Use Case

How to Reduce Unfair Token Distribution for Your Token

Unfair token distribution can kill a project before it starts. This guide provides concrete methods to prevent whale dominance and ensure your community gets a fair chance. We cover the tools and strategies available on Solana launchpads to build a more equitable token economy from day one.

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Key Benefits

Use bonding curves to prevent instant, massive buys that create unfair concentration.

Implement vesting schedules for team and early investor tokens to prevent sudden dumps.

Set buy/sell limits per wallet to stop any single holder from dominating the market.

Allocate a significant portion (e.g., 60-70%) to public sale and liquidity pools.

Tools like Spawned's Token-2022 integration help enforce these rules on-chain.

The Problem

Traditional solutions are complex, time-consuming, and often require technical expertise.

The Solution

Spawned provides an AI-powered platform that makes building fast, simple, and accessible to everyone.

What Is Unfair Distribution (And Why It Kills Projects)

It's not just about whales. It's about trust.

Unfair distribution occurs when a small group of wallets controls a disproportionate amount of the token supply at launch. This often happens through presale sniping, bot activity, or poorly structured launch mechanics. The result? The community feels cheated, liquidity dries up after initial pumps, and the project's long-term viability is compromised. A fair launch is your first promise to your community; breaking it is often the last mistake a project makes.

Common signs include:

A single wallet holding over 5-10% of the supply at launch.
The top 10 wallets controlling more than 40-50% of tokens.
Immediate, massive sell-offs (dumps) within the first hour of trading.

Fairness isn't just ethical; it's economic. A widely distributed token has more active holders, more organic trading, and stronger price support.

4 Core Strategies to Reduce Unfair Distribution

These are the foundational tactics every creator should consider. Combining multiple strategies is the most effective approach.

Leverage Bonding Curves for Gradual Access: Instead of a standard liquidity pool (LP), a bonding curve minting mechanism (like those on Pump.fun or Spawned) allows price to increase smoothly with each buy. This makes it financially punishing for a whale to buy a huge chunk all at once, as they rapidly increase the price for themselves. It naturally enforces a more gradual, fair distribution.
Implement Wallet Limits: Set hard caps on how much any single wallet can buy during the initial launch phase. For example, a limit of 1 SOL worth of tokens per wallet in the first 30 minutes. This is a direct and effective barrier against sniping bots and whales. Platforms like Spawned allow you to configure these limits at launch.
Use Token Vesting & Timelocks: Any tokens allocated to the team, advisors, or early investors should be locked. A common structure is a 6-12 month cliff (no tokens released) followed by a 12-24 month linear vesting schedule. This prevents insiders from dumping their supply on the open market and crashing the price. Explore vesting tools for Solana.
Allocate for the Public Fairly: Dedicate the majority of your token supply—aim for 60-70%—to the public launch, community airdrops, and the decentralized liquidity pool. Keep the "team/treasury" allocation below 20%. A transparent breakdown in your documentation builds immediate trust.

How Launchpad Choice Affects Distribution Fairness

Not all launchpads are built with fairness as a priority. Your platform choice dictates the tools you have available.

Feature	Spawned.com	Typical Pump.fun Launch	Standard LP Launch (Raydium)
Initial Mint Mechanism	Bonding Curve	Bonding Curve	Fixed-Price Sale / LP Creation
Wallet Buy Limits	Configurable at launch	Not available	Not available
Built-in Vesting	Via Token-2022 Program	No	Requires external contracts
Post-Launch Fee Structure	1% fee sustains project	0% fee after graduation	Standard LP fees only
Creator Revenue During Launch	0.30% per trade	0%	0%

Key Insight: While bonding curves (common on Pump.fun and Spawned) are a major fairness upgrade over traditional launches, Spawned adds configurable wallet limits and built-in Token-2022 support for enforceable vesting. This combination offers more control. The 0.30% creator fee during the bonding curve phase also incentivizes a longer, more stable growth period versus a rushed 'pump and graduate' model.

Step-by-Step: Executing a Fair Launch on Spawned

Here is a practical walkthrough using features designed to promote equitable distribution.

Final Verdict: The Most Effective Fairness Combo

For creators serious about reducing unfair distribution, the most robust approach is a bonding curve launch on a platform that supports additional constraints, followed by enforceable vesting.

A standard Pump.fun-style bonding curve is a good start, but it's not foolproof against coordinated bot attacks. Adding a per-wallet buy limit during the initial launch phase is the single most effective extra layer of defense. Therefore, a platform like Spawned that offers this configuration provides a tangible fairness advantage.

Post-launch, fairness must be maintained. The promise of vested team tokens is empty without on-chain enforcement. Utilizing Solana's Token-2022 program for vesting—a feature integrated into Spawned's graduation process—makes your commitment immutable and transparent.

Recommendation: Launch with a bonding curve + wallet limits. Vest all insider tokens using Token-2022. Allocate the majority of supply to the public. This formula maximizes community trust and project longevity.

3 Costly Mistakes That Lead to Unfair Distribution

Avoid these pitfalls to protect your project's credibility.

Skipping the "Fair Launch" Narrative: Don't just do fair things, talk about them. Use your AI-built website to clearly post your tokenomics, vesting schedules, and buy limits. Transparency is a feature that builds trust and deters skeptics.
Allocating Too Much to "Early Supporters": Giving 30-40% of supply to a handful of pre-launch buyers is a recipe for concentration. Cap early investor rounds severely or use the same bonding curve as everyone else.
Ignoring Post-Launch Incentives: Fairness isn't just about day one. A 0% creator fee model after graduation (like Pump.fun) removes all ongoing project funding, encouraging creators to exit. A small, sustainable fee (like Spawned's 1%) aligns the project's success with continued development and support for holders.

Ready to Launch with Fairness Built-In?

Reducing unfair distribution starts with choosing the right tools. Spawned provides the combined framework of bonding curves, configurable wallet limits, and Token-2022 vesting to help you execute a credible, community-first launch.

Launch Fee: 0.1 SOL (~$20) includes your token mint and AI website.
Creator Earnings: 0.30% fee on every trade during the bonding curve phase.
Holder Rewards: 0.30% ongoing fee after graduation, shared with loyal holders.
Long-Term Funding: 1% perpetual fee via Token-2022 ensures project sustainability.

Build a stronger foundation for your token from the first block. Start your fair launch on Spawned.

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Frequently Asked Questions

No, a bonding curve is an excellent tool but not a complete guarantee. It makes large buys expensive, but determined whales or bot networks can still accumulate significant portions over time or across multiple wallets. For stronger protection, it should be combined with per-wallet buy limits during the initial launch period, a feature offered on some launchpads like Spawned.

A good starting point is 1-2 SOL worth of tokens during the first 30-60 minutes of the bonding curve. This allows genuine community members to get a meaningful position while placing a high barrier to instant dominance. The limit can often be removed or increased after the initial volatile period. The exact number depends on your total raise target and desired holder count.

This fee creates a fundamental incentive shift. On platforms with 0% fees, the creator's only financial incentive is to end the bonding curve phase as fast as possible to access the locked liquidity. The 0.30% fee rewards the creator for a longer, more stable growth phase, aligning their goal with gradual distribution and organic community building rather than a quick pump.

Token-2022 is an upgraded token program on Solana that enables native features like transfer fees and, crucially, permanent transfer hooks. Spawned uses this to enforce vesting schedules on-chain. When team tokens are minted with Token-2022 vesting rules, they cannot be transferred or sold until the pre-defined dates pass. This provides verifiable, trustless proof that insider tokens are locked.

Sustainability enables fairness. A perpetual 1% transfer fee (enabled via Token-2022) provides ongoing funding for development, marketing, and community rewards. This is more fair than models where the project runs out of funds and abandons holders, or where creators are incentivized to dump their tokens to raise cash. It aligns long-term success for both project and holders.

Use objective, on-chain criteria for airdrops to avoid accusations of favoritism. Examples include: snapshotting holders of a related NFT collection, rewarding active participants in your Discord based on verifiable roles, or distributing to users of a specific protocol. Announce the criteria in advance. Tools for managing airdrops can be found by [researching airdrop strategies](/glossary/airdrop).

The core principles are chain-agnostic: use gradual sales (like bonding curves or Dutch auctions), implement wallet limits, and vest team tokens. However, the specific tools and costs differ. Ethereum launches often rely on more complex, custom smart contracts for these features. You can explore chain-specific approaches in our guides for [Ethereum](/use-cases/token/how-to-launch-gaming-token-on-ethereum) and [Base](/use-cases/token/how-to-create-gaming-token-on-base).

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