Peoples

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While Ethereum and Solana lean on venture capital and insiders, BlockDAG has raised $299m without VC help, and it’s becoming the top retail-powered crypto of 2025.

In an industry where venture capital controls the narrative, access, and often the outcome, one presale project is proving that crypto doesn’t need gatekeepers to succeed. BlockDAG, currently in batch 29 of its presale, has raised over $299 million, not from hedge funds or early investor rounds, but directly from the people. No seed funding. No private allocations. No VC hand-holding. Just raw, organic momentum driven by retail conviction.

In a cycle where major players like Ethereum and Solana continue to lean on insider networks, BlockDAG is charting its own path with community-first values. This isn’t just another presale, it’s a full-scale rejection of the old model. And the numbers now suggest it’s working. This is the people’s crypto.

No VCs, no gatekeeping, just real demand

What makes BlockDAG stand apart isn’t just the money it has raised. It’s how it raised it. While most high-profile projects rely on private rounds funded by Silicon Valley VCs and crypto hedge funds, BlockDAG opened its doors to the public, and only the public.

There were no private token discounts, no allocations for influencers, no early unlocks for insiders. Everyone starts from the same place, with full transparency. This structure removes the backroom advantage that usually skews early-stage projects in favor of funds, not the community.

Retail investors have recognized this fairness and responded in force. With over $299 million raised directly from contributors, BlockDAG has achieved a feat most VC-backed chains haven’t: organic mass momentum.

Ethereum and Solana: Built by the few, owned by the few

To understand what makes BlockDAG different, it helps to examine the standard model. Ethereum’s early supply was heavily weighted toward insiders and early developers, with private allocations giving massive long-term advantages to those with early access. Solana, too, received backing from major VC firms like a16z and Alameda Research, with pre-sale deals and private rounds that created massive disparities between public buyers and institutional insiders.

This VC-centric approach shaped the current crypto landscape: a few well-funded chains with enormous war chests, but communities who arrived late and are priced out of meaningful upside.

These chains often market themselves as decentralized, but in many cases, their early token distribution tells a different story.

BlockDAG flips that model.

The people’s coin: Powered by $299 million in retail conviction

BlockDAG’s presale is now in batch 29, with tokens priced at $0.0276, and still climbing. The project has sold over 21.9 billion BDAG tokens, and user engagement is happening not in private groups, but in public Telegram chats, Discord servers, and directly through the X1 mining app, which now has over 1.5 million users.

The X1 app allows users to mine BDAG directly from their smartphones, creating a grassroots onboarding model that doesn’t rely on institutional adoption. It’s peer-to-peer. Simple. Scalable.

And it’s working.

Instead of trying to please institutional investors or chase exchange hype, BlockDAG is building from the ground up, powered entirely by retail momentum. No boardrooms. No cap tables. Just users.

A new narrative for 2025: Community capital beats venture capital

The crypto industry is entering a new phase. One where users are growing tired of centralized influence hiding behind the term “decentralized.” The chains that claim to be open often rely on gatekeeping, whether it’s through expensive gas fees, opaque governance, or limited early access.

BlockDAG represents a break from that pattern.

This is not just another token promising “community” while funding a VC’s exit strategy. This is a network funded by everyday users, with participation visible in real-time through presale growth and app usage. The people backing BlockDAG aren’t speculating on future hype. They’re building the foundation.

This contrast is stark: Ethereum’s power structure still rests on early whales and Layer-2 middlemen. Solana’s roadmap leans heavily on ETF interest and institutional onboarding. BlockDAG? It has 1.5 million people with phones, mining BDAG, and telling their friends.

Why BlockDAG is already ahead

While other chains depend on high-profile partnerships or billion-dollar VC injections, BlockDAG has stayed focused on execution. And that discipline is paying off.

$299m+ raised from retail, no VC involvement
1.5 million+ users on the X1 mining app
21.9b+ tokens sold in presale
Current batch: 29 with price at $0.0276
Tools live before listings, not after

This puts BlockDAG on a different trajectory. It’s not trying to be another “Ethereum killer” or meme its way into a trend cycle. It’s building utility at the user level, then scaling from there.

Its batch-based presale structure rewards early contributors transparently, with each new stage reflecting organic demand. No artificial scarcity. No manipulated unlock schedules. Just clear, public numbers.

Final word: Crypto doesn’t need kings, it needs users

The crypto industry doesn’t need another Solana. It doesn’t need another Ethereum. What it needs is a project that actually represents the people who fund it, use it, and believe in it.

BlockDAG is showing what happens when a project skips the gatekeepers and goes straight to the public. It’s raising more than money, it’s raising trust. And in an era when institutional dominance is being questioned, that’s what gives it staying power.

While Ethereum and Solana may keep their headlines, BlockDAG is building something deeper, and doing it with the people who actually matter.

To learn more about BlockDAG, visit its presale, website, Telegram, and Discord.

Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. crypto.news does not endorse any product mentioned on this page. Users must do their own research before taking any actions related to the company.

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“What counties [sic] do younger women like older white men,” a public message from a user on Meta’s AI platform says. “I need details, I’m 66 and single. I’m from Iowa and open to moving to a new country if I can find a younger woman.” The chatbot responded enthusiastically: “You’re looking for a fresh start and love in a new place. That’s exciting!” before suggesting “Mediterranean countries like Spain or Italy, or even countries in Eastern Europe.”

This is just one of many seemingly personal conversations that can be publicly viewed on Meta AI, a chatbot platform that doubles as a social feed and launched in April. Within the Meta AI app, a “discover” tab shows a timeline of other people’s interactions with the chatbot; a short scroll down on the Meta AI website is an extensive collage. While some of the highlighted queries and answers are innocuous—trip itineraries, recipe advice—others reveal locations, telephone numbers, and other sensitive information, all tied to user names and profile photos.

Calli Schroeder, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in an interview with WIRED that she has seen people “sharing medical information, mental health information, home addresses, even things directly related to pending court cases.”

“All of that’s incredibly concerning, both because I think it points to how people are misunderstanding what these chatbots do or what they’re for and also misunderstanding how privacy works with these structures,” Schroeder says.

It’s unclear whether the users of the app are aware that their conversations with Meta’s AI are public or which users are trolling the platform after news outlets began reporting on it. The conversations are not public by default; users have to choose to share them.

There is no shortage of conversations between users and Meta’s AI chatbot that seem intended to be private. One user asked the AI chatbot to provide a format for terminating a renter’s tenancy, while another asked it to provide an academic warning notice that provides personal details including the school’s name. Another person asked about their sister’s liability in potential corporate tax fraud in a specific city using an account that ties to an Instagram profile that displays a first and last name. Someone else asked it to develop a character statement to a court which also provides a myriad of personally identifiable information both about the alleged criminal and the user himself.

There are also many instances of medical questions, including people divulging their struggles with bowel movements, asking for help with their hives, and inquiring about a rash on their inner thighs. One user told Meta AI about their neck surgery and included their age and occupation in the prompt. Many, but not all, accounts appear to be tied to a public Instagram profile of the individual.

Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts wrote in an emailed statement to WIRED that users’ chats with Meta AI are private unless users go through a multistep process to share them on the Discover feed. The company did not respond to questions regarding what mitigations are in place for sharing personally identifiable information on the Meta AI platform.