ICO project log 04: all in
Last day in Salt Lake City, and the question we keep coming back to
Over the next 60 days, we’re documenting every step of what it looks like to launch a token the right way, in the United States, in 2026.
This is the project log: a written companion to each daily video. Short updates on what we’re working on, what’s blocking us, and what we’re learning along the way.
Day 5/60
Last day of the SLC offsite. The team drove out to Little Cottonwood Canyon and the Great Salt Lake. No agenda for this one: just a conversation about why we’re building what we’re building and what it’s going to take to ship it in 57 days.
The wrong kind of challenge
One thing Dennison keeps coming back to: the challenges in crypto have historically been the wrong kind. Not “can we find product market fit” or “can we build something people want.” Instead it’s been: is this a scam? Where did the money go? Who actually deployed this contract?
That’s the specific problem Tally is built to solve. The point isn’t to make token launches easy. It’s to make them verifiable, so the real challenge can go back to being: did you build something worth using?
That framing is core to why we’re running this token sale the way we are. Tally’s ICO will use every piece of our own infrastructure. If something doesn’t work, we’ll be the first to know.
Money for the machines
Dennison got into crypto in 2011. His original reasoning: money is the only human concept that isn’t natively communicable over the internet. You can send an email that says “I love you” and the person on the other end feels something. You can send an email that says “here’s a dollar” and they have nothing.
His early mental model was literal: your phone pays the charger for power, the charger pays the outlet, the outlet pays the house. Semi-intelligent machines transacting with each other. It sounded abstract in 2011. It sounds a lot less abstract now that AI agents can reason, write code, and execute transactions.
If the next decade produces a wave of AI-assisted builders and businesses, those builders are going to need infrastructure to raise capital and operate transparently. Not VC pitch decks and Delaware C-corps. Tools that work natively on-chain, available to anyone.
What this means for the ICO
Tyler framed it simply: AI is removing the capability barrier to building. What remains is the infrastructure barrier: financing, incorporation, accountability.
The Tally ICO is how we demonstrate that. We’re using the same tools any project can use on the Tally platform: Uniswap’s CCA mechanism, vesting, liquidity provisioning, and more. 57 days from now, we’ve either shown a working model for transparent, on-chain capital formation, or we haven’t.
That’s the bet. Not a bet on token price. A bet on whether this process works. And we’re documenting every step so anyone who comes after us can see exactly how it went.
We’re documenting everything: the legal sequencing, the tax strategy, the custody setup, the go-to-market, all of it. If you’re building in crypto and thinking about launching a token, this is the playbook we wish existed.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this series constitutes financial advice, investment advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any token or security.