25 Critical Questions to Ask Before Creating a New Token

A token strategy is the structured rationale behind launching, distributing, and sustaining a token over time: aligning incentives, economics, and user engagement.

After nearly a decade since the chaotic rise of the token economy, marked by the launch of thousands of tokens and a long wave of experimentation, 2025 signals the beginning of a new cycle, one that demands a radical shift in mindset.

Creating a new token today is no longer an act of pure innovation or trend-chasing.
With the rise of hyperbitcoinization on one side, the growing dominance of a few other tokens like Solana and Ripple, and the institutionalization of stablecoins on the other, launching a new token now requires deep, well-grounded reasons.

To make sense, a new token must address real opportunities and solve use cases that cannot be effectively tackled by existing tokens or stablecoins. Otherwise, it will fade quickly.

Thanks to the data accumulated from thousands of previous experiments, we now have a clearer understanding of which token business models work, and which don’t. Stablecoins have proven their product-market fit, can your token say the same?

We can recognize when a token is unnecessary, a forced add-on, and when instead it becomes a generator of real value.

We know that the typical motivations behind launching a token often do not prioritize the interests of users:

• The search for fundraising at any cost.
  
  

• The desire to generate wealth for investors and the team, often at the expense of the community ("you are the exit strategy").
  
  

• The endless repetition of future promises that will never be fulfilled, except by inflating and diluting the token until there is nothing left.
  
  

Over the years, we have witnessed the emergence of a theory of tokenomics. It has grown and aspired to become a legitimate branch of applied economics.

But it has also clashed against the fundamental laws of economics, which are not deceived by the sophisms of token evangelists.

That’s why BrightNode has developed a set of preliminary questions designed to help founders clarify their goals and assess the actual utility of their token, and with it, their real chances of success.

Many token economies have emerged from bold visions of changing the world. Yet only a handful are truly succeeding. The rest, in the best-case scenario, will find a niche in small, efficient economies. Not aiming to make everyone rich, but at least avoiding the path to irrelevance.

And that's already a good start.

BrightNode has identified 25 essential questions to conduct an initial assessment of your token strategy, understand your project's needs, and guide the design of your tokenomics.

Strategic Questions:

1. Describe your token’s purpose in no more than 8 words.
   
   

2. What are the main utilities of your token?
   
   

3. Why can’t your token’s function be fulfilled by an existing token?
   
   

4. If you replaced your token with a stablecoin, would you retain the same benefits?
   
   

5. Do you already have a legal opinion on the compliance of your token across multiple jurisdictions and user profiles?
   
   

6. Could you achieve your business goals without using the token for fundraising?
   
   

7. Is the token your business’s only revenue stream? If not, please describe the other revenue streams.
   
   

8. If you explained your token to someone unfamiliar with crypto, would they be able to understand it and use it easily?
   
   

9. Are there existing competitors pursuing a similar approach?
   
   

10. How is long-term value creation shared between the team and the community?
    
    

11. What's your argument for considering it a utility token and not a security?
    
    

12. Why would a user spend the token? And why would they hold it?
    
    

13. What's the roadmap of your project?
    
    
    

Technical Questions:

1. Is the token supply limited or unlimited?
   
   

2. How is the token created/destroyed in the system?
   
   

3. Do you have early investors with agreed pricing, cliffs, and vesting terms?
   
   

4. What are the main allocation categories?
   
   

5. What factors can increase or decrease the token’s value?
   
   

6. Does the token have governance utility? If yes, for what?
   
   

7. Do you want to use mechanisms like staking, burning and/or buyback?
   
   

8. Can you describe the use cases for receiving your token as a reward?
   
   

9. What determines the velocity of your token?
   
   

10. Have you set a minimum funding target to be raised through a token sale?
    
    

11. Do you intend to list the token on a DEX and/or CEX?
    
    

12. How does the token capture and accrue value?
    
    
    

Conclusion

Some of these questions may be challenging for founders, and that's okay. This is where BrightNode can provide support through structured brainstorming, helping define and articulate the core pillars of your token strategy.

But solid foundations are essential. Without them, the project risks collapsing within weeks.

A well-designed token is not a shortcut to fundraising, it’s a commitment to building sustainable, long-term value. 

In 2025, every token must earn its place in the market, not through promises, but through measurable and meaningful metrics and product-market fit.