#510: Matt O’Connor, Co-founder of Legion, on ICOs, IPOs, Private SAFT rounds, and Merit-based Compliant Token Offerings

Matt O’Connor is the Co-founder of Legion, a platform for compliant and merit-based public token offering that enables teams to select investors based on criteria such as onchain history, social clout, and developer contributions. He is the former lead algorithmic engineer for Bridgewater Associates; tokenomics researcher for the Stacks Foundation (SEC qualified 2019 ICO); and token economics lead for Status (2017 ICO). His open source book, Tokenomics for Builders, has been positively reviewed by founders and VCs from Monad, Placeholder, Tensor, AllianceDAO, Galaxy Digital, and more. In this conversation, we discuss: - ICOs, IDOs, launchpads, private SAFT rounds - Merit-based, compliant token offerings - Why IPO access has deteriorated for retail investors - How Legion differs from AngelList, Carta, Republic, or SeedInvest - The convergence of IPOs <> ICOs - Companies with equity holders and token holders - Tokenomics 101 - Common mistakes when designing tokenomics - KPI based vesting for founders Legion X: @legiondotcc Website: legion.cc LinkedIn: Legion | Merit-based Fundraising Matt O’Connor X: @matty_ LinkedIn: Matt O’Connor --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This episode is brought to you by PrimeXBT. PrimeXBT offers a robust trading system for both beginners and professional traders that demand highly reliable market data and performance. Traders of all experience levels can easily design and customize layouts and widgets to best fit their trading style. PrimeXBT is always offering innovative products and professional trading conditions to all customers. PrimeXBT is running an exclusive promotion for listeners of the podcast. After making your first deposit, 50% of that first deposit will be credited to your account as a bonus that can be used as additional collateral to open positions. Code: CRYPTONEWS50 This promotion is available for a month after activation. Click the link below: PrimeXBT x CRYPTONEWS50 Follow Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSS Feed See All

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#510: Matt O’Connor, Co-founder of Legion, on ICOs, IPOs, Private SAFT rounds, and Merit-based Compliant Token Offerings is an episode from CryptoNews Podcast by cryptonews.com.

This episode is 32:35 long.

This episode was published on Jan 19, 2026.

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