In the blockchain industry, many practitioners believe that blockchain projects without tokens lack soul. Here, "tokens" typically refer to tokens issued on public chains, which users can withdraw to decentralized wallets and trade on-chain or on centralized exchanges. However, in reality, for the vast majority of blockchain projects, whether it is token economics design, exchange operations, or the integration of technology with public chains, they have not yet reached a sufficiently professional and mature level.

More importantly, the issuance and application of tokens face a complex regulatory environment globally. Directly issuing tokens by startup teams not only brings enormous compliance pressure but may also lead to operational chaos. Therefore, a more prudent choice is to first incentivize users through a points system, and after the ecosystem stabilizes, gradually convert points into tokens and migrate them to the blockchain for assetization.

The Value of Points: From Incentives to Transition

The advantage of a points system is that it provides a low-cost tool for projects to validate the market while avoiding legal risks in the early stages of token issuance. Through points, teams can offer rewards to users within the application, enhancing user stickiness and activity. As the points mechanism matures, it can be tokenized, granting more value and enabling on-chain circulation.

This model not only enhances the operational flexibility of the team but also builds user trust and ecological foundations through points, laying the groundwork for future token economies. For example, a blockchain platform focused on community autonomy incentivizes users to vote and participate in governance tasks through points, and after the points system stabilizes, introduces on-chain tokens, allowing users to more intuitively feel the value and role of tokens.

Taking the recent token issuance of HashKey Group as an example. Founded in 2018, HashKey Group is a leader in the digital asset financial services sector in Asia. HashKey Group is known for its comprehensive Web3 ecosystem layout, covering multiple core areas such as trading, investment, tokenization services, and infrastructure. Its main businesses include two trading platforms, HashKey Exchange and HashKey Global, where HashKey Exchange, as Hong Kong's first licensed virtual asset exchange, provides users with compliant and secure trading services; while HashKey Global offers diversified digital asset trading services to global users and holds a Class F license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

HSK is the core token of the HashKey ecosystem, designed to support its vast business network and enhance user participation. The total supply is fixed at 1 billion tokens, and HSK is launched through private distribution, avoiding the legal and compliance risks that may arise from public sales. This distribution method directly links the value of the token to the activity level of the ecosystem, making it more sustainable. In practical application scenarios, HSK is endowed with multiple functions. Within the exchange, HSK can be used to pay platform fees and provide holders with trading fee discounts, significantly reducing trading costs. Additionally, as a core tool for community incentives, HSK promotes user participation in ecological construction through various reward programs, increasing community activity. Users holding HSK can also gain priority access to new products and services launched by HashKey, further enhancing the user experience. This diversified application design makes HSK not only a functional token but also a key driving force for promoting ecological collaborative development.

The HASHKEY token issuance model and application scenarios provide valuable experience references for startup teams. In the process of HASHKEY's token issuance and promotion, they adopted the following strategies:

1. Ecological Incentives and Distribution

HASHKEY's tokens were not distributed through public sales but rather through internal ecological incentives. This model avoids the risk of violating securities regulations while effectively expanding the base of token holders through reward mechanisms.

2. Task-Driven Airdrops

Users earn token rewards by completing specific tasks. This approach not only enhances users' sense of participation in the ecosystem but also boosts community activity and brand dissemination. For example, HASHKEY once rewarded tokens through ecological activities to incentivize users to share and promote ecological content.

3. Integration of Business and Technology

HASHKEY's tokens incorporate various functions in practical applications, such as participating in governance, paying fees, and redeeming ecological services. This token economic design aligns with business logic while promoting the deep application of blockchain technology in the financial sector.

This gradual model from points to tokens not only allows HASHKEY to avoid unnecessary compliance risks but also enhances user trust and stickiness towards the project.

A Win-Win Path of Compliance and Business Validation

The path from points to tokens is not only key to the project's legalization but also a necessary step for business validation. As Web3 entrepreneurs, if token issuance is also on your future roadmap, starting with points may be a more suitable development path. We can analyze this from the following four aspects:

1. Market Validation of User Incentives

Whether traditional centralized points or future-oriented decentralized project tokens, the core issue to address is user acceptance. The core value of early points systems lies in providing project parties with a low-cost tool to test the market. Through the points reward mechanism, teams can observe user acceptance and stickiness towards the project. For example, an application focused on decentralized knowledge sharing can design points reward rules: users earn points for uploading quality content, and additional points can be rewarded when the content is liked or saved. This form not only attracts early users to participate but also accumulates project data, providing a real basis for the subsequent tokenized economic model. The data on points consumption also reflects user preferences for different payment services. This market validation not only enhances operational efficiency in the early stages of the project but also guides the direction for subsequent tokenization design.

2. Choosing the Right Timing for Tokenization

Pragmatically, tokenization is a natural extension of the points system's development, but the timing needs to be combined with user base, ecological construction, and technological readiness. Initially incentivizing users to participate in minting and trading through points, and gradually transitioning to tokenization as the points system matures, effectively avoids issues of token oversupply or user loss due to "unrefined technology and unestablished ecology." For example, a certain NFT project achieved over a million dollars in daily trading volume on the first day of its token launch, one year after its points system was operational. This grasp of tokenization timing provides important references for startup projects.

3. Balancing Compliance and Financing

Many teams mistakenly believe that tokens are the only tool to attract investment. In reality, financing models can be more flexible. For the vast majority of blockchain startup teams, early-stage funding can be obtained through equity financing, and if there is a future need for token issuance, both parties can clearly stipulate in the shareholder agreement that a certain proportion of tokens will be allocated to investors when the project reaches a specific stage. This approach meets the team's funding needs while avoiding compliance risks associated with direct token sales. Additionally, many startup projects establish overseas companies (such as in Hong Kong or Singapore) to attract qualified investors or investment funds, while also combining points reward mechanisms to increase user stickiness. This ensures compliance in financing while enhancing project valuation through user data and business scenario validation. This method meets funding needs while avoiding compliance risks of early token sales.

4. Linking Technology and Application for Validation

The linkage between technology and business scenario validation is key to the success of project tokenization. For example, a blockchain project focused on green energy trading initially incentivizes household users to upload electricity usage data and energy-saving measures through points, accumulating a large energy data pool. In the technology validation phase, the platform exchanges points for environmental tokens, combining off-chain energy data with on-chain smart contracts, completing the transition from points to tokens. The advantage of this model is that points serve not only as a user incentive tool but also provide real scenario data in technology application testing, helping teams identify issues and adjust strategies. Only after multiple rounds of adjustments does the model formally establish a public risk pool through tokens, significantly reducing the risk of failure after launch.

Through the above strategies, teams can not only steadily advance the project's compliance but also effectively validate its business value and user needs, laying a solid foundation for the future token economy.

Summary by Lawyer Mankun

The transition from points to tokens is not only an evolution of a business model but also a path that combines market validation with compliance innovation. In the increasingly complex global regulatory environment, startup teams should abandon the fantasy of "one-step token issuance" and adopt a gradual strategy, starting with points, accumulating data through market validation, optimizing mechanisms, and then transforming successful experiences into assetization applications on the blockchain.

This "gradual tokenization" model not only reduces legal risks in the early stages of the project but also makes the process of validating commercial value more natural and efficient. Blockchain entrepreneurs must continuously experiment and optimize within a compliant framework to find their breakthrough in a complex and ever-changing market environment. Internet entrepreneurship emphasizes small, rapid steps, but in the exploration of the blockchain field, steady progress may truly represent "speed" in a meaningful sense.

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