---
type: source
title: "Ranger Finance ICO: Token Peaked at TGE, Down 74-90% — Seed Unlock Timing Creates Structural Sell Pressure"
author: "Blockworks"
url: https://blockworks.co/news/rangers-ico-metadao
date: 2026-01-10
domain: internet-finance
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: processed
priority: medium
tags: [metadao, futarchy, ico, ranger-finance, tokenomics, unlock-schedule]
---

## Content

Ranger Finance raised its $6M minimum on MetaDAO with an ICO that went live around January 6-10, 2026, with TGE on January 10, 2026. ATH was hit on TGE date itself. As of March 2026:
- RNGR trading around $0.20-$0.75 (sources vary)
- CoinMarketCap: market cap ~$2.1M against FDV ~$18.5M — token down approximately 74-90% from ATH
- Volume: $106K-$134K/day (thin)

Structural failure mechanism: 40% of supply unlocked at TGE for seed investors who were in at 27x lower valuation. This created immediate, predictable, and substantial sell pressure that crushed public ICO buyers.

The Blockworks article notes MetaDAO was already "eyeing a reset" at the time of Ranger's ICO — suggesting platform-level stress preceded this specific failure.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** This is a tokenomics design failure, not primarily a futarchy selection failure. The futarchy market selected Ranger successfully (minimum hit, oversubscribed). The post-ICO underperformance came from a predictable structural feature: 40% seed unlock at TGE. This is a design issue in the ICO terms, not the prediction market's selection signal. However: the question is whether the futarchy market SHOULD have priced in the expected sell pressure from unlocks. If rational, it would have. If the market priced Ranger as if unlocks didn't exist, that's a market efficiency failure.

**What surprised me:** The 40% TGE unlock for seeds at 27x lower valuation is an unusually aggressive unlock schedule. Most ICOs have longer lockups. The fact that this passed MetaDAO's ICO process suggests either (A) the process doesn't screen for unlock schedules, or (B) investors accepted the terms knowingly. Either reading is relevant to mechanism design.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Whether MetaDAO's futarchy proposals include tokenomics vetting as part of the governance process. If unlock schedules are disclosed in the ICO terms, the market should price them in. If not disclosed, that's an information failure.

**KB connections:** Relevant to claims about futarchy as information aggregation mechanism. Also relevant to claims about ICO quality standards and investor protection in the MetaDAO ecosystem.

**Extraction hints:**
1. "Seed investor unlock schedules at ICO create structural sell pressure that futarchy markets may not price in" — specific mechanism design limitation
2. "Post-ICO token performance is distinct from ICO selection accuracy" — scope clarification needed for any claims about futarchy selection quality
3. MetaDAO "reset" framing suggests platform-level recognition of quality issues by January 2026

**Context:** Part of a cluster of troubled MetaDAO ICOs in January 2026 (Ranger, Trove). Ranger is the more benign case (no fraud), but the pattern of peaked-at-TGE suggests the ICO market is pricing launches, not fundamental value.

## Curator Notes

PRIMARY CONNECTION: futarchy selection claims; tokenomics design in internet-finance domain
WHY ARCHIVED: Illustrates the selection-accuracy vs. post-ICO-performance distinction; seed unlock timing as specific mechanism design gap
EXTRACTION HINT: Focus on the scope distinction — futarchy can select correctly for "will this raise its minimum" while failing to select for "will this create value for public investors post-TGE." These are different questions. Extract the scope limitation, not a blanket failure claim.
