ICO project log 07: the history of capital markets
What does the Brooklyn Bridge have to do with token launches?
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 12/60
Dennison in Dumbo, Brooklyn, filming in front of the Brooklyn Bridge on Presidents Day. Today’s episode is a departure from the usual operational updates: it’s a history lesson. And it’s one that matters for understanding why we’re building what we’re building.
Bonds built bridges
The Brooklyn Bridge was one of the largest infrastructure projects in the world when construction began in 1870. It took 13 years to build and cost about $15 million: an enormous sum at the time. It wasn’t funded by a billionaire or a private corporation. It was financed through municipal bonds issued by the cities of New York and Brooklyn.
That was only possible because of something that happened almost a century earlier. After the Revolutionary War, the United States was financially unstable. The breakthrough came when the federal government, under Washington and Hamilton, consolidated state war debts into federal bonds. That move created credible American sovereign debt for the first time. From that point forward, the country could raise capital not just through taxes, but through markets.
The Brooklyn Bridge is the physical proof of that system working: political authority underwrites taxation power, taxation power underwrites bonds, and bonds finance infrastructure. That’s the American growth engine.
Same principle, new tools
Capital markets are systems for coordinating belief and capital at scale. The tools change across centuries: federal bonds in the 18th century, municipal bonds financing infrastructure in the 19th, equity markets financing corporations in the 20th. Each layer built on the trust infrastructure that came before it.
On-chain capital markets are the next layer. Blockchains allow issuance, governance, and settlement to happen transparently and programmatically. Instead of paper certificates and clearinghouses, you have smart contracts and distributed ledgers. Instead of weeks to settle, you settle in minutes.
What we’re building at Tally is infrastructure for digital capital formation: governance systems that allow communities and organizations to issue, coordinate, and manage capital on-chain. If the 19th century built steel bridges with bond markets, the 21st century may build digital infrastructure with programmable markets. Different tools, same underlying principle: trusted systems that allow capital to flow toward ambitious projects.
Why this matters
It would have been easy to skip today. Day 13, plenty of operational stuff to talk about. But we wanted to make this point explicitly: what we’re doing isn’t new. The mechanism is new. The technology is new.
But the core idea, that credible governance and transparent systems attract capital toward long-term building, is as old as the republic itself.
This is also the kind of content that separates what we’re doing from the typical token launch playbook. Most projects talk about their token. We’re talking about why capital markets exist in the first place, and where they’re going next.
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.