5 TGEs by Established Platforms and Companies
The old crypto playbook started with the token. Raise money, generate attention around a TGE, and then spend the next several years trying to build the product and audience promised in the whitepaper.
2026’s token launches have reversed that sequence, at least the ones that understand today’s market. Exchanges, trading platforms and technology companies are increasingly reaching their TGEs with functioning products and users already in place.
Here are five examples of that shift:
1WIN: Bringing a Token to an Existing Entertainment Platform
1win is taking the platform-first approach particularly literally. The company has operated since 2016 and says it serves more than 30 million registered players across 100+ countries through casino gaming, sports and esports, crypto payments and other entertainment products.
Its $1WIN token is designed as an additional layer on that existing business. The Solana-based token will have a fixed supply of one billion and utility across gaming, betting, lotteries and rewards.
The economics also connect $1WIN with existing platform activity. Under 1win’s token model, 10% of revenue generated from gameplay using $1WIN is intended to fund weekly market buybacks, while 10% of $1WIN spent through supported products will be burned.
Its smart contracts have since completed security assessments from CertiK and Halborn ahead of the planned launch. The final TGE date is October 30th.
BP: Backpack Gives Its Exchange Community a Token
Crypto exchange and wallet company Backpack launched BP on March 23, 2026, after building an established exchange, wallet and Solana ecosystem presence.
BP is designed around the existing platform rather than a separate protocol. According to Backpack’s launch announcement, token utility includes trading-fee discounts, platform rewards, staking and ecosystem access.
Its distribution also leaned heavily toward existing users. Backpack allocated 24% of the one-billion-token supply to participants in its points program and another 1% to Mad Lads NFT holders at TGE.
GRVT: A Token After Nearly $400 Billion in Trading Volume
Onchain wealth and trading platform GRVT took the “product first” idea even further.
By the time GRVT reached its TGE on July 30, the company said nearly $400 billion in volume had already passed through the platform and more than 100,000 wallets had joined. GRVT disclosed those figures alongside its TGE.
The token functions partly as an ecosystem membership asset, offering benefits such as lower trading fees and access to additional platform products and features. Rather than using the token to generate the platform’s first users, GRVT distributed it into a trading ecosystem that was already operating at considerable scale.
GENIUS: Tokenizing an Existing Onchain Trading Terminal
Genius Terminal followed a similar route with its GENIUS TGE in April.
Before the token arrived, Genius had already built a non-custodial trading terminal combining spot trading, perpetuals, yield and cross-chain execution. By early 2026, the platform had surpassed $15 billion in cumulative trading volume and attracted more than 27,000 active wallets.
GENIUS launched in April, with points accumulated through activity on Genius Terminal converted into token allocations. The Genius Foundation subsequently confirmed completion of the TGE.
ZAMA: Launching the Protocol Before the Token
Privacy infrastructure company Zama provides a clear technical example.
Zama Protocol went live on mainnet at the end of 2025, before the ZAMA token launched on February 2, 2026. The protocol uses fully homomorphic encryption to enable encrypted data and transactions on public blockchains.
ZAMA then arrived as a functional part of that infrastructure. It is used to pay encryption and decryption fees and reward operators and stakers securing the protocol, while protocol fees are burned.
Its public auction also attracted significant demand before TGE: Zama reported $118 million committed for 880 million tokens offered through the main auction, which ultimately cleared at $0.05 per token.
The TGE is the Last Step, Not the First
$1WIN, BP, GRVT, GENIUS and ZAMA cover very different corners of crypto, but their launches share something important. In each case, there was a product or operating ecosystem before the token.
That does not guarantee any of these assets will succeed. It does, however, change what a TGE represents.
Instead of being the moment when a project raises attention for something it intends to build, the TGE can become the moment an existing platform adds a token to something people are already using.
For $1WIN, that means introducing token mechanics to a gaming business that has been operating since 2016. Across crypto more broadly, it may be a sign that the token is increasingly becoming the next stage of the product rather than the first one.
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About The Author
Ana O. is an editor at MPost, where she focuses on reshaping content across a wide spectrum of topics. With an eye for detail and a genuine interest in storytelling, she helps ensure that the content is both accurate and engaging. Her experience spans multiple areas, providing her with the knowledge to offer insightful contributions to various topics highlighted on the platform.
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Ana O. is an editor at MPost, where she focuses on reshaping content across a wide spectrum of topics. With an eye for detail and a genuine interest in storytelling, she helps ensure that the content is both accurate and engaging. Her experience spans multiple areas, providing her with the knowledge to offer insightful contributions to various topics highlighted on the platform.
