Ethereum Tokenomics: Powerful Flywheel or Cycle of Doom?

So far, this post has focused almost exclusively on tokens’ ability to capture value by generating income streams for their holders. They are productive capital assets. This may very well be sufficient to value most tokens in the long-run. Equity-like analysis will do the trick here. Think DCF and DDM.

However, valuing tokens based on cash flows rem... See more

Incentive DesignTokenomics are a tool for aligning the incentives of participants in a network. It is extremely important to identify what behavior is required from each participant in an ecosystem in order for the network to achieve a virtuous cycle. Equally important is designing suitable token incentives that encourage the desired market behavio... See more

It seems obvious that applications, not general-purpose networks, will capture the majority of cash flows generated in these systems over the long-run. This is already playing out. Apps have all of the leverage and pricing power with the end-customer. There’s still a big question though – how much MEV leakage will these apps leave around for the ch... See more

In addition to conventional market dynamics, an overarching factor driving the evolution of decentralized networks is the tension between ideology, reality, and financial incentives.