basically they’re able to contribute into the sales before they go out on exchanges,” he said, adding that founders also want exposure and “buying pressure into their token.”

Why 2026 feels different

Duarte told the hosts the market has become more selective, starting with capital formation: raising is “not that easy as it was like a couple of years ago.” He also pointed to regulation as a growing force around launches, while noting that projects come to market for different reasons — sometimes utility, sometimes simply money.

He repeatedly returned to the same friction point: attention and trust. Narratives can burn out quickly, he said, pointing to how “AI” became a label slapped onto everything without sustaining retail interest, before summarizing the new standard bluntly: “Retail is becoming much more do I want this token?”

That shift forces tougher screening. Duarte warned that many teams still lack a revenue model or durable plan after raising, and argued the industry needs a balance — more crypto-friendly conditions can also invite “bad actors” that push retail away if risk feels unmanaged.

What CoinTerminal screens for in launches

Whitehill asked what “real product market fit” looks like for a launchpad and which metrics matter most. Duarte described a practical filter: backers as social proof (while acknowledging many projects are bootstrapped), KOL strategy where “it’s not about the quantity, it’s about the…quality,” and a narrative paired with an actual path to sustain the product.

He also emphasized how exchanges and token structure shape day-one outcomes. For “non-negotiable” signs, Duarte led with “good exchanges,” saying valuation should match venue — at higher valuations, “we do expect Tire one exchanges,” while lower valuations can fit “tire two or tire three.” From there, he pointed to unlocks and vesting, arguing that tiny TGE unlocks can leave users negative even if the token performs, and said CoinTerminal often pushes founders to adjust these parameters.

The refundable model and retail protection

Wright’s curiosity peaked around CoinTerminal’s refund structure, asking how it works and whether it helps protect retail. Duarte described a “12 hour refundable period” after token launch where a participant must choose to claim or refund based on early price action, calling it “risk-free” from the user’s perspective.

But he also framed it as a discipline mechanism for founders. “In our case, you claim the whole thing or you refund the whole thing,” he said, rejecting partial-claim models as unfair. Duarte added that refundable sales can attract more contributions because the risk profile is different, while refunds reduce the final amount raised if performance disappoints.

Utility, incentives, and when to launch

Whitehill pressed on token utility beyond governance. Duarte said he likes models where “companies have like revenue and they’re like sharing the revenue to like different token holders,” but acknowledged utility is “a tricky one” because discounts and common perks often don’t convince retail.

Wright widened the lens to longer cycles and how investors should judge whether a token is merely depressed with broader conditions or fundamentally fading. Duarte’s checklist centered on execution: what the team is building, whether updates continue, and how unlocks and runway affect survival — especially for projects without a business model.

To close, Whitehill asked whether founders overthink bull-versus-bear timing. Duarte agreed markets matter but warned against endless delay: “I think timing is important,” he said, adding that teams can still fail in good conditions if token metrics are wrong.

The episode’s throughline was clear: in 2026, launches will be judged less by hype and more by alignment — between product, token structure, and the expectations of the retail buyers founders still need to earn.